Halloween is a spooky holiday time in the year. Filled with superstitions about witches and cauldrons and things that go bump in the night, most people celebrate it on October 31^st by dressing up in a scary costume and trick-or-treating round the neighbourhood.

Ever since childhood, it was the one time of the year you could get all excited about putting on a witches hat and broom and ‘flying’ around the house or cutting up that spare duvet sheet and pretending to be a ghost; and more traditionally carving pumpkins out into menacing faces and lighting them up in the hallway window with a candle inside.

Many play practical pranks, go apple bopping, visit ghost tours, tell ghost stories and watch horror films.

You would walk from house to house down your street, knocking on each door shouting ‘Trick or Treat’ and filling your Halloween pumpkin bowl with candies, chocolates and sweets.

But is this what it is about? What are its’ origins?

History of Halloween

Halloween, also called All Hallows’ Eve, is a mix of ancient Celtic practises, Catholic and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions that blended together over time to create the holiday we know today.

The myth describes it as a day when the dead can return to the earth and ancient Celts would light bonfires and wear costumes and masks to ward off these roaming ghosts. The Celtic holiday of Samhain, the Catholic Hallowmas period of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day and the Roman festival of Feralia, all influenced the modern holiday of Halloween. Nowadays, it has lost its religious connotation.

It was intended to give rest and peace to the departed. Participants made sacrifices in honour of the dead, offered up prayers for them, and made offerings to them.  The festival of Samhain celebrates the beginning of the ‘darker half’ of the year and is regarded as the “Celtic New Year”. It was also a time of the year to stock food supplies and slaughter livestock for the winter months.

Traditional images and symbols include; black cats, bats, werewolves, witches, skeletons, vampires and ghosts.  Black and orange are dominant colours representing the darkness, fire, autumn leaves, jack-o’-lanterns and pumpkins.

If you want to get into the spooky spirit for Halloween, why not check out the following items at Ulster Weavers to accessorize your kitchen when making witches brew & toffee apples.

Black Plain Dyed Tea Cosy

£8.99

Black Plain Dyed Pott Mitt

£5.99

Black Plain Dyed Cotton Apron

£13.99

Black Plain Dyed Double Glove

£10.99

We’ve all seen them dotted around our family and friends houses. Some are adorable quotes about the family household and love and happiness, while others are just simply hilarious.

As Bank Holiday weekend is approaching  with many of us planning to kick back and stay out of the kitchen, opting for some much need rest and relaxation time, we have found the funniest kitchen signs which you can post on your door to show that this cook is off duty!

1. Kitchen Closed – This Chick Has Had It!
2. Ring My Bell For Maid Service…If No Answer Do It Yourself!
3. Martha Stewart doesn’t live here!!
4. I’m creative; you can’t expect me to be neat too!
5. So this isn’t Home Sweet Home… Adjust!
6. I clean house every other day…. Today is the other day!
7. If you write in the dust, please don’t date it!
8. I would cook dinner but I can’t find the can opener!
9. My house was clean last week, too bad you missed it!
10. A clean kitchen is the sign of a wasted life.
11. COOK CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!
12. I came, I saw, I decided to order take out.
13. If you don’t like my standards of cooking…lower your standards.
14. You may touch the dust in this house…but please don’t write in it!
15. Apology…Although you’ll find our house a mess, Come in, sit down, and converse. It doesn’t always look like this: Some days it’s even worse.
16. A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, and this kitchen is delirious.
17. If we are what we eat, then I’m easy, fast, and cheap.
18. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
19. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.
20. Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused.
21. A clean house is a sign of a misspent life.
22. Help keep the kitchen clean – eat out.
23. Countless number of people have eaten in this kitchen and gone on to lead normal lives.
24. My next house will have no cupboards, just vending machines.
25. Gardening forever… Housework, never!
26. Dull women have immaculate houses.
27. I am sorry your opinion wasn’t in the recipe.

Whatever you have planned this Bank Holiday weekend make sure that you aren’t working too hard as this is the last public holiday until Christmas and we all know that this festive holiday isn’t exactly a quiet one!

Olive Sandwich cotton bag by UlsterWeavers.com

Instead why not head out shopping or out for a day out with a trendy Olive Sandwiches cotton bags on your shoulder from Ulster Weavers.com. The fantastic collection of bags is great for those women who are making their stance in the kitchen and opting for a weekend of fun and relaxation instead. The adorable Olive Sandwiches collection has three fantastically designed cotton bags as well as some creative and fun linen tea towels which will certainly look fabulous in your kitchen.

For more information visit UlsterWeavers.com.