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Halloween
is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It includes activities such as trick-or-treating, carving of jack-o-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires and costume parties. Halloween is a tradition celebrated in the western world, including the United States, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, Puerto Rico and sometimes in parts of Australia and New Zealand. It originated in the United States from Irish immigrants who carried the traditions to North America in the 19th century. Many people decorate the outside of their homes for Halloween with colored lights, scary witches, ghosts, vampires, bats, tombstones and jack-o-lanterns. In fact, Halloween has become the second most decorated holiday in the United States, following Christmas. Black and orange are the traditional colors of Halloween. The first official city-wide Halloween celebration in the United States occurred in Anoka, Minnesota in 1921.
Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain, which was celebrated at the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. In the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, November 1st marked the end of summer and the beginning of the long, cold, dark winter - a time of year also often associated with human death.
Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. They celebrated Samhain on October 31st, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of these spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort during the long, dark winter. The name “Halloween” is actually shortened from “All-hallow-even,” which is the eve of “All Hallows Day,” also known as “All Saints Day.” All Saints Day was a day of religious festivities in various ancient northern European cultures, which occurred on November 1, one day after the Celts celebrated Samhain. The two holidays were, at the time, celebrated together on the same day.
The carving of vegetable lanterns may have been brought over by the Scottish or English - it is not really known when or by whom. The carved pumpkin was originally associated with harvest time in America and did not become specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century. Pumpkins were probably used because they were more plentiful than other vegetables, such as turnips. Some say the term “Jack-o-Lantern,” originates from the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night. This story has been passed down through generations of Irish families. Much of the later imagery surrounding Halloween can be attributed to American filmmakers who put their mark on the holiday with dark, mysterious fictional characters like Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, goblins, zombies and the mummy.
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