The Halloween custom has come a long way from its origins in Celtic Ireland, transforming from people celebrating a serious Pagan holiday into a fun, kid-friendly holiday. The history of the Halloween custom probably won’t end until the holiday itself dies out — and that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

The ancient origins of the Halloween custom originates from 2,000 years ago, from a sacred Celtic festival called Samhain. Samhain was an important festival in Celtic culture, celebrating the end of a year, and representing the final harvest for farmers. Since Samhain signified the end of a year, Celts also associated it with human death. They believed that on the night of October 31st the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year travelled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables during this occasion. They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living. On that day all manner of beings were considered to be in attendance, ghosts, fairies, and demons.

The Celts also believed halloween made it easier for Druids to make predictions about the future.

Christianity had spread into Celtic territory by the 800s. In an attempt to eradicate Samhain, Pope Boniface IV made November 1 All Saints’ Day, making the Celtic festival a church-approved holiday. All Saints’ Day was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas, and the night before All Saints’ Day was called All-hallows Eve. In the year 1000 the Catholic Church made November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It was very similar to Samhain because they also lit huge bonfires. Christians would usually light big bonfires, dressed up in Halloween costumes (such as a saint or devil) and have parades, honoring the dead. During the celebrations, poorer residents begged for food. Families would give these residents soul cakes, a type of pastry — but only if they prayed for their family’s dead relatives. The church encouraged families to do this instead of leaving out food during the night. The church wanted to curb non-residents from entering the city and taking advantage of the free food. These were the origins of trick-or-treating.

When Europeans immigrated to colonial America in the 1700s they brought the tradition of Samhain-inspired Halloween. Halloween wasn’t celebrated openly at first because Christians believed it was a pagan holiday, but it was openly celebrated in Maryland. The meshing of different ethnic groups, including the Native Americans, created a new form of Halloween, closely matching modern America’s version of Halloween. The first official celebrations included public events celebrating the last harvest, where people would tell stories of the dead, read each other’s fortunes, and dance. Halloween didn’t truly become a holiday until the 1800s, when an influx of immigrants moved to America.

The celtic custom of Halloween surged into American tradition in the 1840’s by Irish immigrants fleeing their country’s potato famine, transforming into today’s version of this popular holiday. At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates. The custom of “trick or treating” is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called “Souling”. On November 2, “All Souls Day”, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for “soul cakes,” made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors.

These were the origins of modern America’s trick-or-treating tradition.All-hallows Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day were celebrated for many centuries, collectively called Hallowmas. This holiday eventually turned into what we know today as Halloween. Happy Halloween!

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Kidsâ?? room is one of the most interesting places in home. Itâ??s one place where you can explore, experiment and play with colors, curtains, showpieces, bedcovers and bed sheets and other items. Itâ??s one place where innovation can be played with all sorts of engagements. One can either make a differentiation between gender â?? a girl child or a boy child or then make the decorations or can make a single room for both.

However, if one goes for Boys room then he or she can put up themes like cars and trucks, construction, dinosaurs, pirates, space and planets, sports, surfer or trains. And if one goes for girls theme than one can add mermaids, angels, fairies, ballerina, butterflies, gardens, teen room heart, princess, tea party and so on. For the common one, one can have animals and safari, bears and teddies, stars and moons, nursery rhymes or Disney cartoons.

Other things which are very common in India are adding glittering stars to the roof, adding teddies and bears at the corner or near the bedside of kids and so on. Toy boxes, beddings, wardrobes, chests and so on can be added to add glamour to the kidâ??s rooms. Whatever you add to the kids room, be assured that it has round corners and not the cutty or edgy corners, furnitureâ??s which serve as multi-functional versatile pieces which can serve for reading, playing, hiding toys, learning toys and for playing. Use versatile low cost yet soft fabric for lampshades, pillows, bedcovers and bedsheets. Avoid using glass anywhere in the room, use wood or plastic as far as possible.

Use semi â?? gloss and high gloss paints that are easily washable. Buy wooden furniture for study table or bed or closets. Or you can use plastic furniture also. The furniture should not be very heavy as it can hurt the child. Again glass is a non â?? useable thing in kidâ??s room/s. Keep lot of soft toys and books for kids like fairy tales, Harry Potter and movies of mermaids and cartoons to keep the kid entertained for the entire day. You can buy these from any of the leading online stores like HomeShop18 where there is a range of kidâ??s room decoration displayed at discounted prices. For more information, log on to its website.

