The Celtic New Year is celebrated on November 1st. It marks the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that is often associated with human death.
Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. Holding a celebration on Samhain allowed unhappy and unruly ghosts to create havoc and then settle peacefully back into the earth so winter could come and crops would not fail.
On Samhain, Druids built huge bonfires, where people gathered to burn dead crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
So how did a Celtic new year celebration that is over 2000 years old become a day of costumes and candy? And how many parents pause to think about the mixed messages we give our children on this one day of the year? We don't bother to teach the history, the origins, how the church stole it and changed the name. Instead, it's sugar and costumes.
I've wondered for years how this happened. But aside from all of that, what about the crap that we let them eat? The crap that we eat. One of the reasons I don't do the Halloween thing is I don't need the junk and neither does my child. So I tell her all year that it's not good or OK to eat junk all year but since it's Halloween it's OK?
Take a look at what is in the average candy bar or sugary treat. The fat, the sugar, the chemicals.
Candy Bar (3 Musketeers) 1 bar (2.13 oz, 60.4 g), 260, 8g, 46g, 2g
Candy Bar (Fun Size) (Snickers)
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1 bar, 80, 4g, 10.5g, 1.5g(That's the tiny bite sized ones)
That's one candy bar. 41% of fat. And the reality of it is, that's not a bad bar. Do they even make them anymore? I don't know I haven't wandered down the candy isle since I decided to change my life. I avoid it.Nutrition Facts
Hershey's - Reese's Fast Break Candy Bar
Calories 260 Sodium 190 mg Total Fat 12 g Potassium 0 mg Saturated 5 g Total Carbs 35 g Polyunsaturated 0 g Dietary Fiber 2 g Monounsaturated 0 g Sugars 30 g Trans 0 g Protein 5 g Cholesterol 0 mg Vitamin A 0% Calcium 2% Vitamin C 0% Iron 4% *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.260 Calories in one serving. At least with most Hershey products one serving is the entire bar. Many of them, if you look, are 2 or more servings per bar.So think about this next year. When you come home with that bag of candy, just how much crap is in it?
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