Halloween : The History And History Of Halloween

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

How did Halloween become what it is today? Starting in 5th century B.C.E., the Celts celebrated a festival at the end of each October, a time in which they believed ghosts and demons would roam the earth more than other times of the year. The festival was called Samhain (meaning “summer’s end”). As the days became shorter (in a sense of the amount of time the sun is visible), the celtics thought that they had to “reinvigorate” the sun. They would do this by putting all fires out, symbolising the “dying old year”, then have a sacred bonfire to scare away evil spirits. (The tradition of bonfires during holidays stemming from holloween are seen today in Britain on Guy Fawkes Night, and Brazil’s June Festivals. Starting in first century C.E., the Romans conquered the Celtics and adopted the spiritistic rituals of

Purpose: To inform the audience of how Halloween started and transformed to what it is now.

The holiday season is among us. Halloween begins in the fall when the leaves start to change colors and fall of the trees. Christmas begins in winter when the snow hits the ground and the weather gets mighty cold. Halloween is when the spookier things come out. When most people think of Halloween they think of pumpkins and candy. Christmas is a time for giving gifts and being with family. Christmas is usually associated with Santa Clause and his worker elves. Although to most people these holidays may seem very different, there are also some similarities between the two. These differences and similarities can be seen in the dressing up, the celebrations, and the giving.

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

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

I did not care for many of the impulsive bloody costumes that people would wear. I would run from people wearing anything bloody in fear that the costume would not be fake. As an adult, I love the art of making gory costumes that give people a scary jump. Scary costumes and decorations are what Halloween is about, but some costumes are more revealing than they are scary. My costumes now are as bloody and repulsive as I can make them. My favorite costume to wear is an old, wrinkly, and bloody zombie costume from a television show. The costumes made today are extremely more detailed than they were when I was a

These traditions were connected with the lower class at the time and so they were also connected with crime, rowdy behavior and other stereotypes the upper class believed about the poor. Of course people who were part of the upper class did not like this and by the 1870s they had turned Halloween into a holiday to make children into “good American citizens.” Halloween was now targeted towards children and because of that families were encouraged to celebrate it at home where food, games and other entertainment would have adult supervision. By doing this children were expected to understand the values society holds, while also learning about their proper gender roles. At this point we are able to start to see how Halloween became so heavily influenced by gender roles/stereotypes and how that led to the over-sexualized holiday it is now. Trick or treating and wearing Halloween costumes became popular in America around the 1920s and by the 1950s children’s costumes were extremely reflective of their sex. (Bannatyne.) Girls were dressed as princesses and angels while boys were army men, hobos and so on. However, as cute and adorable as this is or may have been, this creates a very thick line between genders. When that line is present it is alluding to children that

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 not only one of the most popular holidays, but is also one of the oldest, and can be dated back to about 2,000 years ago. It is also known to have started

In early American history, Halloween was not celebrated due to the strong Christian heritage. Initially, it was practiced only in small Irish population, until thousands of Irish migrated to American soil and brought their tradition with them. Some regard Halloween as an Irish holiday with history in the Celtic festival. Traditional Halloween symbols we often see such as witches, fairies, pumpkins, black cats masks, batman, parties and pranks appeared in United States during the late 1800's. In 1848, millions of Irish emigrants poured into America as a result of the potato famine.

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

Halloween started as an ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, people would dress up in costumes, and make bonfires to defend or guard from roaming ghosts. Celts are referred to now as cultures or people from Scotland or Ireland or another place like that. The majority of the Celtic territory was conquered by the Roman Empire in 43 A.D. Rome had found a way to combine the day that Celts made, and were able to make two special days. One was called Feralia and the other day was to honor a goddess named Pomona, who was the goddess of fruit and trees. Feralia was a day to show respect to the passing of the dead. The second day was to honor Pomona.

Halloween costumes at this time also reflected people's interest in other cultures. Scottish and Irish immigrants in the U.S. during the 18th and 19th centuries brought their Halloween folklore and traditions with them, which mixed in with the folklore, traditions and superstitions of other immigrants from Germany, Haiti and the Netherlands (“The History”).

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