Halloween

From Pagan Festival To Secular Holiday

Halloween is a holiday that can be a lot of fun, celebrated with candy, parties, and costumes, and like many holidays in the United States, Halloween comes from imported immigrant traditions. This holiday, which came from Pagan culture with many religious rituals has developed into a secular and profitable fall celebration in the United States.

Samhain
The origins of Halloween come from Ireland and Scotland, with the Celtic holiday of Samhain, which was celebrated on October 31. Representing the end of the growing season and the start of the winter, part of the Samhain celebration was practical; it was the time when grain and livestock were examined, and animals slaughtered as needed to ensure that the livestock as a whole wouldn’t starve through the winter. Feasting often occurred at this time, and in some ways, this might seem similar to the American Thanksgiving.

Because this time was viewed as the change of the seasons, however, this was also viewed as a time when spirits could be communicated with, so it was also considered a time to honor the dead, as well as a time for making predictions. Eventually, the Catholic Church moved its All Saints’ Day to November 1 to replace this tradition with their own.

Move To America
Despite the efforts of the Catholic Church to replace the holiday with religious celebrations, the Irish continued to celebrate their holiday in their own way, eventually importing it to the United States in the 1800s. It took time for Halloween to catch on in the United States, as the country was still moving away from Puritan traditions of not celebrating holidays. In fact, the popular Halloween fixture, the jack-o’-lantern, wasn’t a part of Halloween until the 1860s, though there was previously a tradition of carving vegetables like turnips into lanterns in Ireland and Britain. In early celebrations, Halloween was most often celebrated by pranks and by games such as bobbing for apples.

Modern Celebrations
Many of our Halloween traditions didn’t start until the 1900s, with costumes only gaining in popularity in the first half of the century; mass-produced Halloween costumes didn’t appear in stores until the 1930s. Similarly, our tradition of trick-or-treating didn’t start until the 1950s. However, the holiday seems to be here to stay, with Halloween existing as one of the most profitable holidays for stores.

Celebrating Halloween Today

Today we think of Halloween as simply a day when children dress up in costumes and go from home to home to “trick or treat” and collect enough candy to make any parent cringe. Halloween is now celebrated with costumes and treats and is so popular in the United States that many candy makers make specialized candies and props for this one night. Children and adult enjoy trick or treating around their neighborhood streets.

In addition to dressing in costumes and collecting candy from neighbors, children look forward to sending Halloween cards to their friends. Usually, about a week before October 31st, many children enjoy sending Halloween cards to their friends. Sending cards, whether at home or during school, can bring many smiles from children as it prolongs the evening of trick or treating.

Annually, Americans spend millions of dollars purchasing holiday home décor for their homes. Decorating your home for the holiday is a fun way to showcase your home and brighten up the neighborhood. The mot popular holidays for purchasing home décor are Christmas and, surprisingly, Halloween. Finding the perfect Halloween home décor can be a fun and entertaining experience, if you know where to look. Every year, home dwellers often delight in decorating their homes with symbolic Halloween decorations. Many home decorations are quite elaborate and enjoyable; you too can create distinctive Halloween decorations without spending too much money.

The primary Halloween decoration is, of course, the jack-o-lantern. Inexpensive at your local supermarket, you can choose a pumpkin that matches your size requirements, from small to extra large. Many families prefer the pumpkin jack-o-lantern, but a Halloween decoration that is gaining popularity are synthetic pumpkins that are already equipped with different colored lights inside that run all evening with batteries. If you would like to go a little further with Halloween decorations, you may choose to decorate your porch with inexpensive black and orange crepe paper, synthetic spider webs and bats, and scary painted faces. You can also find looping cassette tapes that play scary Halloween music and sounds. One of the most sought after effects is the Halloween haunted houses effects. There are numerous ways to make you front yard or house look like a haunted house. The Halloween haunted houses theme can go as far as to have tombstones and fog machines placed in the yard for an over all foggy and eerie effect. Other props can be coffins made from cardboard or wood and to have someone dressed scarily jump out of it as children pass by going to the front door.

Children and adults alike live out their monster or character fantasy during this single night of the year. Most people go out with their kids to do the rounds and collect candy from the neighborhood while others go and attend parties. During the parties, you can whip up all kinds of Halloween food from store bought goodies. One of the easier to do Halloween food is the Halloween inspired cupcakes.

Halloween is one of the holidays that people get an excuse to have a party. The exciting part of having a Halloween party is the fact that we can use costumes and pretend to be whoever we want to be or pretend to be monsters or other mythical creatures. This tradition does not go back so far; in fact it is just in the early 19th century that the basics of Halloween were introduced to the United States of America. Many variations are integrated to some traditions that originated from Ireland and other European countries. A Halloween party usually has games like bobbing for apples and bean bag tosses, although, the games will depend on the age of the kids having the Halloween party. Younger children prefer games and costume contests while young adults prefer to just dance and mingle around.

One of the cool things about Halloween is that it gives you the opportunity to flex your creative muscle and try to create a fun, festive Halloween theme within your home, whether you’re just looking to have some fun with your family or you’re entertaining guests for Halloween. Putting a Halloween theme into your home is easier than you might think, and because part of the holiday is focused on food, you can start at your table.

Recent Halloween Articles

Halloween Origins and Customs
History traces Halloween back to the ancient religion of the Celtics in Ireland. The Celtic people were very conscious of the spiritual world and had their own ideas of how they could gain access to it - such as by helping their over 300 gods to defeat their enemies in battle, or by imitating the gods in showing cleverness and cunning.

Naughty Adult Costumes for Halloween
A popular type of costume for Halloween is a naughty one, as many women enjoy the opportunity to present themselves more exotic or sexy than usual.