By Jessica M
The True Meaning of Halloween
This year I asked myself if I really knew the reason why we celebrate Halloween (or All Hallows Eve), which is one of the oldest holidays, and is celebrated all over the world in a variety of ways. To many Americans Halloween is a time to dress up, carve pumpkins, and go from door to door asking for candy and saying “trick or treat”. Halloween is celebrated in many countries in a variety of ways. It is particularly in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Although we understand little about the origin of this holiday, it’s important to know that on Halloween it was thought that “the ghosts of the dead returned to earth”.
The reason why we as children dress up on Halloween goes all the way back to an ancient Celtic custom. About 2000 years ago, in what we now know as Ireland “Celtic tribes believed that spirits from the dead would come back to earth annually on October 31st at the end of their year, in fear of this, they would wear costumes to try and trick them“. But today of course things have changed in America, people put a lot of effort and thinking, on what they are going to wear for Halloween, when the time comes there are so many options, you can make your own costume, do your own make up, or buy everything at the store, you can dress as anything you want… as long as you don’t look like yourself, the possibilities are endless.
The Halloween tradition of carving pumpkins “dates back to the Middle Ages when turnips or gourds with fires lit in them were carried to scare evil spirits away, which they were thought to be roaming the earth during this season“. These days, tons of people get pumpkins, grab their knife and start carving and pulling out pumpkin guts, everybody uses their imagination and gets to work, they carve faces of scary monsters, animals, ghosts, etc., then a candle is placed inside, that lightens up the pumpkins, some of them are fun, some of them are creepy, but no matter how they look, they come alive at dusk.
The last day of the month of October, a celebration begins and Children go from door to door yelling “trick or treat” each year. “At first it was seen as confusing, possibly some form of threat which means (give me a treat or I’ll do something nasty to you), or a form of begging”, but eventually it became a tradition and is a word that many of us learn at a young age.
Another characteristic of this fun and superstitious day, is when people put all sorts of decorations and Halloween related items such as; lights (orange, purple, and black ), spider webs, caution signs, scare crows, and of course their Jack O’ Lanterns, in their homes, offices, or business, to let people know that they celebrate this tradition and with out further explanation we know this is a welcome for us trick-or-treaters.
Children and young adults enjoy this spooky holiday every year, but to us it’s all about the candy, costumes, or carving pumpkins. Most of us don’t even think why we celebrate Halloween all we know is that the clock is ticking and we can’t wait until October 31st
Cited page
Websites
https://www.ehow.com/info_10058738_ Halloween.html
https://www.ask.com/Halloween
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
https://www.history.com/topics/halloween
Books
ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA International addition Vol.13 GOETHE-HAW 1966
The True Meaning of Halloween
This year I asked myself if I really knew the reason why we celebrate Halloween (or All Hallows Eve), which is one of the oldest holidays, and is celebrated all over the world in a variety of ways. To many Americans Halloween is a time to dress up, carve pumpkins, and go from door to door asking for candy and saying “trick or treat”. Halloween is celebrated in many countries in a variety of ways. It is particularly in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Although we understand little about the origin of this holiday, it’s important to know that on Halloween it was thought that “the ghosts of the dead returned to earth”.
The reason why we as children dress up on Halloween goes all the way back to an ancient Celtic custom. About 2000 years ago, in what we now know as Ireland “Celtic tribes believed that spirits from the dead would come back to earth annually on October 31st at the end of their year, in fear of this, they would wear costumes to try and trick them“. But today of course things have changed in America, people put a lot of effort and thinking, on what they are going to wear for Halloween, when the time comes there are so many options, you can make your own costume, do your own make up, or buy everything at the store, you can dress as anything you want… as long as you don’t look like yourself, the possibilities are endless.
The Halloween tradition of carving pumpkins “dates back to the Middle Ages when turnips or gourds with fires lit in them were carried to scare evil spirits away, which they were thought to be roaming the earth during this season“. These days, tons of people get pumpkins, grab their knife and start carving and pulling out pumpkin guts, everybody uses their imagination and gets to work, they carve faces of scary monsters, animals, ghosts, etc., then a candle is placed inside, that lightens up the pumpkins, some of them are fun, some of them are creepy, but no matter how they look, they come alive at dusk.
The last day of the month of October, a celebration begins and Children go from door to door yelling “trick or treat” each year. “At first it was seen as confusing, possibly some form of threat which means (give me a treat or I’ll do something nasty to you), or a form of begging”, but eventually it became a tradition and is a word that many of us learn at a young age.
Another characteristic of this fun and superstitious day, is when people put all sorts of decorations and Halloween related items such as; lights (orange, purple, and black ), spider webs, caution signs, scare crows, and of course their Jack O’ Lanterns, in their homes, offices, or business, to let people know that they celebrate this tradition and with out further explanation we know this is a welcome for us trick-or-treaters.
Children and young adults enjoy this spooky holiday every year, but to us it’s all about the candy, costumes, or carving pumpkins. Most of us don’t even think why we celebrate Halloween all we know is that the clock is ticking and we can’t wait until October 31st
Cited page
Websites
https://www.ehow.com/info_10058738_ Halloween.html
https://www.ask.com/Halloween
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
https://www.history.com/topics/halloween
Books
ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA International addition Vol.13 GOETHE-HAW 1966