Residents in the 19th century were afraid on Halloween when it was dark at night and there were roaming disembodied heads. Halloween has been a time for fun, “Halloween in early 19th-century America was a night for pranks, tricks, illusions, and anarchy.” The Cold War changed the dynamics in the United States including Halloween making it become safer and acceptable for the war times. Halloween started off in the Celtic countries where it signified the beginning of dark and cold seasons. It is the reason for the creepy superstitions during the season which, “created a rift in reality that set spirits free, both good and bad.” Immigrants from Ireland and Scotland were the ones who brought their superstitions to the United States.The superstitions resulted in pranks from kids that would scare adults on Halloween night. Halloween in the early nineteenth century consisted of children becoming, “the first American masterminds of mischief.” The kids took advantage of the pre-electricity times to trick adults by stringing, “ropes across sidewalks to trip people in the dark.” Their tricks became damaging because kids would throw bricks, flour attacks, vandalized buildings, and struck out adults. They mocked authority by pulling these type of pranks that caused damage; however, adults, “would …show more content…
For example, “On one episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, costumed kids come to the door, and Ozzie and Harriet are baffled.” Other shows also kept having their characters address Halloween in order to keep this new Halloween. Kids buying costumes benefitted America because sales “hit $300 million in 1965 and kept rising.” Soon pranksters began creating haunted houses for the Halloween night for pranks and creepy things. Even though Halloween has changed a lot since the nineteenth century, it is still seen as, “a day to cause mischief, to mock authority, and make the haves give to the
Halloween was not supposed to be like that, it was supposed to be more like when I was a kid. Houses would be decorated, jack-o-lanterns would be sitting near doors, and
The superstition of witchcraft started with the teaching of the Bible. The Puritans believed that Satan was present and active. The Salem Witch Trials were driven by the superstition of general paranoia. The fear of witchcraft dove the Puritans to hysteria, causing the Puritans to hang their own citizens.
In Windigo, Erdrich tells a story of an ominous, supernatural creature that preys on, and abducts a child. “The Windigo is a flesh-eating, wintry demon with a man buried deep inside of it,” she describes in her poem (Erdrich, “Windigo”). She builds anticipation and tension by describing the setting. “You knew I was coming for you, little one,” the Windigo says to the child as the “kettle jumped into the fire [while] towels flapped on the hooks, and the dog crept off, groaning, to the deepest part of the woods” (Erdrich, “Windigo” 1-5). Halloween in the Anthropocene tells multiple smaller stories that tie into a bigger picture narrative. The poem tells us to “praise the souls of black boys, enslaved by supply chains…under West African heat,” and the “souls of brown girls who sew our clothes as fire unthreads…smoke and ash,” while the “souls of Asian children who manufacture toys…until gravity sharpens their bodies enough to cut through suicide nets” (Perez, “Halloween in the Anthropocene” 3-5, 8-10, 12-14). He also
In today’s times, witches are the green complexed, big nosed ladies who ride around on broomsticks at Halloween. Back in the 1600’s, witches looked like average people, but they worked alongside the devil. Salem, Massachusetts, was a religious town of Puritans. They were strong believers in God, and had believed that witches were the devils workers. Everything was usual in Salem in 1692, until, 9-year-old Elizabeth Parris and 11-year-old Abigale Williams had sudden outbursts of screaming, contortions and convulsions, the doctor came and diagnosed witchcraft (Blumberg, Jess) And from this time on, the people of Salem believed there were witches all around them.
When I learned that I would have to do my ethnographic report on what I did during Halloween, I was worried because I live in Turnpike and the most excitement that happens in turnpike is the sound of the garbage truck when it comes to pick up the Wednesday trash. Fortunately something did happen to me and I realized I would not have to write a boring paper of how I woke up and just stayed in my room the whole day. Well the day started off with me waking up and walking to the bathroom to take a shower, as soon as the turned the water on I realized I had left my shower and rather than turning off my shower I stayed in because the warmth of the hot water was too seductive for me to get out and get my towel. In the shower I had my usual thoughts about life, death, and comebacks to old arguments. Afterword I got out of my shower and reached for my toothbrush, which was located in a cupboard behind the toilet, but I grabbed at it too quickly and it fell in the toilet. I stood over my toilet for about five minutes just staring at my toothbrush in the toilet not believing what just happened, after that I started blaming myself for being too impatient. When I was done feeling sorry for myself I went into my room in search of another toothbrush but unluckily I couldn’t find one, so I had to go walk to the local store at around 7:30 in search of a toothbrush. While searching for a replacement toothbrush I realized that not that many people were in the store, I had always thought that stores were busiest in the morning and evening but apparently that’s not true. Once I got my new toothbrush I finished brushing, got dressed and went to catch the 11 to the Transit Center.
