Halloween has well and truly infiltrated the typical Aussie neighbourhood! Yes, there are still those that complain about it and say, "I don't believe in it - it's an American thing!", but, in actual fact, Hallowe'en originated in Europe with the Celtic festival of (Samhain pronounced sow-en). Samhain was considered a magical holiday, and there are many stories about what the Celtics practiced and believed during this festival. Some say the spirits that were unleashed were those that had died in that year, and offerings of food and drink were left to aid the spirits, or to ward them away. Other versions say the Celts dressed up in outlandish costumes and roamed the neighborhoods making noise to scare the spirits away.
In the First century A.D., the Roman Empire had taken over most of the Celtic lands. The Romans had two festivals also celebrated at the same time of year as Samhain. One was Feralia, also in late October, was the Roman day honouring the dead. The second festival was for Pomona, the Roman goddess of trees and fruit. Pomona's symbol was the apple. These two festivals were combined with Samhain in the Celtic lands during the four hundred years the Roman Empire ruled over the Celts. (from halloween-history.org)
With that history lesson out of the way - check out these links for some great ideas for getting through Halloween with kids with T1D!
My son was diagnosed less than a week before Halloween last year and was still on injections - so I was just a tiny bit stressed out about him roaming the streets and then dealing with the joys of BGL's in the mid to high 20's for a few hours that night!
This year, they're both on pumps so we should manage just fine! It's just a shame that Halloween is so close to the end of our school year here in Australia - otherwise I'd be putting all those high sugar treats into a big jar and taking them to the school nurse's office to be used as Hypo Treatments!
Wherever you are, and whatever your beliefs, I hope you have a magical night!
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