This weekend many of you will be celebrating Halloween. In the past, the day marked the start of the dark winter, a time when the Celts, the supposed founders of the Halloween concept, believed the dead came back to earth. Nowadays, most of us see it just as a day, or better night, of bonfires, ghosts, vampires, witches, pumpkins and trick or treats.
Celebrated from Ireland to Mexico, Halloween practices are varied: perhaps you'll be out trick or treating with your kids, like in the US; making bonfires, as they do in Ireland; or honouring the dead with flowers or fresh food, as in Spain.
If you're stuck for something to do though, here a few of our own ideas on how to spend your Halloween:
Update your virtual cemetery in Family Tree Builder
In the Family Tree Builder you'll find under the 'pictures' option in your taskbar the virtual cemetery. The program allows you to record people who have died and any information relating to their death, such as the date, place, and cause. This is your space to create a memorial for your ancestors with notes, documents or pictures.
Find out more about those that are no longer with your family through our cemetery and graves databases:
In MyHeritage.com's databases, you'll find many sources that may be useful to you when researching ancestors. Under the advanced search option you'll find the option of specifically searching cemeteries, where you'll find records on African American cemeteries, Mount Zion New York cemetery, IKG Vienna Cemetery database, Colchester County Cemetery Index and many more. And if you can't find what you're looking for there, try having a look under photos or genealogical societies to search databases such as the EarlyMaine.org gravestone photo project, the wargraves photographic project or IaGenweb Gravestone photos from Ireland.
Share your favourite pumpkin soup recipe
On our family pages you can share your halloween dishes with a simple function. As you're logged into your account, go to the 'Activities' tag and then select 'Recipes', and select 'Add recipe' and you'll be able to share any recipes with family members of your choosing. Enjoy!
Share your trick or treat pictures online
Enjoy our latest photo improvements and upload your Halloween pictures under the 'photos and videos' tab, share them or enjoy them yourself through a slideshow or screen saver.
Share your scary stories with family members on your family page
On your family site, you can not only share pictures, but also stories. Under message boards you'll find different sections where you can post any stories you may have about ancestors that came to visit you or any haunted houses your family may own for the whole family to enjoy.
Happy Halloween!