The History Of Halloween

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

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.

Celebrated on October 31st, the festival of Halloween (also known as Samhain) includes dressing in costume, trick or treating, and decorating. Tracing back in history Halloween is considered to be one of America’s oldest holidays, and is still celebrated today. Halloween is believed to come from Celtic rituals. Celtics believed the cosmological myth of Saman (Lord of the Dead). Saman would call on the souls of the people that passed away that year to take them to the afterlife or underworld; the Celtic underworld identifies with the Christian Hell. In order for the spirits to believe they were on their own, the living would wear costumes and mask their identities, along with fairies, witches and demons. This functions as a cosmological myth because it provides a creation story and framework in which this universe occupies and includes many other realms of existence. Another tradition that followed was to give food to the Saman, to persuade him to be more tolerant while he judged the dead ancestors of the living, which he would chose to take to the underworld. In this essay I will further investigate what the origins of Halloween consist of and how it offers reasoning for trick-or-treating. Also I will examine how trick-or-treating, which is still continued today, is connected to ancient Celtic festivals.

C. Thesis Statement: Going from what the meaning of Halloween is in America today and looking back at it’s roots, it has evolved dramatically. And just recently we have been seeing a comeback from one of those roots, but do we know it’s real cultural significance?

The catholic, mexican holiday, Day of the Dead and the very westernized holiday Halloween may seem very alike with their traditions and themes, but in retrospect, they are very different and have very different origins. Halloween and Day of the Dead happen at the same time, end of October and beginning of November. The background of these two holidays are very spiritual and they have an interesting story of how the Halloween and day of the dead was created. In this essay, I will be talking about the how Halloween and Day of the Dead are celebrated , the origins of Day of the Dead and Halloween, and decorations and celebrations of Day of the Dead and Halloween. Both Day of the Dead and Halloween deal with spooky traditions but they are very different than the stereotypical thought that they are just weird, scary holidays but after reading some background to these two holidays, many people realize there is a lot more to Halloween and Day of the Dead.

Every year millions of kids get dressed up, knock on doors, and beg for candy. With Halloween just around the corner, you all are probably wondering where this strange tradition came from. Every year I have experienced this holiday and have done research on this topic. According to a 2014 Smithsonian.com article, stated by Natasha Geiling, in just one year Americans spent over six billion dollars on candy, costumes, and ghoulish decor in anticipation for Halloween. Many people think all Halloween is about dressing up and going trick or treating but there's more to it than that. The roots and variations from all around are what makes Halloween what it is today. In order to understand this holiday, we will go into the history of Halloween, how it's celebrated around the world, and superstitions revolving it.

As a child I wanted every holiday to be like Halloween so I could collect massive amounts of sweet candy. All of the children in the neighborhood would walk house to house in a large group to prevent being kidnapped. After trick-or-treating, my friends and I would trade with each other until we each had all of our favorite candy. But as I grow older I tend to see how much the holiday has changed through the amount of candy, parties, and costumes.

Transition: With all holidays come celebrations, let’s talk about the festivities that helped shape Halloween today.

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

Halloween is a widely celebrated holiday in America where kids dress up in costumes and go door to door around their neighborhood asking for candy. People tell stories about supernatural creatures, watch horror movies, and adorn their houses with jack-o-lanterns and skeletons. But Halloween was not always celebrated how it is today, and it has seen many changes in traditions throughout the years. Although many aspects of Halloween have changed from its origins to the celebrations today, the differences in the trick-or-treating process and its perseverance throughout the years show its relevance and importance to the holiday. To the Celtic people, Halloween was known as Samhain and was a festival to celebrate the end of summer, the coming of

In the contemporary period, Halloween’s popularity has increased. Personal expenditures on Halloween have drastically increased since the 2000s, to create a multi-billion dollar industry, which has expanded the cultural awareness and practice of Halloween (Khapaeva 57). However, this expansion has led to the commodification of Halloween, by equating it with consumer culture. This has significant implications for the cultural conception of death as it equate previously potent symbols with cheap goods. But this might have been by design, as Grider argues that the mass commercialization of Halloween is another way in which collectively western culture can control the “potentially dangerous incursion of the supernatural world in our everyday lives” (10). Through the ownership of material goods associated with Halloween, the narrative and context of the concepts are further

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

Halloween is best known for its tricks and treats and ghoulish costumes but do you know the origins of Halloween?

Halloween is celebrated October 31st. Halloween is a short of saying All Hallows’ Evening, and All Hallows’ Eve. Some halloween activities are trick-or-treating, bonfires, costume parties, visiting “haunted houses” and carving jack-o-lanterns. Scottish, and Irish people carried traditions to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries loved this holiday in the later twentieth century along with Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

Most kids think that trick-or-treating is the Halloween tradition. Kids dress up as monster, mythical creatures, super heroes and other things, going door to door asking for candy. Well, “Trick-or-Treating hasn’t always been a part of Halloween celebrations. In fact, Halloween has only been celebrated in the US for a relatively short time.’’ (Author: N/A, (Date: N/A) Halloween History, http://www.halloweenhistory.org/trick-or-treating-history.html)