To many, the end of October is a time of corn mazes, costume parties, and haunted houses. Many cultures celebrate harvest festivals during October, though none are as well-known as Halloween. Because Halloween is primarily descended from the Celtic festival of Samhain, when some think of Halloween, they think of bats and cats and witches. However, although Halloween as it is currently know is a wholly American creation with regional rituals handed down by generations, it did not become a “full-blown American holiday” until the turn of the century (Bannatyne). Because of the contemporary nature of Halloween, without Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus”, and George A. Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead, the holiday as we…
Most people think of Halloween as a fun holiday where you get to dress up and get free candy. But for Allison Piscitelli it was a frightening day for her as well as family and friends. On October 31st, 2013 Allison Piscitelli had to go through one of the toughest surgeries ever. Piscitelli had to get a heart surgery.…
Halloween is celebrated on October 31.Halloween was originated in Celtic festival in samhain. Halloween is an annual excuse to gorge on candy dress up in scandalous costumes or shut our porch lights off . As Halloween evolved, it began to lose its religious connections. Rigid Protestant beliefs limited the celebration in colonial New England, , according to History, and it was much more common in the southern colonies…
Halloween, an American tradition where young children can go ‘trick or treating’ around their neighbourhood, however, this has risen the debate of whether this celebration is a safe or a suitable one to be part of. An opinion piece was published on Mamamia on the 29th of October, 2015, titled ‘Why my kids won’t be doing Halloween’, written by Alissa Warren, implies that Halloween is a ridiculous and an inappropriate event to be participated by anyone. In a disconcerting and exasperated tone, Warren targets readers of Mamamia and parents, of this whole issue of the pointless festivity. The article was also accompanied by a visual image that displays some kids in costume, trick or treating, with no one around and followed by a comment, written…
Halloween In Benjamin Bradford’s History of Halloween, he explains how Halloween or “All Hallows Eve” came about. The intentions of “trick or treat” and the influences behind Halloween. Halloween is thought to be influenced from a celtic festival called “Samhain” (pronounced “sah win”), meaning “summers end.” “Samhain ‘also thought to have been a time of communing with the dead,” according to John Santino, folklorist.…
The origins of Halloween date back to 500 B.C in the Celtic tribe. The Celts believed that the god of death overpowered the sun god and summoned spirits of the dead to visit the living. They also wore costumes to scare off the evil spirits. Those costumes caught on to today’s Halloween celebration.…
When we went trick or treating at the mall, people looked at us as if we we weird and confused. They had either stared at us or looked confused. These reactions happened because we went against the social norm of trick or treating on Halloween. Instead of trick or treating on Halloween, we trick or treated six months after Halloween. This is really abnormal because Halloween has long past.…
When people think of Halloween, some view as a holiday of fun. Its purpose in the United States is viewed as a holiday for children and adults alike, since children get free candy from trick or treating, while adults go out partying while dressed in costumes. However, Halloween’s actual purpose was more of a holiday or festival in the Celtic religion called Samhain, the holiday was to mark the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. As time passed, Halloween went from festivals for the harvest season to a holiday for kids and adults here in the States.…
The Irish word "Samhain" means the end of the summer, and they believe this is the time when the evil spirits appear. So in ancient time, people wear scary costumes to protect themselves from the evil spirits. Now, people participate in parades, decorate houses with stone-tombs,skeleton and spiders. We should all remember that Halloween is not only decorating, costumes. and celebrating, it has a very…
Halloween comes across as a huge cultural shock for individuals who are newly immigrated into the United States. For my parents, coming from Albania, Halloween is something completely out of the ordinary, something that would have never been allowed under Albania’s communist regime. However, tying to assimilate into American culture, my parents consented to allowing me to dress up and participate in the festivities. I was excited, I was only six years old, but I knew what I wanted to be; Batman. Except, my mom did not get me what I wished for, she ended up getting me a Robin Hood costume instead.…
Every holiday is filled with their own unique traditions from the past and meaning, which is what makes each and every one special. Halloween originally known as ‘All Hallows Eve’, or ‘All Souls Days’ was the Pagan celebration of deceased loved ones. It was also known as the last day of the Celtic calendar-their holiday…
I do not celebrate Halloween but I now know more about its history and could be able to explain about it if…
For the holiday of Halloween I feel it is taken less seriously than Day of the Dead due to it having no religious meaning or connections. However, Halloween does still have a lot of reasons for celebrating. The reason and background of Halloween has to do with the fact that it connects with the day of All Hallows Eve, which is said to be when spirits of the dead come out and roam the streets, and this is the reason that children dress up, to disguise themselves from the evil spirits. For the holiday of Day of the Dead, it gets very complicated. This holidays dates all the way back to Aztec customs where several rituals were held to acknowledge their dead ancestors and honor their lives.…
Children are waiting for this day, they lie in wait month by month and plot what costumes they will wear on this day; they figure out who amongst their friends and family will gather the most candy; this day is called Halloween. Halloween is the one day in the whole year where people and children alike dress up in costumes and go door to door in order to accumulate candy, however, one would not think that Halloween was not always a child-friendly holiday but had a shadowy and foggy past. Halloween then and Halloween now are completely two different people. Halloween in the past was first a day that marked a new season, but soon became a time where terror resides in the hearts of the Celts. Halloween today, has taken a dark turn where sadists and commercialization have sucked the fun and the historical truth out of Halloween.…
There was one problem, I was afraid of Halloween. Ever since I became aware of the nationwide tradition, it gave me an anxious jolt of emotions. Maybe it was because I hated the action of leaving the safe and private bubble of my very own home. Or maybe it was because I was just shy. My sister on the other hand, got into the…