Once on Instagram [EDITING]

HALLOWEEN

Direct Message from HenryMills to AugustBooth, BelleFrench, BraveMerida, CaptainHook, LilyPage, MissDarkSwan, MrGold, PrinceCharming, ReginaMills, RobinOfLocksley, SnowWhite, ThatVioletGirl

HenryMills: HALLOWEEN IS TODAY GUYS

BelleFrench: 🎶THIS IS HALLOWEEN THIS IS HALLOWEEN🎶

LilyPage: 🎶HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN HALLOWEEN🎶

ThatVioletGirl: What's Halloween?

BraveMerida: ^^^^

HenryMills: BELLE ARE YOU READY?

BelleFrench: OH YEAH

HenryMills: The American Halloween tradition of "trick-or-treating" probably dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England

BelleFrench: During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives

HenryMills: The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits

BelleFrench: The practice, which was referred to as "going a-souling" was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money

HenryMills: The tradition of dressing in costumes for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots

BelleFrench: Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time

HenryMills: Food supplies often ran low and, for many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry

BelleFrench: On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes

HenryMills: To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits

BelleFrench: On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter

HenryMills: -Halloween comes to America-

BelleFrench: Celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there

HenryMills: Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies

BelleFrench: As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups as well as the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge

HenryMills: The first celebrations included "play parties," public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other's fortunes, dance, and sing

BelleFrench: Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost storied and mischief-making of all kinds

HenryMills: By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween not yet celebrated everywhere in the country

BelleFrench: In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants

MrGold: Okay, we're done with this