Halloween is frequently linked to costume parties and other gatherings where attendees dress as their favorite scary or spooky character. Trick-or-treating is a common activity for kids, which involves knocking on doors in their neighborhood and asking for a treat. While some people hand out treats, others ask for a trick, which frequently entails kids performing a quick joke or trick. During this time, a lot of homes are decorated with a Halloween theme. The decorations include jack-o-lanterns, fake cobwebs, and pictures of witches or black cats.
Around the world, numerous schools hold costume parades and give out prizes for the most inventive outfits as part of the holiday celebration. Additionally, schools offer entertaining classroom activities like playing “bobbing for apples,” having coloring or drawing competitions with Halloween-themed themes, and other Halloween-related games. The origins and history of the holiday are also taught to the students.
About Halloween?
Halloween, as it is observed in the United States today, is a time for us to all indulge in the spookier, scarier aspects of life while also indulging in copious amounts of candy. It’s a lot of fun, a little creepy, and not at all serious. But in the past, the celebration was primarily religious in nature and had a profound cultural impact on the participants.
What day is Halloween?
Every year on October 31 in America, Halloween is observed. The day falls on the same day for nations that observe Halloween as we do, such as Canada. Others are not as obsessed with Halloween as Americans, though.
Symbols
There are numerous symbols associated with Halloween. They consist of creatures like spiders, bats, and black cats. Additionally, there are characters like witches, wizards, skeletons, ghosts, and others. Halloween symbols include pumpkins, graveyards, cobwebs, and haunted houses. Additionally connected to Halloween are the hues of green, orange, grey, and black. These images can be found on costumes, gift wrap, cards, cookies, cakes, and candies. They are also used to decorate homes and gathering places.
What are Halloween’s historical roots?
We derive the date of Halloween and many of the customs we use to celebrate the holiday from ancient Gaelic and Celtic rituals that have been practiced for at least 2,000 years.
On November 1, the Gaelic festival of Samhain was customarily celebrated to signal the beginning of winter and the end of the harvest season. According to Brian Sterling-Vete, PhD, a historian, Halloween expert, and author of Paranormal Investigation: The Black Book of Scientific Ghost Hunting and How to Investigate Paranormal Phenomena, the festivities always started on the evening of October 31, which is roughly halfway between the autumn equinox and winter solstice.
It also draws inspiration from the three-day paganism-based festival that the Celts observed around October 31 in remembrance of the harvest and preparation for “the dark half of the year.”
By examining the name of the holiday, we can learn more about its ancient beginnings. According to Sterling-Vete, the word “Halloween” is an abbreviation of the Scottish phrase “All Hallows’ Eve,” which merely denoted the evening before All Saints’ Day. It was used in this manner for the first time in documents dating from around 1555 AD.
Early Christians established All Saints’ Day. Pope Gregory III changed the name of All Martyrs’ Day to All Saints’ Day in the eighth century and moved the holiday from May 13 to November 1. Then, in the year 1000 A.D., the Catholic Church added All Souls’ Day (a day dedicated to praying for the deceased) to the calendar on November 2. All Hallows’ Eve and then Halloween were later names for the preceding evening.
Why do we continue to celebrate Halloween?
The majority of people do not feel the need to celebrate the harvest or have a fear of being eaten by monsters, so why has Halloween persisted? According to Sterling-Vete, the Puritans’ strict religious beliefs made it difficult for Halloween to gain popularity in early Colonial America. Although the holiday was still well-liked in nonreligious circles, customs continued to develop as more and more European immigrants mixed with the Native Americans.
Halloween celebrations merged with autumnal festivals and included spooky tales, tricks, singing, dancing, and public events. But Halloween didn’t really take off in popularity in the United States until the second half of the 19th century. Why? Irish immigrants who were fleeing the Potato Famine brought their Halloween beliefs and customs with them.
What are the most popular Halloween traditions?
How is Halloween observed today? The most common ways to celebrate Halloween include costumes, parties, toys, and candy, but there are many other enjoyable customs. Some of our favorites are listed here:
Carving jack-o’-lanterns
Ghoulish face carving on jack-o-lanterns started to become customary around 1895. In the UK, turnips (neeps) were used as the original carving material; however, in the US, pumpkins were used instead. According to Sterling-Vete, once they had been carved, they were transformed into lanterns and carried by “guisers” as a means of warding off evil spirits and because in Christian folklore, they stand in for a soul who has been turned away from both heaven and hell. It’s a good thing we don’t carry them around anymore because that frees up kids’ hands to eat more candy.
Trick-or-treating
The most enduring Halloween custom is probably the roaming bands of costumed children who go door to door begging for candy. According to Sterling-Vete, this practise has roots in Scotland from the 16th century and is directly related to guising, which is the term used to describe the disguises or costumes used to ward off evil spirits. In a lighthearted attempt to scare the homeowners into giving out candy or small toys, the phrase “trick or treat” is used.
Decorating house with skulls, skeletons and ghosts
The ancients had a very serious fixation on the dead appearing on October 31—either in spirit or with whatever is left of their mortal bodies. While fake human bones are frequently displayed in silly ways on Halloween, they are a holdover from that time period. The Christian tradition of Calvary, or Golgotha, the hill on which Jesus was crucified, may also be referenced in the skull’s imagery. According to Sterling-Vete, “the skull serves as a reminder of death being ever-present amidst life, as well as of our brief and transitory human existence.”
