Halloween
For almost every man, woman and child on earth, October 31 means candy, kids running on the streets, spooky costumes and scary movies. But the story and evolution behind one of the most commercial holidays in the world, Halloween, is quite interesting.
Halloween, also known as All Hallows eve, evolved from an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain, which means “summer’s end”. This day meant the end of the summer and the beginning of the cold winter which was associated with death. The ancient Gaels believed that this day was somehow a bridge between the world of the living and the world of the dead. They thought ghosts returned to Earth causing trouble and damaging the crops. Bust most important, they believed that the presence
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One of them, was the day in late October when Romans commemorated the passing of the dead. By the 9th century Christianity influenced the Celtic Islands when the church made November 2 “All Souls Day” or also called “All-hallows”. Which is believed was created to replace the Samhain in these countries and impose the Catholic religion. This holiday also was celebrated with big bonfires but this time, people gathered around dressed as angels, saints and devils. When these two similar holidays combined, people started calling it …show more content…
But also, there are many different versions and many similar festivities around the world. Such as “el Día de los Muertos” celebrated in México. This is a joyful holiday were people get together to remember friends and family that passed away. In fact, this holiday lasts three days. It begins the night of October 31 and ends on November 2, in what Christians know as “All Souls Day”. While in China, Halloween is known as Teng Chieh. People place water and food in front of photographs of family members who have died while lanterns are lit around them to guide the spirit’s path. There is also Chusok in North Korea. But this festivity takes place in the month August and people thank their ancestors by visiting their tombs making offerings of rice and fruits. In England, people celebrated All Fawkes day. The English decided they had no reasons of celebrating All Saints ’ Day since they didn’t believe in saints because of their protestant beliefs. So they started to commemorate English traitor Guy Fawkes, who wanted to remove King James from power and attempted to blow up England’s parliament building. Also, people lit bonfires and children walked the streets knocking on doors and asking for “a penny for the guy”. But eventually this holiday
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
A long time ago more than 500 years ago, there were Spanish Conquistadors who had landed in what is now referred to as central Mexico. Once here they stumbled upon populations of natives who were performing a customary celebration that appeared to simulate death. Dia de los Muertos initiated periods in the past in Mexico, where it is still commonly celebrated to this generation. This festival that takes place over 3 days is a assortment of pre-Hispanic ethnic views and Spanish Catholic philosophies. The Mexican celebration of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, proceeds over the initial 2 days in the month of November. Its beginnings are a concoction of Native American behaviors and a set of Catholic celebrations. The celebration concentrates
Popular culture was mixed with ecclesiastical culture in many ways. The story of St. John the Baptist is a good example of this. The ancient ritual of bathing and lighting fires during Midsummer's Eve was a remnant of a ritual from the pre-Christian period. Fire and water, symbols of purification, could be seen as the tools of St. John the Baptist, and therefore a combination of the two elements of popular and ecclesiastical culture was obvious. It looks as if the Medieval Church took over the festival and made it theirs. The same thing happened to the Midwinter Festival, which became linked with the birth of Christ, on 25 December.
When I learned that I would have to do my ethnographic report on what I did during Halloween, I was worried because I live in Turnpike and the most excitement that happens in turnpike is the sound of the garbage truck when it comes to pick up the Wednesday trash. Fortunately something did happen to me and I realized I would not have to write a boring paper of how I woke up and just stayed in my room the whole day. Well the day started off with me waking up and walking to the bathroom to take a shower, as soon as the turned the water on I realized I had left my shower and rather than turning off my shower I stayed in because the warmth of the hot water was too seductive for me to get out and get my towel. In the shower I had my usual thoughts about life, death, and comebacks to old arguments. Afterword I got out of my shower and reached for my toothbrush, which was located in a cupboard behind the toilet, but I grabbed at it too quickly and it fell in the toilet. I stood over my toilet for about five minutes just staring at my toothbrush in the toilet not believing what just happened, after that I started blaming myself for being too impatient. When I was done feeling sorry for myself I went into my room in search of another toothbrush but unluckily I couldn’t find one, so I had to go walk to the local store at around 7:30 in search of a toothbrush. While searching for a replacement toothbrush I realized that not that many people were in the store, I had always thought that stores were busiest in the morning and evening but apparently that’s not true. Once I got my new toothbrush I finished brushing, got dressed and went to catch the 11 to the Transit Center.
