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Essay on the history of halloween
3 paragraphs on history of halloween
Essay on the history of halloween
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Halloween is widely celebrated and known, but most people who celebrate this holiday don’t know the true origin and why it is celebrated. Halloween has lost its meaning in the modern world, it is a holiday only for fun, parties, candy, rotting teeth, and scaring people. I think the origin behind Halloween is better than what we make it out to be today. Halloween’s earliest trace is the Celtic festival, Samhain, which is the last day of the Celtic calendar; also known as summer’s end. Summer’s end is mark for end of harvest and the transition to winter which is important to the Celts because they live off of the plants they grow and the animals they raise. Halloween is often traced back to the Druids which is a Celtic culture in Ireland, Britain, and northern Europe.
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Feralia is for the passing of the dead and Pomona is the goddess of fruits and trees. Bobbing for apples was one activity they did to honor Pomona because apples were the symbol for her. Christians wanted to replace Samhain with All Saint’s day in 835. The children celebrated All Saint’s Day by doing the Danse Macabre which is translated to Dance of Death. Danse Macabre is used to summon the dead (University of Albany pg.1). Christians created All Hallows Eve, the evening before All Saints Day, to convert pagans (Harrison College). Halloween is often thought of a holiday were people can be scared and others can scare out of fun. This aspect of Halloween became very prominent after Michael Myers was introduced in 1978. This also began the Halloween tradition of releasing horror movies in October (Hicks). Most people only celebrate this holiday today because of the candy and the fun, not many people know the history of Halloween and how it became what it is today. When people do think they know the history of Halloween, they often confuse it with another day known as Day of the Dead. What is this holiday and how is it
Late autumn has arrived and with it comes the dark magic of Halloween--and, of course, the
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
Halloween is believed to have been developed over two thousand years ago, before even the birth of Jesus. It originated from the Celtic people native to Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, and
By the mid-1820s masks and costumes were again legal. The first documented Mardi Gras parade took place in 1837, and the parade soon became an annual tradition. However, outbursts of violence at the parades gave the festivities a bad name.(?Mardi Gras? Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99) Shrove Tuesday immediately precedes Ash Wednesday and is the last day before Lent. Mardi Gras has been noted for the elaborate mumming parades and boisterous parties that characterize its celebration in New Orleans, Trinidad... ...
Once the boy has reached the top of the stairs he turns into another room and collects the mask to change his identity when doing the murder. Ironically, earlier on this same mask is used by the boyfriend to amuse his girl friend with. Like in the rest of Halloween there is low key lighting like shadows and darkness to build suspense for the audience. Whilst this is going on in the back ground you can hear Michael's sister humming quietly which symbolizes her innocence and purity of heart .Michael
Imagine having the worst potential Halloween nightmares come to life for a night. Everything from the “Boogeyman” to innocent random people being killed by chainsaws and other disturbing ways. The film Halloween does all that and then some. The movie begins with an innocent looking six year old boy named Michael Myers dresses up in a clown costume and stabs his older sister Judith to death. After that incident Michael ends up going to jail with a plan of being put away for a long time. Then on October 30, 1978 about fifteen years after Michael was sent to jail he escapes. Michael escaping proves to be a major event as most would guess. However, the underlying note in all of this is that the following day is Halloween. Unfortunately,
Mardi Gras, literally “Fat Tuesday,” has grown in popularity in recent years as a raucous’ sometimes hedonistic event. Buts its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the “last hurrah” before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That is why the enormous ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday. There are well-known season-long Carnival celebrations in Europe and Latin America, including Nice, France; Cologne, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The best known celebration in the United States is in New Orleans and the French-Catholic communities of the Gulf Coast. Another popular site for the celebration of Mardi Gras is Galveston, Texas. Mardi Gras has become a major influence to the people and the economy of Galveston. With its great history and deep economic impact Mardi Gras is beneficial to both the community and visitors to the Island. The first celebration took place in 1867, when a dramatic entertainment and masked ball took place in the old Turner Hall. The dramatic entertainment was a scene from “‘King Henry IV,’ featuring Alvan Reed (a justice of the peace weighing in at 350 pounds!) as Falstaff” (Mardi Gras!). The first time Mardi Gras was celebrated to any great extent was in 1871, when there were two night parades by separate organizations, one known as the Knights of Momus and the other as the Knights of Myth, both of which devised masked ball, exquisite costumes. In the years that followed, the parades and balls grew more elaborate and attracting attention throughout the state. After the hurricane of 1900 the events were discontinued for several years.
