Halloween A pagan holiday that used to celebrate the dead, now a night where children can dress up as their favorite characters and ask for some candy. Known by many names at its beginning, Halloween has been a celebration that truly has left its mark. Dating back 2,000 years, Halloween has had truly one of the richest histories. What makes it most peculiar is that its many stories wrapped up into one single story. But; What is Halloween and how did turn out the holiday it is today? Going back 2,000 years to what it’s now Ireland, the Celts celebrated their new year. An ancient tradition known as “The festival of Samhain”. It marked the end of summer and the harvest. Although it also meant the beginning of a dark and cold winter which was …show more content…
Due to the strict religious beliefs of early colonial Americans, it was extremely limited. As many cultures began to mix, America's own version of Halloween began to emerge. By the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland’s potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. It was from this sudden immigration that came to the story of the jack o lantern. The story basically told is that in 10th century Ireland there was a mischievous man named jack. Once in the middle of his schemes, he was encountered by the devil. In the middle of this confrontation, he tricked the devil into climbing a tree. After that, he drew a cross on the tree and that meant the devil couldn’t get down. So he made a deal with the devil. If he let him go, the devil could not let him go to hell. The devil agrees and jack lets him go. The years passed and Jack eventually dies. He couldn’t enter hell because of his deal, but he couldn’t enter heaven because he was too sinful. So he was cast away to somewhere in between. In this place, he could find a pace for his soul to rest. He was in total darkness. So he asked the devil if he could at least see where he was going so he could find a place to rest. So the devil tossed him …show more content…
This tradition may seem like it's related to a former tradition in which Christians knocked on houses doors for a “soul cake”, a little cake that included raisins. In exchange of such cake, they would pray for the souls of the family’s relatives that were in the purgatory. However, the tradition started in 1939. In the 1920’s, Halloween was somewhat different. Kids dressed up but didn’t go from house to house. Teenagers involvement in Halloween was somewhat destructive and each year it got worse. Eventually, a woman wrote in the paper the day after Halloween that when teenagers were walking up to vandalize her house she offered them homemade caramel apples and balls of popcorn in exchange for leaving her house unharmed. It worked. Once she wrote that on the paper, other adults started doing it. Eventually came the phrase “Trick or Treat” which implied the threat that if you didn’t give them a treat you would get your house vandalized. That’s when Halloween started becoming the holiday we know
Every year we celebrate a holiday at the end of October involving costumes, candy, and pranks. Can you guess which holiday I am talking about? Of course you can! Halloween is one of the biggest holidays of the year ,second only to (in my opinion) Christmas. We follow many strange traditions on Halloween, but why? Why do we dress up? Why do we get candy? And what is the meaning of the phrase “ Trick or Treat”?
Late autumn has arrived and with it comes the dark magic of Halloween--and, of course, the
Even though the Day of the Dead and Halloween are both offshoots of all Saints' and all Souls' Days, their tone couldn't be more diverse. Halloween's images of skeletons and spirits emphasize on the frightening, gruesome, and ghoulish parts of the celebration. Society jolts, if delightfully, at the alleged terrifying spirits intimidating the living realm. On Day of the Dead, the focus isn't on personal menacing spooks, it's on celebrating with one's family alive and dead and recalling those who are no longer alive. It's on seeing death as another phase succeeding existence, rather being confronted with
Halloween is believed to have been developed over two thousand years ago, before even the birth of Jesus. It originated from the Celtic people native to Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, and
First things first, let’s talk about the food! On The Day of The Dead, the Mexicans who celebrate this holiday eat many things including something called ‘el pan de muerto.” This round, sweet bread is essential when celebrating the day of the dead. Another dish eaten is something called mole. This is a spicy chocolate sauce that is eaten on this holiday or even on a normal day. Onto Halloween, this holiday is mainly celebrated in America and involves lots of sweets that children eat. Nothing on this holiday is homemade and everything thing is
Starting with Halloween it all started with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain this is when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1st as a time to honor
Americans celebrate Halloween as a sort of party in our communities. We hold parties and kids go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. For
Halloween was not supposed to be like that, it was supposed to be more like when I was a kid. Houses would be decorated, jack-o-lanterns would be sitting near doors, and
Day of the Dead started during Mayan and Aztec times. Death is not feared by them they actually welcome it with open arms. The Aztecs believed the way a person died determined what kind of life they had in the afterlife. Halloween was started by the Celts. The first ever jack-o-lanterns were turnips not pumpkins like we use today for Halloween. We wear costumes on Halloween like superheros and princesses but when the holiday was first started they dress up as spirits to scare them away.
The first difference is the days we celebrate for both of these Holidays. For Halloween we celebrate it for one day only and that day as we all know is October 31st.It is the 31st because this is the day that they believed the ghost of the dead returned
This is a very hot topic issue with me! And I truly hope many others that either haven’t spoken out against it yet, or haven’t known how to speak against it. Really start? Maybe, it’s because somehow so few have been educated on halloween’s history. Or the history of witches and witchcraft in our Country and around the world. Why, is it that so many attach or try to attach witches with Halloween? Witches have been seen in books and movies as ugly, evil and cruel! They were never suppose to become role models to our society, or children ever! In fact most don’t know what really has happened in there secret meetings, because they remain secret for a very specific
In the article “Halloween: an Evolving American Consumption Ritual”, Russell W. Belk, a professor of marketing at the University of Utah, explained that the real source of the scare came about during and after the Vietnam War era. In addition to his explanation, Belk wrote: Halloween treat rumors have actually flourished because we felt surrounded by non-actionable threats with the U.S. loss in Vietnam, the Arab oil embargo, increased crime, the Tylenol poisonings, and increased reports of various forms of child abuse. As a reference, the Tylenol poisonings were a series of events that occurred in Chicago of 1982 when multitudes of people died from traces of laced potassium cyanide in regular Tylenol bottles. In retrospect, Halloween used to be celebrated without severe warning up until U.S. loss in the Vietnam War. Of course, the Tylenol poisonings brought into realization that the dangers of tampering that were yet to be mitigated may lurk into other common products, such as
When Halloween approaches, I feel the air becoming cooler and the nights becoming longer. Clouds over lap the moon creating an eerie look in the sky. Children grow more and more excited to put on their costumes, and they spend one night out of the whole year going door to door getting free candy. As I have grown up over the years, Halloween is celebrated differently for me. I always notice that even though it is celebrated differetly the people haven’t changed and that’s what makes it memorable.
Everybody celebrates Halloween, but some people might celebrate the spooky holiday in a variety of ways. Most people celebrate this holiday by going door to door asking the greeters for candy while in their costumes. Others may see the night as an advantage to play pranks on others or even to create public haunted houses or haunted trails. For people that like to hold public events, they may create costume parties. For those that are either lazy or they just don’t want to participate in the events, they may spend the night by staying in their houses and doing an activity of their own. Most do not know this, but Halloween was originally a holiday to honor loved ones who passed.
Different cultures have different holiday traditions. At this time of year different cultures are preparing to celebrate Halloween or the Día de los Muertos.These two holidays occur around the same time of year. October 31st is Halloween and the Day of the Dead begins on November 1st and ends on November 2nd. Halloween is an American tradition and the Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico, and other Latin American countries. Both holidays share some similarities but also have some differences.Some common themes between the two holidays are food and religion. For example, Pumpkin is associated with both holidays. And Christianity is the religion associated with both holidays. The symbols for these holidays share some similarities , for example skulls. While Halloween also is associated with ghosts and witches. A big