Reese’s Peanut butter cups are the most popular candy in the U.S. – Snickers comes in second followed by a three-way tie for third between candy corn, Kit Kats and M&M’s.
According to History.com, the first Halloween celebrations can be traced back to the ancient Celts. They lived in the area now occupied by Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, and celebrate a festival called Samhain on October 31st, just a day before Aztec, Toltec, and Mayan cultures were celebrating Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. It marked the day before their new year, the start of winter, and a time when the dead were believed to return to earth.
Halloween isn’t celebrated all over the world, but several countries have similar celebrations to the U.S. Halloween’s origins are in Ireland, and it is still widely celebrated there with trick-or-treating, parties and more. Canadians celebrate the holiday similarly with costumes and candy, and in recent years Japan has adopted the Western tradition of costumes for the holiday. Other countries celebrate holidays with similar themes and traditions on a nearby date, like Guy Fawkes Day in the United Kingdom and Día de los Muertos in Mexico.
Jack-o-lanterns come from Irish folk tales about “Stingy Jack”, who was eternally doomed to roam the earth at night. To guide his way, he lit a coal in a carved-out turnip, inspiring people to do the same.
Candy corn was originally called chicken feed. According to History.com, candy corn first appeared on the market around the 1880’s, a time when about half of the American workforce was made up of farmers. Because of this, candies were often made into agricultural shapes such as a chicken feed, which we now think of as corn shaped. The change occurred after World War I when corn became viewed as people food.
|