The Salem Witch Trials, a series of horrifying events that occurred over 300 years ago, comprise one of the darkest chapters of American History. They began as two Salem girls lit the spark for a wildfire of hysteria and confusion that would consume the innocence of Salem Village. A year and twenty needless deaths later, the trials were put to a sudden stop. In addition, many theories behind the horror relate to events still taking place in the world today. Although this American tragedy occurred hundreds of years ago, the underlying reasons are still not fully understood.
The town of Salem, Massachusetts took a rather dark turn within the 17th century as the townsfolk of Salem were shaped and heavily influenced by the beliefs and superstitions of dark and evil magic, or rather the work of demons, satan and most importantly witches. The puritans that had come from England to Salem, that wanted to be separated from the Church Of England, had brought along with them their strong beliefs that satan recruited people, or more specifically witches and wizards, to do badly onto to others. The lives of the citizens in Salem had taken a stupendous impact from their fears and superstitions. These strong notions had become so involved in the lives of the citizens of Salem that it led to many innocent people being persecuted for witchcraft. The most memorable incident being the series of Salem witch trials, conducted in the year of 1692, which resulted in the execution of twenty people, most of
For three hundred years prior to the Salem Witch Trials, a “witchcraft craze” rippled throughout Europe where tens of thousands of people, mostly women, were executed. In 1689, English rulers William and Mary started a war with France in the American colonies. Upstate New York was ravaged and sent refugees into Salem. The refugees strained Salem’s resources. Puritans believed in witches and their ability to harm others, and this made many people suspicious of each other creating a great deal of tension. A recent epidemic of small pox had gone around in early 1692 and killed about five hundred people. Small pox was brought over with people who were traveling from Europe to America causing people to be extremely frantic and careful so that they did not catch the disease. Apprehension within the community continued to build (Source 11). This “witchcraft craze,” along with suspicions and resentment of their neighbors is what set the sta...
Modern people find it preposterous that their antecedents believed in women flying on brooms or the Devil tormenting decent Christians, but, in fact, for New Englanders, it was a serious issue of great concern. The widespread fear and uncertainty of uneasy times made colonists turn their backs even on the ones they loved. What caused people to be so overwhelmed with fear and what really contributed to the outbreak of hysteria? The issue has been an immensely popular one among scholars for over three hundred years. Especially in the 60s of the 20th century, there emerged a group of academics and independent writers who attempted to discover the underlying causes of the persecution of witchcraft but the number of books and articles only testifies to the fact that the reasons for that still seem to be shrouded in
From my experience, when I was interviewed for my scholarship, I already knew that maintaining an eye contact is not only crucial when talking with to my interviewer but also to any American. In addition, even though I knew that Halloween is part of the American culture here in the USA, I did not know that it would be as crazy as it seemed to me in South Africa. Like my South African friends, my I released the American preparing prepare for Halloween in advance; my American friends bought their Halloween outfit from home. On the night of Halloween, I was astonished by how literally everyone was prepared to party and the most importantly, how many types of weird outfits people were wearing. As usual, I was not prepared, no Halloween costume even though I was invited by my American friends. I was shocked that it was as crazy as I expected it to be, considering my experience in South Africa; for example, there are some people who were almost naked, some took their creativity to another level by wearing mailing boxes, vampire and other beast
When Halloween approaches, I feel the air becoming cooler and the nights becoming longer. Clouds over lap the moon creating an eerie look in the sky. Children grow more and more excited to put on their costumes, and they spend one night out of the whole year going door to door getting free candy. As I have grown up over the years, Halloween is celebrated differently for me. I always notice that even though it is celebrated differetly the people haven’t changed and that’s what makes it memorable.
It is human nature to become superstitious and fearful upon witnessing something they cannot explain or when they make a seemingly flawless observation that links one thing to another. It is often for the human mind to attempt the path of least resistance and instead leap to a conclusion rather than to pursue a more complicated answer. Such uneducated thinking took lead and from it arouse the prospect of witchcraft. The simple idea that if your neighbor were acting peculiarly or children, particularly female children, were misbehaving in some way that they must be a witch allowed an easy scapegoat for the minds of continental Americans and became a widespread accusation. The acts of the “witches” often varied, though they were commonly blamed
Although Christ's Nativity has been celebrated since the 4th century, most of the English customs we are familiar with today are as recent as the mid-19th century. Many of the early ceremonies were started with pagan beliefs.
but they then turned into clowns attack cars and taunting innocent people.” children reported clowns were trying to lure them into woods with money’ says one reporter, these clowns are going for little kids who will follow for any type of bribe. These scares starting back in the 70’s when “Pogo the
Throughout history, the celebration for Halloween has changed and more people are participating in some way or another. Costumes have changed, becoming more and more detailed. Parents are working more and free time is more difficult to come by, so parents are just buying expensive costumes even though it is just cheaper to make it home. Costumes are not just for the kids either. Halloween is celebrated at schools, in restaurants, in shopping malls, and around local communities.