Daisy Fregoso
Jacob Haeberle
English 1101
September 28, 2015
Halloween vs. Christmas
Holidays in the United States differ from others around the world. Two unique holidays celebrated in the states are Halloween and Christmas. The two holidays differ in tradition and decoration, but occur roughly during the same time of year.
Halloween originated from a festival of the northern European culture. This holiday and the ideas that tie along with the concept of Halloween were brought to the United States from the Celts. The Celts believed that on October 31 ghosts would return from the dead and back to earth. In the European culture Halloween is a time where spirits care able to come into contact with the real world. This day was called Samhian. Traditions such as costumes and trick-or-treating. The idea of costumes dated back hundreds of years ago. They were meant to be used as a disguise to avoid being recognized by ghosts. According to the staff of
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Rather than the spooky vibe given from the Hallloween traditions, Christmas tridions are give off more of a cheery, happy, uplifting vibe. Christmas is typically a Christian holiday that revolves around the birth of Jesus Christ. Today, however, we celebrate this event not only to honor his birth, but also to gather those close to one another and exchange gifts. In the States, there is a legend about a man, Santa Clause. Santa Clause was brought to the U.S. from a monk from modern day Turkey in 280 AD. The legend has evolved since then. The story of santa Clause goes like this. All year long children who behaved naughty or nice received their own list. Those who behaved naughty would receive nothing but a lump of coal, and those who were nice received a gift from Santa Clause. The night before Christmas, children would leave out a batch of cookies and a glass of milk for him on his long trip around the
La dia de los Muertos dates back to as early as the maya and aztec days, nearly 3,000 years ago. “The Aztecs didn’t fear death. They believed the way a person died determines their type of afterlife.” (Sarah Massey) Families place alters in their homes with favorite foods of the deceased people, sugar skulls with their name on it, special possessions of the loved ones, and Pan de Muerto (bread of the dead). On the altar are four special elements, water, wind, fire, and earth. Candles represent fire, food represents the earth. Halloween dates back to the celt days, about 2,000 years ago. They lived in what now is known as Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. They gathered on October 31st to celebrate the end of the harvest season. The celts believed that spirits roamed the earth on this night. Celts out food out for the spirits, this was the first form of trick or treating. Some dressed up as the dead to scare away the spirits. They carved turnips and put candles in them to make lanterns. This tradition continued when the immigrants came to America, but pumpkins were easier to find so they carved pumpkins. They swapped scary stories and had a big feast. Roman Catholics began to celebrate All Hallows’ day on November 1st, October 31st became All Hallows’ Eve, later shortened to
Dia de los Muertos and Halloween are alike in some ways, but they are mostly different. For instance, Dia de los Muertos celebrates death. The people in Mexico and Central America who celebrate it aren’t afraid of this part of life. Halloween on the other hand celebrates being scared of death. On Dia de los Muertos, the people celebrate their loved ones who have passed, by honoring them. The reasons that Dia de los Muertos and Halloween are different are the people celebrate death, honor their dead loved ones, and finally the use of food, colors and costumes.
Skulls, ghost, masks, and skeletons are symbols seen every year during two famous holidays, Dias de los Muertos and Halloween. There are many people who think Dias de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is the same celebration as Halloween, just the Mexican Version. Is it though? By looking at the celebrations of Dias de los Muertos and Halloween, and their background, then comparing and contrasting each one, an obvious difference will be seen.
In recent years, this holiday has been gaining more and more attention in the US. However, the growth in popularity hasn’t necessarily led to a growth in understanding of the holiday. Some people still associate it with the incredibly commercialized Halloween, but it is much more meaningful than that for those that celebrate it.
Halloween is praised on October 31 in a few nations. It has its roots in agnostic festivals for the end of the harvest season, different celebrations of the dead. Day of the Dead (or Dia de los Muertos) is a Mexican occasion, additionally celebrated in parts of Latin America and the U.S., to recall and appeal to God for family and companions who have kicked the bucket. It is on November 1.The Latin American festival Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is praised amid the same time period as Halloween. Both occasions are focused on conventions established in recognizing the perished. Albeit for the most part diverse, a couple of attributes of both occasions make them comparable - clarifying why disarray between the two exist. Halloween and Day of the Dead are both celebrated between people who are in the Christianity culture.
Halloween and Dia de los Muertos have different ways to celebrate their holidays. First of all Halloween is only one day while the Day of the Dead is actually three days. Halloween takes place on October 31st which at night is when people trick or treat. The reason by trick or treating is from an old story that was told that you should go to house to house asking for goods to scare away the bad souls which started reflecting on all the scary decorations during the holiday. While the Day of the Dead is October 31st-November 2nd which all the days reflect on the people who passed on and to celebrate life. People respect and have a meal at their incense grave sites with the souls that are good and that are now passed on to a better place.
