Halloween! It always seemed to me so american and I have to confess that I had no idea of the origin neither I had worried to know more about it.... Great mistake!

Halloween has its origins in the Samhain celebration (Celtic tradition). This celebration had held centuries ago in Britain, Scotland and Ireland on the 31th of October. According to the ancient Celtic and Anglo-Saxon calendar, the 31th of october was the last day of the year and people used to ignite bonfires to scare evil spirits. It was thought that the souls of the dead came back to their old home looking for a body to inhabit. For that reason, people used to dress like a witch or demon, so they wanted avoid that any soul could inhabit their body. Moreover, the houses remained dark, nobody turn on any light because they were afraid that the souls of the dead found their way back home.

Later, it was established the celebration of the "Day of All Saints" on the 1st of November and the 31th of October became in the "Day before of the Day of All Saints" or what amounts to the same, "All Hallows Eve", in old english. From there emerged the word Halloween.

In the United States, the celebration of Halloween Day came with the Irish immigration that are established during the nineteenth century. So I was wrong, it is not an american tradition, but rather a celtic and anglosaxon tradition.

Because I'm living in a anglo saxon land right now (Bristol), I couldn't miss some inspiration of Halloween to share with you ! So I suggest an ecological project, fun and easy to make even with the little ones of home; The Skeleton Magnet.

* In Bristol there are a lot of typical colorful houses and I love them. For this reason I have drawn these bristolian houses in the post... :)

MATERIAL

• Flat stones
• White paint or water resistent marker (white)
• Magnets
• Tube of liquid glue

STEP BY STEP

1. Get hold of some flat stones. :). Make sure to choose correctly the shape of the stones because you must match each of the parts of the skeleton with the stone that suits. You have to get 6 stones one for each part of the skeleton (head, body and four limbs). The stones should be flat on both sides and not very large because,otherwise, the magnet might not hold the weight. In my project, I chose a 2 inch stone for the body (ribs) of the skeleton.
2. Paint each of the parts of the skeleton. The marker used in this project is the Ecological POSCA PC5-M marker which is made with 41% of recycled materials.
3. When the paint is dry, you can glue the magnets on the back of the stones.The magnets should be strong and it must have enough effect to support the weight of the stones. The magnetized sheets or tape won't work because the magnetic side is not strong enough.

Now you can already hang the skeleton in the fridge or wherever you like. BOOO! Ready to make funny your Halloween ?