We love parties so much so that we couldn’t miss this one on the 31st October. Our disposable products help with all the planning, lay out and cleaning up! In addition to presenting our Christmas Party and Halloween catalog, this article explains the connection of this autumnal holiday with preChristian European traditions.
Vampires, skulls, bats… In our party packs there are all the elements for a Halloween party.
Halloween and All Hallows Day: the same origin
“Halloween” comes to us from the United States, but the origin of this celebration is pagan and European. In the preChristian cultures of the old continent, the end of the harvest, the arrival of the cold, the end of the grape harvests, and the magusto: the beginning of the collection of chestnuts, were all celebrated. (Chestnuts were a basic food element in mountainous areas before the widespread use of corn and potato in the XVIIIth century.)
According to the Celtic tradition, on the night of October 31 (Samhain) the living could run into the dead as the boundaries between the two worlds dissolved. Celtic rituals were filled with elements related to death.
Christianity was imposed on the whole of Europe from the IXth century, and tried to replace the pagan rites by moving the celebration of All the Saints (All Hallows Day) to November 1st and the Day of the Deceased to 2nd November. In Anglo-Saxon countries, the cult of the dead was christianised, although some customs of the Samhain were integrated into All Hallows’s Eve (Halloween). Irish emigrants sailed to America with their cults and traditions in the middle of the XVIIIth century. The night of October 31st slowly lost its religious meaning and became a holiday especially designed for children, curiously preserving elements of the Samhain. Local communities, neighborhoods and families gather to throw a party in “spooky” atmospheres, disguised as terror characters.
The religious cult of All Saints Day and the Day of the Deceased it is still celebrated in Europe, and in some areas the tradition of collecting chestnuts is still alive (magusto).
Offer your clients disposable tableware in black and orange.
Why pumpkins?
An Irish legend claims that Jack, a thief and swindler, died and was convicted to wander around eternity in darkness with only the help of a single burning coal to enlighten, which he placed in a hollow turnip. The American Irish swopped the turnip into a pumpkin, which were more common in their new land. Emulating the character of Jack O’Lantern the myth of the pumpkin of Halloween was born.
Complement the halloween garlands with candles to make a terrifying atmosphere.
If you want to decorate your party in the purest Halloween style, we recommend you to use combinations of disposable black and orange tablecloths with matched napkins and plates. In our Halloween catalog you will also find garlands printed with pumpkins and skulls, and our party packs printed with bats, vampires and pumpkins.
The rest of ingredients for this party are lots of sweets, disguises and, why not: roasted chestnuts!
