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Halloween ClearlyExplained.Com

Halloween

ClearlyExplained.Com

31 November 2007

by Richard Conan-Davies BSc Dip Ed

A straightforward and fast information
guide to Halloween from ClearlyExplained.Com

What is Halloween?

Halloween is a celebration in mainly North America and Ireland on the 31st of November, the day before All Saints, which traditionally revolves around themes of the super natural.

What
Why
News
How
History
Future

Why is Halloween Important?

It is important mainly from a traditional aspect and fun aspect for those in North America. Modern celebrations do not have a very religious overtone; it is a time for being a little bit silly.

Cultural aspects -Halloween can be thought of as quite a creative time. Spooky and supernatural themes are expressed in such things as costumes, art and music. Some pagans object to the festival for the way ancient traditions are severely altered. Other pagans are glad that some form of the traditions continue.

News about Halloween

Halloween is usually only in the press during the day or days leading up to the 31st of November. On occasion there are dramatic events occuring that are coincidently spooky or dramatic.

Google News Search on Halloween

Yahoo News Search of Halloween

How is Halloween Celebrated?

The main way of celebrating halloween in North America is for children to go 'trick or treating' dressed up in costumes such as a witch, ghost, goblin etc.

The main tradition is that children will knock on their neighbour's door and demand a treat, such as a lolly or chocolate. If no treat is received then a trick may be played on the house they visited. This is usually something simple like throwing eggs or toilet paper at the house.

reference: Halloween, Wikipedia

Why are there pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns?

This is mainly because of the time of year in the northern hemisphere. It is Autumn ( Fall) time and pumpkins and apples are more available. Pumpkins are easier to carve than the more traditional turnip. Jack'o'Lantern is an Irish term for a watchman. An old Irish tale tells of a man named Jack tricking the devil.

All Saints Day is still celebrated in some Christian communities, including a recitation of the names of people who have died in the previous year.

History of Halloween

Halloween was orginally started as an ancient Gaelic festival known as Samhain from the Old Irish samain. This festival was a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. This also explains the prominence of apples and pumpkins as treats during halloween.

Halloween was seen as a time when the divisions between the living and the dead blurred. Children dressed as magical creatures and demons to disguise themselves among the supernatural crowd. Some costumed children were given treats in case there were actual demons hidden among the kids. Traditional activities included a variety of fortune-telling methods, such as finding a ring baked into a cake to predict a wedding.

Future of Halloween

It is likely Halloween will continue well into the foreseeable future because of its fun and commercial nature. Most religious groups seem unsure what to make of Halloween, but the majority of both pagan and Christian groups are content to ignore the supernatural implications of the celebration and just have fun.