American Popular Culture. Halloween
When September ends and October begins, there is one thing on everybody's mind: «Halloween ». Halloween is around 2,000 years old and first originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain; The Celts had rituals to avoid ghosts coming to haunt them, including dressing up in terrifying costumes to scare the ghosts and get together to party on the evening of October 31st. Nowadays, Halloween is one of the biggest holidays along with Christmas. From the beginning of October, people decorate their whole house in the colors of Halloween, wear entertaining costumes and, you can hear disguised children go from door to door to ask for treats as they shout "Trick or treat !". While it is a very a fun holiday
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While young adults might do costume parties and children may wear costumes on October 31st, it is rare to see children go trick or treating or see a house decorated with Halloween decorations. While I enjoy Halloween and its myth, I grew accustomed to not celebrate it. However, when I came to Japan, I was surprised by how colorful and how fun shops decorations and designs for any kind of products would become during October as Halloween approached. The commercials of Disneyland on television would amaze me with its amazing costume design and its rapidity to adapt the park for Halloween and Christmas. Back in high school, I discovered the joy of celebrating Halloween with my friends as we wore our costumes to Japanese most famous spot during Halloween: Shibuya. The town was flooded with people, celebrating Halloween like there was no tomorrow. This year, however, as I fell ill I, unfortunately, could not go anywhere. Nonetheless, I tried to celebrate Halloween by watching one of my favorite Halloween themed animated movies: Paranorman. Released in 2012, Paranorman is a 3D stop-motion animated comedy horror movie that tells the story of Norman Babcock who is an 11-year-old boy. Norman can speak with dead but no one believes him besides his friend Neil. One day, Norman's strange uncle explains him of an important annual ritual he must do to protect the Blithe Hollow from a curse cast by a witch it doomed centuries ago. Norman agrees to cooperate, but things do not go according to plan. A magic storm of the witch menaces the town as the dead rise. With unexpected new allies, Norman struggles to save his town, only to discover the horrific truth of the
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
The poem “Halloween” does such a great job at conveying that image of trick or treating. This poem takes into account the nostalgic feeling one gets when looking back at past memories such as this. Going door to door dressed in your favorite outfit. The use of imagery is so strong it is easy to be right there almost as if it were yesterday. The poet Mac Hammond writes “Kids come, beckoned by / Fingers of shadows on leaf-strewn lawns / To trick or treat” (15-17). This goes on to describe the pull and excitement a child gets when arriving at a house. The shadows of the owners Halloween decorations are cast onto the fall lawn, calling children to the front door. Not only does this give the reader an image of the fall weather, but of the Halloween decorations on someone’s house. Children tend to be drawn towards homes with decorations because it feels more welcoming. Therefore, this is where the beckoning feeling comes from. Not only does Hammond do a wonderful job by using imagery, but also the sound personified in this poem is
Halloween is the time of year that most people loved the idea of being scared beyond belief. But nowadays it’s harder to be genuinely scared because it seems like some people have become accustomed to most horrifying things that relate to Halloween due to the fact that it is the same every year. Nonetheless every year amusement parks use Halloween as a marketing scheme to get people and their friends to come to their horror nights, and spend money on ridiculous overpriced items, which all present the same things; clowns, clowns, chainsaws, and more clowns. Yes we can all agree that clowns are scary, but there has to come a time where the ones coming up with these “horror nights” step back and realize that what they are doing is no longer working anymore. But alas there is someone out there who knows what they’re doing, and it quite possibly could have to do with the fact that they are connected to the movie studio that did invent the horror film genre. But what makes Universal Studios Halloween Horror night so sinister? Universal Studios has a way where they take you out of reality and place you in a horror movie where you encounter many horror mazes, and also by the way they attack your senses in unexpected ways.
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.
culture. Initially slasher films don’t seem to break the barriers of American Cinema; they still
Late autumn has arrived and with it comes the dark magic of Halloween--and, of course, the
The tell tale signs of an approaching Halloween include your favourite candies having undergone a spooky makeover, horror movie marathons on the television for you to watch alone (or are you?) late at night, haunted houses popping up seemingly out of nowhere and of course, who could forget the infamous jack-o-lanterns?
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.
Every fall, Americans are excited by the return of cooler weather, changing leaves, seasonal lattes, and the endless possibilities for Halloween costume choices. Whether it be for attending a party, going trick or treating, or just handing out candy, a majority of Americans choose to dress up and celebrate the holiday. While choosing a Halloween costume used to be an untroubled task, it has become a much harder decision in recent years. In times of an “easily offended society,” choosing an appropriate and non-upsetting costume is becoming more difficult. In addition, Halloween costumes contribute to the problem of cultural appropriation in our society.
Halloween is one of the most celebrated days in the United States. It occurs yearly on October 31. Many people choose to dress up in creative ways in various costumes. Many kids also do this and go to door asking for candy (“trick-or-treating”). I have always found Halloween to be a fun holiday and have many great memories from it.
Meta Title: Halloween tricks and treats | My Chocolate Box Meta Description: Whether you’ve been planning your Halloween costume since 1 November 2016 or you have no time for spooks, you have to agree Halloween treats are fun. Post 1: What will you be sharing this Halloween – tricks or treats? We’re thinking a bit of both: LINK Post 2: Need ideas for Halloween goodie creations? We might have a few up our sleeve: LINK Halloween tricks and treats Halloween is right around the corner and even if you don’t partake in the day, it’s great fun to see all the creative treats that people come up with.
isn't is another word for Halloween? About 2000 years ago in Celtic Ireland, Samhain was the mark between the lighter half and darker half of the year. This division was the time of the year when the veil between this world and the underworld are the thinnest. Samhain was a celebration to welcome and honor families' ancestors and warding off evil spirits. Bonfires were lit, the home fires were extiguished and relit from the bonfires, there were feasts cooked to honor the ancestors, who can't actually be able to eat the foods put beore them; so the foods were ritually given to the poor, and people wore masks and/or costumes to disguish themselves from evil spirits. Samhain was the great festival of the dead.
Halloween Party Delectable Food Suggestions It’s the month of the year to get spooky and creepy again with all the eerily wacky costumes Halloween party goers wear. And it will not be complete without the scary and nastily-designed delicious food and drinks that make the occasion achieve that festive mood to the delight of both the young and adults alike. Halloween Food For All Ages Here are Halloween-themed food ideas that will surely bolster that creepy appetite as much as will catch attention and make any Halloween party a blast.
Petrifying popcorn for Halloween The October school holidays will soon be upon us, which can mean only one thing, the fun and frolics of Halloween will soon be hitting a town near you. The question is, will you be taking part with the usual bars of chocolates and foil wrapper sweets or will you really go to town this year and show the children how Halloween’s really done with Empire’s popcorn? We have some fun and spooky recipes to help you turn this years Halloween into a real scare fest but first things first, let’s look at Halloween and where it actually came from. Where did Halloween come from?
The month of October will always and forever be synonymic with Halloween. Thus, in this month of magic, fun and treats it is expected for one to host a Halloween Party or too. Although, it may sound overwhelming at first, what with all the decorations, food and the costumes that you have to prepare with the help of the following article which explores certain tips that one can follow when planning for such a party one can plan an epic Halloween party for this year. Venue While one can always opt to host the party at their home if they wish to go truly authentic they can also choose to rent out a location. For instance one can rent out a barn and utilize burnt and ash effects to create the perfect ambiance of a burnt down abode used by civil war soldiers.