Load cells and Halloween
Planning to celebrate Halloween this year? We’ve found some surprising links between load cells and Halloween traditions that date back centuries.
The origins of Halloween
Halloween’s origins are in the Celtic Festival of Samhain, translated as summer’s end. This festival marked the start of winter and also the day with the dead returned to walk the earth. The Celts lit bonfires and flames from that secret fire were taken back to their homes to light their own fires, ready for the winter.
Bobbing apples
When the Romans turned up and conquered Britain, they merged the Celtic festivals with their own. Halloween arose from a blend of Feralia, a day for the dead, and a feast day for the goddess of fruit, Pomona. This is probably where the traditional bobbing for apples came from.
Load cell link: load cells help in the accurate harvesting of apples
All Hallows Eve
All Saints Day on 1 November was instigated by Pope Gregory in the 8th century, and was celebrated with parades, bonfires and folks dressed up in angel or devil costumes. All Saints Day was also known as All-hallows , and therefore the night before became All Hallows Eve, or Halloween.
Load cell link: load cells can be used in pope reel weighing systems. A pope reel is used for for winding a running paper web into a paper roll (tenuous we know!).
Trick or Treat
You may think that this is purely an American import or a cunning plan by the world’s confectionary companies to boost trade! However, the origins lie in the medieval Church tradition when the poor of the parish would be given “soul cakes”, sweet pastries given by families so that the poor would pray for their dead relatives. Over time, this became the practice of “going a-souling”, where local children would visit neighbours and be given food, drink and a little money.
Load cell link: load cells are used throughout the food manufacturing and brewing industries, especially for weighing ingredients in storage silos, hoppers and tanks.
Hollywood Halloween
We’re not quite sure when Halloween costumes changed from wicked witches and diabolical demons to Hollywood superheroes, but we expect our fair share of Spidermen and Wonder Women on the doorstep this year. However, if you’re a fan of Rocket the raccoon from “Guardians of the Galaxy”, it would be hard to top this amazing costume US mum Christina Borchardt made for her lucky son Chase!
Load cell link: load cells are used on stage and on set in Hollywood productions to keep stars and crew safe.
The devil is in the detail
If you’ve got a project, product or materials that are proving devilishly difficult to precisely measure, weigh or test, call us. We have helped devise, design and build multiple load cell solutions for a wide range of industries and companies.
