IndexHistory of trick or treatingHalloween PartiesWorks CitedHalloween or the day also called Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve or All Saints' Eve, is a celebration established in many countries on the thirty-first day of October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints. The three-day observance of the season begins, the time within the year's religious rite dedicated to remembering the dead, as well as saints (saints), martyrs, and all devout departed. It is widely believed that several Halloween days or traditions originated from ancient Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic Samhain competition; that such festivals could have had pagan roots; that Samhain itself was Christianized as Halloween by the early Church. Some believe, however, that that day began only as a Christian holiday but distance themselves from ancient holidays such as Samhain. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The night before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween has evolved into a day of activities such as trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, wearing costumes, and eating candy. The origins of Halloween date back to the traditional Celtic competition of Samhain. The Celts, who lived two thousand years ago, largely in the space that currently includes Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated New Year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and thus the harvest and thus the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year typically related to human death. The Celts believed that on the night before the New Year the line between the world of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of the thirty-first of October Samhain was celebrated, it was once absolutely believed that the ghosts of the deceased returned to earth. In addition to causing nuisance and damaging crops, the Celts thought that the presence of supernatural spirits eased the path of the dead. Druids, or Celtic priests, to make long-term predictions. For a nation completely dependent on unstable nature, these prophecies were a crucial source of comfort and guidance during the long, dark winter. To commemorate the event, the Druids created large sacred bonfires, where individuals gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to Celtic deities. Throughout the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, generally made of animal heads and skins, and tried to inform each other about fortunes. When the celebration ended, they rekindled the fires of the hearth, the one they had destroyed earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to protect them during the approaching winter. The celebration of Halloween was very limited in colonial New England, due to strict Protestant belief systems. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and even the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of various European ethnic groups and even American Indians blended, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. the main celebrations included "game festivals", i.e. public events organized to celebrate the harvest. Neighbors shared stories of the dead, told each other's fortunes, danced and sang. Colonial Halloween festivities also involved telling ghost stories and doing evil of all kinds. By the mid-nineteenth century, annual holidays were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated across the country. History of Trick-or-Treating Borrowing from European traditions, Americans began dressing in costumes and going from house to house asking for food orcash, a practice that eventually became today's trick-or-treating tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could guess the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple cutouts or mirrors. In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to turn Halloween into a holiday more about community and friendly gatherings than about ghosts, pranks, and black art. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties full of games, seasonal foods and festive costumes. Parents were inspired by newspapers and community leaders to take something "scary" or "grotesque" out of Halloween celebrations. due to these efforts, Halloween lost most of its irrational and spiritual overtones by the early 20th century. Halloween Parties By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular but community-centered holiday, with city-wide parades and events. Halloween parties because of the entertainment provided. Despite the most effective efforts of many universities and communities, acts of vandalism began to plague some celebrations in several communities during this period. By the 1950s, city leaders were able to successfully curb vandalism, and Halloween transformed into a holiday aimed primarily at young people. Thanks to the large number of children during the baby boom generation of the 1950s, parties were kidnapped from city civic centers into classrooms or homes, where they could be more easily accommodated. Between 1920 and 1950, the age-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive means for an entire community to share in the celebration of Halloween. In theory, families could also prevent pranks from being played on them by offering neighborhood children small treats. Thus was born a new American tradition, which has continued to grow. Today, Americans pay about $6 billion a year for Halloween, making it the country's second-largest industry holiday after Christmas. Halloween costumes are historically sculptural and are inspired by supernatural figures such as vampires, monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches and devils. Over time, in the United States, the choice of costumes has expanded to include fashionable fictional characters, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses. Dressing up in costumes and "dressing up" was common in European countries and Ireland on Halloween in the late 19th century. A Scottish term, the tradition is called "guising" because of the disguises or costumes worn by children. In Ireland the masks are called 'false faces'. Costumes became fashionable for Halloween parties in the United States in the early 20th century, for both adults and youth. The first factory-made Halloween costumes appeared in stores in the 1930s as trick-or-treating was becoming fashionable in the United States. Haunted attractions are recreational venues designed to thrill and scare patrons. Most of the attractions are seasonal Halloween activities that will include haunted houses, corn mazes, and hayrides, and so the level of sophistication of the results has increased because the industry has fully grown. On All Hallows' Eve, several Western Christian denominations encourage abstinence from meat, giving rise to a variety of modern-day vegetarian foods. Since in the Northern Hemisphere, Halloween comes on the heels of the annual apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples outside of North America), caramel apples, or candied apples are common.