Halloween Informative Speech

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Recommended: One page paper on the history of halloween

“Trickier treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat,” yells the typical child on the night of October 31st, Halloween. Halloween is now a day where children dress up in costumes, roaming around neighbors, and asking strangers for candy. As of today Halloween is an over commercialized campaign, set to get people to buy into what America views as Halloween today. Social and cultural expressions have changed over the years from traditional life and death celebrations to a modernized era of Halloween. By looking at the history behind Halloween through Celtic, Mexican, and witch history, one can see how Halloween is now a way for the media to help producers make money off of the consumer society.
One place the origin of Halloween was …show more content…

Today one would see a child dressed up in a witches costume, but since the Salem witch trials, witches have lived among society practicing witchcraft as a religion called Wiccan. The Wiccan religion corresponds with Paganism. Both have representation that all things have a soul like aspect to them (Fox 2016)). They worship the nature and the earth around them (Fox (2016)). An example of Wiccan as a religion today happened in the Puyallup, WA school district (Bach (2004)). Within the schools children are not allowed to wear costumes, pass out candy, or even decorate for Halloween. The reason for the lack of Halloween spirit helps ensure the Wiccan religion in the area are not …show more content…

Stores such as Target, Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and many more help contribute to the outlaying design of Halloween time. People will be able to see many candy and costume commercials at this time. All of this advertising and campaigning that occurs, help the consumer part of society want to buy these elements. One of the man traditions of Halloween today is pumpkin carving. Jack-o-lanterns originated “from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack” (History (2009)). The story began with Stingy Jack inviting the Devil to drink with him. Jack did not want to pay for his drink, “so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy his drink.” The Devil did so and Jack pocketed the money to prevent the Devil from changing back into his original form (History (2009)). Once Jack let the Devil free he made a deal with him. Jack told the Devil that once he dies the Devil must not claim his soul. Since Jack had made a deal with Devil, God would not let him into heaven, and yet he could not go into Hell either. He was forced to live in an “in between” world. Jack was referred to a ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” which later translated into Jack O’ Lantern. Soon after the Irish made their own lanterns by carving faces into “turnips and potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack.”(History (2009))

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