Amaretto Breedables Customer Connection

Tomorrow is Halloween, October 31st. We associate the holiday with candy, costumes, witches and goblins and ghouls, oh MY! But where did it start? For the Celts, who lived during the Iron Age in what is now Ireland, Scotland, the U.K. and other parts of Northern Europe, Samhain-pronounced “sow-wen”(meaning literally, in modern Irish, “summer’s end”) marked the end of summer and kicked off the Celtic new year. The Celtic year was divided into two halves — light and dark, which were delineated by two of their four annual fire festivals. In between, rituals or ceremonies were celebrated marking solstices (when night is either the shortest or longest) or equinoxes (when day and night are equal). Samhain, the fire festival that marked the beginning of the dark half of the year, is situated between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. During this festival, the world of the gods “was believed to be made visible to humankind,” leading to supernatural tricks and trouble; ghosts of the dead and spirits from the Otherworld were also thought to return to the earth during Samhain. Tricks and pranks were often played, but blamed on fairies and spirits during the three-day period when the line between the two worlds blurred.
The practices of this fire festival evolved over time — most notably with the spread of Christianity and the Catholic church, by 43 A.D., following Rome conquering most of the Celtic lands. during this time, many of Celtic traditions were reframed with a Christian narrative in an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the pagan practices while spreading the new religion. That reframing created many of the Halloween traditions that people still participate in today. It was May 13 in the year 609 that Pope Boniface IV declared a celebration called All Saints’ Day, also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas in Middle English; the day before it was thus known as All-hallows’ Eve. The offerings of food and goods to protect themselves from spirits and ancestral ghosts became offerings of food and drink to the poor, displays of generosity and goodwill. And the tricks and pranks attributed to otherworldly and evil spirits manifested themselves in the spirit of the saints.
Eventually, All-hallows’ Eve evolved into Halloween, becoming more popular in secular culture than All Saints’ Day. The pagan-turned-Christian practices of dressing up in costume, playing pranks and handing out offerings have evolved into popular traditions even for those who may not believe in otherworldly spirits or saints. However, whether Halloween celebrants know it or not, they’re following the legacy of the ancient Celts who, with the festival of Samhain, celebrated the inevitability of death and rebirth.

On October 24, 2011, Amaretto created the Breast Cancer Awareness horses to raise money for a Breast Cancer Awareness Fundraiser. 100% of the proceeds were given directly to Making Strides for Breast Cancer to benefit the American Cancer Society. Two of the horses in the 4 pack were the Boo-Bee Horse and the Hooter Horse. Although they don’t say Halloween in the names, they have a Halloweeny design lol. They had ghost and hallow moon eyes, and the Boo-Bee even had a stinger for a tail!

Between October 9, 2012 and October 14, 2012, Amaretto released the Limited Edition Fright Night Horses. The coats and eyes did not pass, but they gave us Wild Hair traits, which can pass.

On October 28th, 2013 Amaretto released the 2013 Limited Edition Halloween Horses, the Zombie Clydesdale, Mummy Fell Pony and the Spooky Painted which each came with their own eyes. the coats couldn’t pass, but the eyes could. You can see these coats here.

https://horse.amaretto.wiki/index.php?title=2013_Limited_Edition_Halloween_Horses

On October 24th, 2014 Amaretto wanted to celebrate Halloween with some 2014 Limited Edition Halloween Horses. Any breeding of them could possibly get new wings Bloody White, Bloody Green, Toxic Slime Brown, Toxic Slime Black, also 2 new horns Bloody Spirit and Bloody Shadow. The coats could not pass but the eyes could.

October 16th, 2015 brought us a new set of Halloween LEs, which included the adorable Take Me To Your Leader shetland, and again 3 new sets of eyes that could pass.

The 2016 Halloween LEs were inspired by scary movies, Saw and Chucky. They held hidden surprises. These surprises were the Horn Candy Corn, Horn Witchy, Horn Spooky, and Horn Purple People Eater.

The 2017 Halloween LE was the spoooky Vampire Bat horse with the All Hallows Eve eye. Again, the coat doesnt pass, but the eye can.

2018 and you guessed it, Amaretto gave us the Superstition horses, Chilling, Creepy, Ghostly and Ominous, with matching Skull eyes that could pass.

To celebrate Halloween in October 16th, 2019 the scary Creepy Clown and Headless Horse Halloween editions were released. They brought to mind the clown from Stephen King’s IT and the Headless Horseman of Sleepy hollow movies for some. There was also a bit of confusion, because how could a horse with no head have an eye! That could pass??! It was a mystery until the eye started dropping.

This year Amaretto did not let us down. They created the Halloween Enchanter Rising and Moonlight LEs, with Ghoulish and Punkin eyes. These are still available til November 2nd and hold surprises for lucky breeders!

Each year Amaretto designers wrack their brains and creative juices to keep us supplied in interesting Halloween LEs. Next time you see them in chat give them a Hey Howdy and a big Thank You!