Popular culture was mixed with ecclesiastical culture in many ways. The story of St. John the Baptist is a good example of this. The ancient ritual of bathing and lighting fires during Midsummer's Eve was a remnant of a ritual from the pre-Christian period. Fire and water, symbols of purification, could be seen as the tools of St. John the Baptist, and therefore a combination of the two elements of popular and ecclesiastical culture was obvious. It looks as if the Medieval Church took over the festival and made it theirs. The same thing happened to the Midwinter Festival, which became linked with the birth of Christ, on 25 December.
I can’t hold in my excitement as I run to the foyer. Mom looks at me worriedly, but I ignore her and throw open the door before the person standing behind it can knock. He looks at me with boredom lacing his expression, obviously expecting my weird gift to tell the future. I quickly hug him and grab his pale hand, pulling him outside. Tonight is Halloween, and the only time my pale blonde friend visits me. He’s my first and only friend, so I don’t mind that he doesn’t play with me the other three hundred sixty-something days in the year.
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
Everybody celebrates Halloween, but some people might celebrate the spooky holiday in a variety of ways. Most people celebrate this holiday by going door to door asking the greeters for candy while in their costumes. Others may see the night as an advantage to play pranks on others or even to create public haunted houses or haunted trails. For people that like to hold public events, they may create costume parties. For those that are either lazy or they just don’t want to participate in the events, they may spend the night by staying in their houses and doing an activity of their own. Most do not know this, but Halloween was originally a holiday to honor loved ones who passed.
If you think butchering an innocent animal for its blood is evil? Because I certainly do! These crimes and a whole lot worse are connected to coven’s and witchcraft. Including dare I say human sacrifice? Who would ever teach or want there children to repeat type of morbid evil to the core behavior. Oh there will be those who say it’s not so bad? Or so what? Because they’ve been desensitized to just how evil and cruel they really are by books and movies that show them as good witches or trying to repackage it in a much more friendly seeming way. I’m not saying that everyone who reads a book like harry potter or watches a movie concerning witches will become one. But what we are saying is those are tools whereby far too many, even Christians have become desensitized to the real evils of witch craft. And especially on Oct 31st, Its not right for evil to be promoted or marketed on this day! A day is what you make it! But who in there right mind wants to celebrate evil or anything evil or wrong done to them or there family or any other for that matter? Don’t get me wrong I’m not against the idea of Halloween. When I was a kid, even as I grew older in a way, it was one
Mardi Gras has been around for a very long time. It originated in the 1800s. When most people think of Mardi Gras, they think of floats, throws, parties, and lots of fun. The original meaning for the celebration is not what it is mostly known for today. “‘Carnival,’ to distinguish between Mardi Gras day itself and the entire period between Twelfth Night and Lent, is observed by a series of balls and parades presented by a variety of organizations which represent almost every national and social group in the city” (Cohen 110). These parades
Couple B, on the under hand, are firm believers that Halloween is Satanic in nature, and sees it as a demonic form of worshiping. To support their position they rely on Ephesians 6:12 which reads, “For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms” (NIV).
Modern Halloween celebrations also extend past wearing costumes. Fun activities such as pumpkin-carving, bobbing for apples, and Pinteresting adorable Halloween crafts or food are also trendy. Jack-o-lanterns, originally created to avert evil spirits, are now used more for entertainment and decoration. Speaking of decorations, some individuals pride themselves on decorating their lawns with inflatable monsters, graveyards, or other Halloween paraphernalia. Another popular tradition is attending haunted houses and going to corn fields or pumpkin patches, especially “haunted” ones. Despite the fact that modern Halloween is more focused on eating candy, dressing up, and hanging out with friends, these are still underlying currents of superstition.