by Kelly Sallaway - LincsMag Writer.
Date: 19 October 2010
The history of Halloween dates back a couple thousand years to the Celtic people who lived in what is now Great Britain and Northern France. The Celts lead by Druid Priests practiced pagan rituals on October 31st, a day that marked the change from Fall to Winter.
The day now is a mix of these ancient Celtic practices, folk traditions, Harvest celebrations, along with Roman and Catholic rituals.
The Catholic observance of All Saints Day gave rise to the observance of 'All Hallows Eve' for the night before November 1st, which eventually morphed into the name, Halloween.
Although religion and superstitions surrounded the holiday, by the 19th century Halloween became a secular based Holiday. It is hard to say how an event filled with demons, witches and walking dead became a children's and family holiday but it is now celebrated around the world.
Many of the original observances of bon fires, costumes and bobbing for apples have remained. In most places kids dress up as ghosts and goblins, people decorate homes with black cats and spider webs while Haunted Houses are created just for the occasion.
Halloween activities now include adult and kids events, club nights, corn field mazes, jack-o-lantern carving and trick or treating. 'Trick-or-Treating' is still the main reason kids love Halloween... free candy!
Also derived from a Medieval tradition, Children dressed in costumes go door to door begging for a treat with the threat of playing a trick on anyone who doesn't add to their sack of sweets.
The candy and food industries have taken advantage of Holiday and packaged every type of treat into small sizes that are perfect for parties and Trick-or-Treaters.
The Holiday is sweet for American retailers who predict this year (2010) consumers will spend a whopping $6 billion dollars on candy, costumes and decorations. 40% of adults will dress up for Halloween, 70% will hand out candy.
As Americans we tend to take an event and run with it, loving to go over-the-top with decor and food. Some people spend months decorating for Halloween with elaborate displays designed to scare the kids and shock the neighborhood.
Over half of the population will decorate their homes and almost everyone will participate in some way. Halloween is not the biggest Holiday but it is a merchandising bonanza with lot of stuff to buy for no reason except for fun.
People revel in the chance to be creative, cut loose and go out on the town in disguise. The event is becoming less and less about children.
The majority spent on costumes, over a billion dollars annually, goes toward adults. 11% of Halloween fans say they will also dress up their pets.
Halloween signifies the changing weather and in the USA it is the kick-off to the "Holiday Season" (closely followed by Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years). The money spent celebrating the Holiday is an indicator used to predict the upcoming Holiday shopping season.
Even though Halloween is about witches, monsters and creepy crawly things people love it. It is like watching a horror film where we welcome a chance to be frightened out of our wits! Even though it promotes gruesome imagery the holiday didn't actually grow out of evil practices.
Much of the Halloween legend, like Vampires and Werewolves have grown from films and popular culture. It serves as a chance to celebrate the Fall season and maybe live out the night in your fantasy costume.
Halloween can be as scary as you want to make it!