Halloween Masks

Halloween or also know as All Hallows Eve and All Saints Eve is a 16th century variant of the Scottish All Hallows Even which means the night before all hallows day.the phrase all hallows is found in old English , but all hallows even wasn't used until 1556,Halloween is observed on the 31st of October.Some historians have found origins of Halloween in the roman feast of Pomona , the goddess of fruits , and in the Perentaila festival of the dead .But it is more typically thought to be from the Celtic festival of Samhain , which translated means "summers end".

Customs and symbols developed over time with Halloween . such as the Jack-o-Lanterns which came from the custom of souling originating in Scotland and Ireland , and was traditionally used using a turnip.it was thought that by carving the lantern you were remembering the souls in purgatory .when the Scottish and Irish starting emigrating to the states , pumpkins were used instead as they were readily available and larger , making them easier to carve .the first recording of using pumpkins was in 1837.

Scarecrows ,pumpkins and corn husks are all things used to decorate around Halloween , which are also elements of the autumn season and "summers end ".

the image of ghosts and ghouls and monsters with Halloween , stems from the works of artists such as Robert Burns and John Mayne around the 1700s and greatly added to the Gothic horror theme of Halloween, but it really took off with books such as Frankenstein and Dracula during the 1800s .

The most symbolic of customs for Halloween is trick or treating and disguises , where children go from house to house saying "trick or treat" in the hope of receiving sweets. originally his was done in Scotland and the child would have to perform a "trick" i.e sing songs or tell ghost stories to receive a reward.trick or treating mostly resembles the practice of Souling whereas well as carving turnips ,poor folk would go from door to door receiving food in return for prayers for the dead .this was a custom used as far as Italy where venetian masks were worn as well.

the idea of disguise for festivals  dates back to the middle ages  and the first recorded costume disguise was in 1895 where masqueraders visited homes in Halloween masks to be rewarded with fruit and cake .

to see our great range of sophisticated Halloween masks visit www.veneianmasquerademasks.co.uk