Halloween: Spread To The United States

Halloween for many Americans means dressing up as an animal, famous star, cartoon, etc. and going trick-or-treating with their family or friends. However, not many people know the meaning behind Halloween. It is always celebrated on October 31st no matter what day it lands on. Many people do not know the tradition of Halloween and where it came from. In fact, I did not know either until my High School teacher told me that Halloween came from Ireland. The purpose of dressing up is so that the spirits and demons cannot recognize human beings. Many people thought the dead would arise that day and that’s why people used masks to distinguish themselves. In addition, trick-or-treating was a way to give candy, food, or money, but throughout the years it has changed. People trick-or-treat to receive candy or get tricked, which is always fun for children and even adults. People have a choice of either staying in their homes and just give candy to people who knock on the door or receiving candy. If the light of the front door is on or the house is decorated, then it is a sign that you can knock on their door. On Halloween Jack-o-Lanterns is believed that he tricked the devil, and when he died he was rejected in heaven and hell; for that reason, he roams our world and we represent him by carving pumpkins. Halloween dealt with spirits

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

The fear of Halloween can stem from a dislike or fear of the holiday's history. The root word of samhainophobia is Samhain, which is a Celtic word meaning summer’s end. They celebrated Samhain with huge bonfires where crops and animals were sacrificed. The Celts believed that on Samhain the veil between the land of the living and dead was thin, which allowed for ghost, spirits, and the devil himself to pass through to the land of the living. It was also believed the Druids-the Celts priest-could predict the future on Samhain. The Celts wore costumes both as disguises and for performing the sacrifices at the bonfires. Eventually Rome conquered the

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.

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31st, or All Hallows Eve. It is a night of candy and fun for us, but started as a Scottish-Irish festival “[...] or two major gods—a sun god and a god of the dead (called Samhain), whose festival was held on November 1, the beginning of the Celtic New Year” (Bacon). The day after Halloween became “[...] a feast in honor of all the saints (All Hallows) was fixed on November 1, and in the 11th century November 2 was specified as All

Irish immigrants moved to America. They told everybody about Hallow's Eve. The American people said they wanted to call it Halloween instead of hallow’s eve.

Let’s start off with the way each holiday emphasizes spirits. Halloween originated from the Celtic festival known as Samhain. During this festival, people made bonfires

The history of this holiday, like Halloween itself, is very interesting and gloomy. Halloween is a mix of ancient Celtic practices, Catholic and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions. Many hundreds of years ago, when the Celts lived in Europe on the British Isles, November the 1st was their New Year's Day. They believed that the night before the New Year (October 31) was a time when the living and the dead came together. Ancient Celts lighted bonfires and wear costumes to ward off

It was originally called Samhain. When the season of life meets the season of death the dead could rise from their graves and walk amongst the living. In the 8th century, the name was changed to All Hallows Eve and shortly after to the name we all know Halloween. Until the mid-19th century when the Irish moved to America and brought their folklore to America where their traditions were widely accepted and America embraced the tradition and

Halloween was created because the Irish celts thought the barrier between ghosts and spirits had gotten really thin, releasing “weird creatures with unearthly powers.” The holiday was made to scare away see monsters and “avoid demonic ridicule.” They had costume parties to scare away these monsters, they thought they saw.

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

The birthplace of Halloween dates back 2,000 years ago, to the Celtics and their ancient festival known as Samhain. The place where the Celts used to live is now Ireland, United Kingdom and Northern France. They celebrated their New Year on November 1, which is All Saint’s Day in the Christian faith. Their New Year’s Day marked the beginning of the cold, dark winter season that is associated with human death. The Celts believed that before New Year’s, the world of life and the world of death blended together, allowing the spirits to roam on Earth on October 31, Halloween. Additionally, the Christian faith refers to this day as All Souls Day, however, it is celebrated on November 2. Due to the presence of the otherworldly figures, the Celts believed that the Druids, or Celtic priests, could proclaim prophecies about future predictions since supernatural power was

The argument that “Halloween is Satan’s holiday” (Morgan) is uninformed about what Halloween is derived from, All Hallow’s Eve (Newland). All Hallow’s Eve is the celebration of spirits before All Saints Day, which was taken off most calendars because of the simplification of the Catholic calendar in 1956 (Newland). It was considered liturgy, and many celebrated both. In ancient days, the Britons people celebrated these days without a miss. All Hallow’s Eve was originally when they praised Samhain, the lord of death, to take away their dead, and deliver their sinful spirits to where they belong. All Saints Day was

According to BBC, Halloween dates back to ancient Celtic times and a festival called the Samhain Festival. “Samhain is a Gaelic word meaning 'end of the summer'” (“Religions – Christianity: All Hallows' Eve” 2011) The Celts lived over 2,000 years ago in the lands now known as Ireland, the United Kingdom and France. November 1st was traditionally the end of summer and the beginning of the transition to winter, which often had connotations of cold and death. The Celts believed that on this night, the realm between the dead and the living became intertwined. Just before this transition, on October 31st, the Samhain Festival was celebrated as it was thought that this was the time when ghosts of the dead returned. The Celts believed that the return of the ghosts damaged crops and allowed them to wreak havoc on the living world. They also believed that the Druids, who were

It was a cold and rainy afternoon, when I got off the school bus and started to walk home in our neighborhood in Haddenfield, Indiana. I had a pep in my step, because today was Halloween! Little did I know, my older sister Taylor was waiting behind a bush.