Imagine having the worst potential Halloween nightmares come to life for a night. Everything from the “Boogeyman” to innocent random people being killed by chainsaws and other disturbing ways. The film Halloween does all that and then some. The movie begins with an innocent looking six year old boy named Michael Myers dresses up in a clown costume and stabs his older sister Judith to death. After that incident Michael ends up going to jail with a plan of being put away for a long time. Then on October 30, 1978 about fifteen years after Michael was sent to jail he escapes. Michael escaping proves to be a major event as most would guess. However, the underlying note in all of this is that the following day is Halloween. Unfortunately,
Late autumn has arrived and with it comes the dark magic of Halloween--and, of course, the
This holiday is an annual event meant to celebrate and commemorate the departed. Day of the Dead is celebrated on first two days of November and is a day in which the dead spirits return to Earth to visit their loved
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
Some people celebrate this day out of fear, to show they are not afraid of death.
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson. Holiday Symbols and Customs: A Guide to the Legend and Lore behind the Traditions, Rituals, Foods, Games, Animals, and Other Symbols and Activities Associated with Holidays and Holy Days, Feasts and Fasts, and Other Celebrations, Covering Ancient, Calendar, Religious, Historic, Folkloric, National, Promotional, and Sporting Events, as Observed in the United States and around the World. Detroit MI: Omnigraphics, 2009. Print.
With the end of October and the beginning of November, two historically celebrated holidays come to pass. Each holiday has been celebrated for centuries, and each one continues to have a large impact on society. Interestingly, they developed in two separate civilizations from different hemispheres and occur around the same time. The two distinct holidays of Halloween and Day of the Dead both share similar origins and a focus on spiritual aspects and yet have still remained unique celebrations that continue to largely impact culture.
Everyone remembers going out on Halloween and seeing how much candy he or she could get, then coming home and pigging out on it. Halloween comes from the pre-Christian Celtic festival of Samhain, which was on October 31. Trick-or-treating has been a tradition in the U.S. for about 100 years. As years pass, Halloween for children gets more dangerous every year. Halloween is a bad holiday for children because they pig out on all the candy that can lead to health issues, the people around are not as trustworthy, and there are many dangerous people within society.
For example, early traditional holiday activities consisted of fasting for a period of forty days up until the actual Easter Sunday, as it was fabled that the Christian Jesus withdrew himself form society for forty days and nights, and deprived himself of all sorts of temptation by fasting and praying in the entire duration of that time. Along with that, several deviations of Christianity had other series’ of activities that led up to Easter Sunday, such as the blessing and lighting of a multitude of candles that held certain symbolisms having to do with the holiday, and the consumption of holy small pieces of bread that are said to be the re-manifestation of the body of Jesus, meant to purify ones soul and achieve forgiveness for being sinners; as it was stated in the bible that the reason why Jesus died in the first place was to atone for the sins of man. There are still more aspects that help ferment what it is that shaped the holiday to the current state that it is in while still coinciding with other cultural folklore having to do with the holiday’s
Many holidays are celebrated around the world, and all of them follow a different set of ideologies. Some ideologies may be religious, political,
During the holiday season, it is easy to forget the true meaning of Christmas. As cliché as this may sound I find it to be very truthful. There seems to be a lot of pressure put on regular everyday average Americans, to celebrate, share the good will and get that perfect gift for that special some one in your life. Possibly your lover, mother or brother. Each year the same trend seems to be followed. September and October roll around and the season begins to change. The trees color turn light red and yellow as they begin to loose their leaves. The temperature drops and it is soon October 31st, Halloween as we all know. A fun tradition that all enjoy participating in. Children dress up in costumes and run from door to door trying to spread cheer and collect as much sugary candy as possible. As fun as it all seems we all know what the true meaning of Halloween is and it is to prepare you for Thanksgiving.