We all know what Christmas is. At least I hope so. You may not celebrate it, but you know what it is. Some have Hanukkah and others have Kwanzaa. Hanukkah is for the Jews who celebrate the victory of the Maccabees over the larger Syrian army. While with Kwanzaa, people light a kinara and give gifts to each other. This takes place over seven days. Isn't that nice? Seven days of celebration! Christmas however… Is a single day. With Christmas, the children believe in a big, old, jolly man in a red suit called “Santa Clause”. On Christmas night he comes down your chimney, leaves presents and take the milk and cookies. For one thing, that's breaking and entering and for a second thing, he leaves unknown gifts?! You don't know whats in there! It
Introduction: Patrons of the season of Halloween spend over $2.5 billion dollars every year on candy, costumes, and decorations. Every year millions of kids get dressed up, knock on doors, and beg for candy. Have you ever wondered where this strange tradition originated? The three most important points of Halloween can be summed up by looking at its origins, how it came to include jack-o-lanterns and bobbing for apples, and how it is celebrated today with trick-or-treating and haunted houses.
Halloween is believed to come from Celtic rituals. The Celts lived over 2000 years ago, and were found in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. The Celts celebrated
2) Support (Evidence) The celebration takes place at midnight on October 31st and goes on through November 1st and November 2nd. It is designed to honor the dead souls who, it is believed, return to their earthly homes on Halloween. Many families construct an altar to the dead in their homes to honor deceased relatives and decorate it with flowers, favorite foods and drinks of the departed (Markello). Some other decor are the widely known sugar skulls which represent the celebration of life and death. They can all be made differently in colorful and creative design combinations to personalize the skulls after the person they are made for. The intent of all this is to encourage visits by the souls, so the souls will provide protection, good luck, and wisdom to their families.
First is the history of Halloween all according to a 2017 article from LiveScience by Benjamin Radford. Around 2,000 years ago in the United Kingdom Ireland, and the northern part of France the people called the Celts started this holiday. They called it Samhain back then instead of Halloween. November 1st marked their new year which resulted in them celebrating on October 31st. The New Year brought wintertime which to them meant death. On the night before winter which was October 31st, they believe that the spirits of the Dead came back. They wore costumes, put on bonfires, burned crops and sacrificed animals. When the Romans
But do we really know where he came from? Santa Claus is traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was born in 280 A.D.in Modern day Turkey. He was most known for his story of saving the 3 poor girls. He was very well known for giving to the sick and poor and having lots of kindness ("Santa Claus".) He moved to Myra and was elected bishop. There he gave anonymously because he didn't want to be praised for his help (Hauck, Allen.) When he died, they began to have a feast for the day of the dead(Dec. 6) it was also a lucky day to be married. He is known as the most popular saint ("Santa Claus".) So at that time people started to put him with the red and white outfit and helpers. He was told to have 8 traditional reindeer. In the spirit of Christmas it go's Jesus then Santa. When people think of Santa they think of generosity and love. Santa is a healthy part of the celebration, but a lot of people forget his origin, which is to help those in need (Hauck, Allen.) So we go from a person that mainly just kids believe in to one that a lot of people put their faith
While many people associate the Day of the Dead with Halloween because they occur at the same time of the year, they are not the same. Halloween is celebrated in Western Europe
Furthermore, there are many traditional rituals and superstitions associated with Halloween. Since the ancient Celts thought the nonliving roamed the earth, they created costumes out of animal pelts to ward off evil spirits. Fortunetelling and the utilization of large bonfires for sacrifices and purification were also early customs. After the Christianization of the holiday to commemorate saints and martyrs, the same festivities, bonfires, and guising remained, but October 31st was renamed All-Hallows Eve. This inevitably turned into Halloween. Similar to European traditions, America’s Halloween has also evolved throughout the years. Halloween’s recognition was originally restricted in colonial America due to its non-Christian beliefs and practices, and it was practiced at a more local level. According to an online source, “The first celebrations included ‘play parties,’ public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead and tell each other’s fortunes, dance, and sing” (“History of Halloween”). Festivities were akin to European traditions, but also included ghost stories and pranking. Beginning in the twentieth century, Halloween
Although Thanksgiving and Christmas are close in date, they are both celebrated for different reasons. Thanksgiving is a day celebrated as giving thanks for blessings brought throughout the year, it is also a time to celebrate the years harvest. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. Even though the holidays share many similarities, they also hold differences such as traditions, decorations, and the reason as to why we celebrate each.