Kidsâ?? room is one of the most interesting places in home. Itâ??s one place where you can explore, experiment and play with colors, curtains, showpieces, bedcovers and bed sheets and other items. Itâ??s one place where innovation can be played with all sorts of engagements. One can either make a differentiation between gender â?? a girl child or a boy child or then make the decorations or can make a single room for both.

However, if one goes for Boys room then he or she can put up themes like cars and trucks, construction, dinosaurs, pirates, space and planets, sports, surfer or trains. And if one goes for girls theme than one can add mermaids, angels, fairies, ballerina, butterflies, gardens, teen room heart, princess, tea party and so on. For the common one, one can have animals and safari, bears and teddies, stars and moons, nursery rhymes or Disney cartoons.

Other things which are very common in India are adding glittering stars to the roof, adding teddies and bears at the corner or near the bedside of kids and so on. Toy boxes, beddings, wardrobes, chests and so on can be added to add glamour to the kidâ??s rooms. Whatever you add to the kids room, be assured that it has round corners and not the cutty or edgy corners, furnitureâ??s which serve as multi-functional versatile pieces which can serve for reading, playing, hiding toys, learning toys and for playing. Use versatile low cost yet soft fabric for lampshades, pillows, bedcovers and bedsheets. Avoid using glass anywhere in the room, use wood or plastic as far as possible.

Use semi â?? gloss and high gloss paints that are easily washable. Buy wooden furniture for study table or bed or closets. Or you can use plastic furniture also. The furniture should not be very heavy as it can hurt the child. Again glass is a non â?? useable thing in kidâ??s room/s. Keep lot of soft toys and books for kids like fairy tales, Harry Potter and movies of mermaids and cartoons to keep the kid entertained for the entire day. You can buy these from any of the leading online stores like HomeShop18 where there is a range of kidâ??s room decoration displayed at discounted prices. For more information, log on to its website.

The money a cartoonist makes varies greatly. Many magazine cartoonists have to work a day job in order to survive, but there are comic strip artists and creators of animated tv cartoons that have become billionaires.

Charles Schultz, the creator of the comic strip “Peanuts” is said to have earned 1.1 billion dollars during his lifetime. His comic strip appeared in 2600 newspapers in 75 countries and ran for 50 years — in fact, it is still running in reruns after his death.

Matt Groening, the creator of “The Simpsons”, Seth MacFarlane, creator of “Family Guy”, and Jim Davis, creator of “Garfield” are other notably successful cartoonists.

Many of the popular characters begin as comic strips and are later developed into television programs, feature films, and videos and DVD’s.  Added to this is the revenue cartoonists earn from character licensing for merchandise such as toys, books, games, clothing and many other items. Advertising is another source of revenue for a popular cartoon character.

Just the newspaper comic strip revenues can be significant if enough newspapers choose to run the comic.  Typically a newspaper comic strip syndicate will sell a comic strip to several newspapers, charging each one from $15 to upwards of $100 per week, depending on the size of the newspaper.  Under most syndication contracts, the cartoonist receives about 50 percent of this revenue.

“Garfield” ran in 2400 newspapers so you can see how much just the newspaper revenue could be. Other notably successful comic strips included “Frank and Ernest” by Bob Thaves (1300 newspapers), “Li’l Abner” by Al Capp (900 newspapers) and “Blondie” by Chic Young, which was the most popular comic strip in America shortly after it began. 

Many comic strip artists start out drawing magazine cartoons.  Mort Walker, creator of “Beetle Bailey”,  Hank Ketcham, creator of “Dennis the Menace”, Bob Thaves, creator of “Frank and Ernest”, and George Gately, creator of “Heathcliff”, all worked previously as magazine cartoonists.

There have also been a few who started in the animation studios.  Except for key jobs, most animation jobs are salaried positions, many of them covered by union contracts.  Wages are good in this field.

Magazine cartooning is strictly freelance work and the pay is not generally that good but it is an excellent place for cartoonists to get their start and develop their skills.  Magazines pay for cartoons, generally based on their circulation.  A top national publication like “The Saturday Evening Post” will pay $125 per cartoon.  Smaller trade journals pay around $25 to $50 per cartoon on the average.  A successful cartoonist will generally sell from one to two percent of the cartoons he submits.  If he fails to sell to one publication he will submit again to others.  For those who are interested in magazine cartooning, I give more details about this field on my website.

To conclude a cartoonist’s earnings are extremely varied.  Most cartoonists don’t enter the field with the idea of making money.  They become cartoonists because they love the work and that is perhaps the first key to succeeding in what you do.