Halloween Through History

614 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: History of halloween essay

Every year we celebrate a holiday at the end of October involving costumes, candy, and pranks. Can you guess which holiday I am talking about? Of course you can! Halloween is one of the biggest holidays of the year ,second only to (in my opinion) Christmas. We follow many strange traditions on Halloween, but why? Why do we dress up? Why do we get candy? And what is the meaning of the phrase “ Trick or Treat”?

In order to explain, this we need to go back to the very beginning of this creepy holiday. Long ago, a people known as the Celts celebrated a holiday they called Samhain. The Celts lived two thousand years ago in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Northern France. Celts began each new year on November first; This is the day that ends the harvest and marks the beginning of winter, cold and hard, which many then feared they had not stored enough food to survive. With that in mind it is no small wonder that this time of year was often associated with death. So the day before, Samhain , Celts believed that this world and the Deadworld boundaries blurred and th...

Show More
Related

  • Dia De Los Muertos Thesis

    900 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even though the Day of the Dead and Halloween are both offshoots of all Saints' and all Souls' Days, their tone couldn't be more diverse. Halloween's images of skeletons and spirits emphasize on the frightening, gruesome, and ghoulish parts of the celebration. Society jolts, if delightfully, at the alleged terrifying spirits intimidating the living realm. On Day of the Dead, the focus isn't on personal menacing spooks, it's on celebrating with one's family alive and dead and recalling those who are no longer alive. It's on seeing death as another phase succeeding existence, rather being confronted with

    Read More

  • Use Of Imagery In Mac Hammond's 'Halloween'

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem “Halloween” does such a great job at conveying that image of trick or treating. This poem takes into account the nostalgic feeling one gets when looking back at past memories such as this. Going door to door dressed in your favorite outfit. The use of imagery is so strong it is easy to be right there almost as if it were yesterday. The poet Mac Hammond writes “Kids come, beckoned by / Fingers of shadows on leaf-strewn lawns / To trick or treat” (15-17). This goes on to describe the pull and excitement a child gets when arriving at a house. The shadows of the owners Halloween decorations are cast onto the fall lawn, calling children to the front door. Not only does this give the reader an image of the fall weather, but of the Halloween decorations on someone’s house. Children tend to be drawn towards homes with decorations because it feels more welcoming. Therefore, this is where the beckoning feeling comes from. Not only does Hammond do a wonderful job by using imagery, but also the sound personified in this poem is

    Read More

  • A Personal Ethnographic Report on Halloween

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Why Modern Monsters Have Become Alien to Us

    2985 Words  | 6 Pages

    Late autumn has arrived and with it comes the dark magic of Halloween--and, of course, the

    Read More

  • Halloween Hunt Research Paper

    539 Words  | 2 Pages

    My friend Adriana and I go to halloween hunt and get chased by a clown not one clown but two clowns and they chased us all the way to world of fun and after that we rode the maba and during the parade so we could be up higher. We went in the hospital and we went in the rooms it was scary there was girl in one corner and people in the beds and they there was a doctor doing surgery with one eye popping out of socket it was wild but it look cool and we went on rides! It was scary and cool it was really fun getting scared and running away from people the people scaring us.

    Read More

  • Compare The Holidays Of Halloween And The Day Of The Dead?

    1324 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the end of October and the beginning of November, two historically celebrated holidays come to pass. Each holiday has been celebrated for centuries, and each one continues to have a large impact on society. Interestingly, they developed in two separate civilizations from different hemispheres and occur around the same time. The two distinct holidays of Halloween and Day of the Dead both share similar origins and a focus on spiritual aspects and yet have still remained unique celebrations that continue to largely impact culture.

    Read More

  • Halloween Argumentative Essay

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    Going back 2,000 years to what it’s now Ireland, the Celts celebrated their new year. An ancient tradition known as “The festival of Samhain”. It marked the end of summer and the harvest. Although it also meant the beginning of a dark and cold winter which was

    Read More

  • Day Of The Dead Research Paper

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    Halloween is celebrated with happy feelings because the children love enjoying this holiday but also fear from being scared. Day of the Dead is happy and sad feelings because they are celebrating the dead but also mourning the loss. During Halloween children run around laughing having fun while during the beginning it was more of a sad time mourning the loses (Wikimedia Commons). During Day of the Dead most people are happy enjoying the holiday celebrating the dead (Ancona). People have different feelings on this holidays that most people do not realize. People’s feelings can be seen through the way they dress up during these

    Read More

  • Represent Or Informative Essay: What Is Halloween Originated?

    500 Words  | 1 Pages

    Halloween started as Samhain, a Celtic celebration. Samhain celebrated the end of a successful year of harvest, while ushering the colder months. The Celtic people were the first to celebrate Halloween as Samhain, and were the ones responsible for the belief in ghouls, witches, and various other supernatural forces. The Celts were highly superstitious because all of their sustenance came from living off the land. The gods that they believed in were nature gods and in order to have a productive harvest and to make it through the winter, the Celts needed to appease their gods.

    Read More

  • Halloween Research Paper

    464 Words  | 1 Pages

    The best halloween house is not always the scariest house,It's the one with the best candy.What is the best house on halloween ?What does it take to have the best halloween house?The best halloween house is the ones with the best candy and not the houses with decorations,candy is what makes halloween.Think about it if you didn’t have candy on halloween would you still go to trick or treating?Most likely you would not thats why candy makes the best halloween house.Although the best house is not always the scariest,But the best house is the one with the best candy.

    Read More

  • Halloween In The 19th Century

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Comparing Halloween And Christmas

    871 Words  | 2 Pages

    People dream of the months of pumpkin spice, fall leaves, and scary decorations. When that's all over, they move on to putting their decorations on a tree, hanging twinkly lights, and drinking eggnog. The months of October through December cause people to become enlivened at the thought of what they will do to celebrate the holidays that are in them. Halloween and Christmas are two holidays in the last few months of the year that so many people look forward to. Halloween is the fear-based holiday involving frightful decor, receiving candy from strangers, and dressing in costume while throwing a party. Christmas is celebrated by filling houses with all things red and green, gifting presents topped with bows, having a family dinner, and throwing

    Read More

  • Best Halloween Costume Ideas

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    Halloween is that time of the year where you can showcase your creativity, play pretend, or dress up like your favorite superhero or character. Your choice of costume can run from simple to totally outrageous. You can buy it off the shelf or take the DIY route.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Day Of The Dead

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    Americans celebrate Halloween as a sort of party in our communities. We hold parties and kids go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. For

    Read More

  • Halloween: An Evolving American Consumption Ritual By Russell W. Belk

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    Halloween is theoretically the most dangerous holiday celebrated in America. The practice of trick-or-treat allows criminals the opportunity to hurt children by tampering with their Halloween sweets. For decades, many Americans have understood that this traditional practice of door to door candy collection was absolutely unsafe, and still many today aim to abolish it completely. Nevertheless, they have failed to recognize that theoretical dangers do not always apply to real life scenarios. For example, Black Friday shopping poses as more of a danger than Halloween due to the excessive traffic, colder weather conditions, and larger crowds of people; yet, people still participate in the event. As for Halloween, the children can participate in an activity to collect free candy under lesser hardships, such as being involved

    Read More

More about Halloween Through History

Open Document