Fall Trivia; Why do the leaves change color? Where did Halloween originate? When was the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade? & More!

THE WOODLANDS, TX -- The season of Fall is full of history and traditions. How many questions did you know the answer to? Click on the 'Dive Deeper' tab for a more detailed look!

Where did the celebration of Halloween come from?
Answer: Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival
“The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts … The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago, mostly in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.”
Dive Deeper - Halloween 2021 | HISTORY®
The article includes troves of spooky information, including:
• Ancient Origins of Halloween
• All Saints' Day
• Halloween Comes to America
• History of Trick-or-Treating
• Halloween Parties
• Halloween Movies
• All Souls Day and Soul Cakes
• Black Cats and Ghosts on Halloween
• Halloween Matchmaking and Lesser-Known Rituals

What causes leaves to change color?
Answer: The breakdown of chlorophyll
The leaves’ food-making process stops due to seasonal changes in temperature and the duration of daylight.
Dive deeper - Why Leaves Change Color | ESF SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Where did the tradition of Jack O’Lanterns originate?
Answer: Ireland
The practice of carving jack-o-lanterns comes from the Irish myth about a man named, “Stingy Jack,” who tricked the devil into not claiming his soul. Upon his death, the devil kept his word. Jack was not allowed into heaven nor was he condemned to hell, instead he was given a burning coal and sent into the night. Jack placed the coal into a a carved-out turnip, using it to light his way, roaming the earth ever since. The Irish referred to him as “Jack of the Lantern,” which was later shortened to “Jack O’Lantern.” People in Ireland, Scotland, and England, carved scary faces into turnips, potatoes, and even large beets, placing them near windows and doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other evil spirits. Immigrants brought the tradition with them to the United States, where they found that pumpkins were the perfect fruit to carve.
Dive Deeper - How Jack O’Lanterns Originated in Irish Myth | HISTORY®

Who started the tradition of homecoming?
Answer: It’s a longstanding debate
The tradition of homecoming started on college campuses as a way to celebrate the first football game of the season, for which alumni would attend. There’s debate over which school actually started the American affair. Mizzou seems to have the strongest claim seeing that “Jeopardy!” and Trivial Pursuit recognize their campus as the founder; stating that they started the tradition in 1911. However, The University of Illinois says it held its first homecoming game in 1910, while Baylor University maintains that their school established the practice in 1909.
Dive deeper - Did Mizzou really invent Homecoming? That depends on your definition of Homecoming | Mizzou The magazine of the Mizzou Alumni Association

Who created fall’s favorite drink, apple cider?
Answer: “By the time the first Romans sailed to the British Isles in 55 B.C., the locals were drinking a cider-like drink made from apples, which their new visitors quickly fell in love with … Soon enough, cider spread throughout the Roman Empire and across Europe, becoming popular with people from the Germanic tribes to the Normans, whose conquest of England in the 9th century brought apple orchards and the very word “cider” into the English language.”
Dive Deeper - The Ancient Origins of Apple Cider | Smithsonian Magazine

In what year did Octoberfest originate?
Answer: 1810
“The festival originated on October 12, 1810, in celebration of the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria, who later became King Louis I, to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.”
Dive deeper - Oktoberfest | Definition, History, Traditions, & Facts | Britannica

Which US president started the tradition of the turkey pardon?
Answer: President Lincoln
“It is often stated that President Lincoln's 1863 clemency to a turkey recorded in an 1865 dispatch by White House reporter Noah Brooks was the origin for the pardoning ceremony.”
Dive Deeper - Pardoning the Thanksgiving Turkey | The White House Historical Association

Who inspired the tradition of haunted houses?
Answer: Walt Disney
Though Walt Disney did not create the first more primitive haunted houses, he did make it into a cultural phenomenon when he decided to build one in 1969. “The attraction, which was designed in the style of the Evergreen House and the Winchester Mystery House, quickly became a success. In a single day shortly after its debut, more than 82,000 people passed through the Haunted Mansion. The attraction's centerpiece is the Grand Hall, a 90-foot-long ballroom sequence of dancing ghouls at a birthday party. Disney brought to scene to life through an exceptionally complex series of illusions known as Pepper's ghost, which use refracted light to project and shape ethereal images.”
Dive deeper - A Brief History of the Haunted House | Smithsonian Magazine

When was the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?
Answer: November 27, 1924
“To match the nursery-rhyme theme in Macy’s Christmas window display in 1924, floats featured Mother Goose favorites such as the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, Little Miss Muffet and Little Red Riding Hood. Macy’s employees dressed as clowns, cowboys and sword-wielding knights. A menagerie of animals on loan from the Central Park Zoo—including bears, elephants, camels and monkeys—offered a circus-like atmosphere as four bands provided the soundtrack to the festive march. Bringing up the rear of the parade was a float bearing the guest of honor—Santa Claus—sitting in his reindeer-driven sleigh on top of a mountain of ice.”
Dive Deeper - The First Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade | HISTORY®

Bonus Question: Which store first staged a store-sponsored Thanksgiving parade?
Answer: Philadelphia’s Gimbel Brothers Department Store
“[They] first staged a Thanksgiving procession in 1920 with 50 people, 15 cars and a fireman dressed as Santa Claus who ushered in the Christmas shopping season.”
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