Halloween 

Halloween is one of the most popular occasions which is celebrated in a number of countries. Of course, in some countries, Halloween is seen as an unwanted and overly commercial American influence. Nowadays, the tradition has found its way to other cultures all over the world; nations far away from UK and US, now celebrate this event or at least know about it, thanks to the social media. In this post, we're going to dive into some basic information about this fun celebration.

All Hallows’ Eve

Halloween is actually a contraction of All Hallows’ Eve, which highlights the beginning of the time of year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows) and martyrs. It is thought to have originated around 4000 B.C. and it is actually celebrated on the night of October 31st. In the past, people believed the souls of dead people appeared on Halloween, so in order to prevent them, people would dress up like scary ghosts to frighten away the wandering evil spirits. 

The theme of the event is frightening & grotesque; houses are decorated as haunting and spooky as possible. Everything seems spooky and the more people are successful in frightening one another, the more fun it is. So, every year, people plan ways to scare each other to death and play scary pranks on one another. 

There are different stories or roots (Christian or pagan) about the origin of Halloween and its related customs, but since it brings a lot of joy and fun to families, kids and of course the adults, it’s getting even more popular. People add their creativity to the old traditions and make it more fun

Activities and Things People Do

Some people hold parties and wear special costumes representing a special character; kids dress up in scary costumes, going from house to house and asking for sweets, especially in the US and Canada. Some others, like to decorate their houses, especially with fake spiders, spider webs, bats, skeletons, tombstones, and they play scary music, in order to create a spooky mood. Some families go to pumpkin patches with their kids, to buy some pumpkins and put them as a decoration in front of their houses, on the porches or stairs. People may also go to haunted houses, where they pay to enter and get scared. They also love to watch horror movies and experience the sense of being frightened. 

Halloween Words

First of all, talking about the day, we use the preposition ‘at’ for Halloween; for example, we say ‘at Halloween, people attend costume parties.’ 

Costume Party 

Everyone is expected to wear a special costume, especially frightening ones as the idea is to scare the others and not to be recognized; in the past, wearing costumes was to ward off the evil spirits and frighten them; for this reason, the people would dress like dead bodies or wandering ghosts so that they would not be recognized by the evil souls. People attend costume parties, dressing up in skeleton or ghost costumes, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. Common conversations happening among people are as follows: 

• A: What are you gonna be for Halloween? = what do you want to wear? What character do you wanna be?
• B: I’m gonna be Batman = I’m gonna dress up as batman. 

They mostly choose superheroes like iron man or spider man; however, some people prefer other common costumes like: ghosts, witches, pirates, zombies; being a mummy is also very common. (a body wrapped in white strips). People may also wear masks, animal masks or any other common demonic style masks. 

Trick or Treat 

The other custom which is very fun, especially for kids, is ‘trick or treat’; children go trick or treating by dressing up in costumes, carrying a bag or pumpkin-like container, and going from house to house, saying ‘trick or treat’ in order to get sweets. The kids ring the doorbells, and when the door is open, they hold out their bags and say “trick or treat”; they actually mean that they will play a trick to frighten the household if they don’t receive chocolates or candies. Most households prepare Candy bars, sweets, chocolate bars, for the expected Halloween kids. 

Bonfire

Bonfire is a large outdoor fire which is made on this special night to ward off the evil ghosts and spirits. The custom still remains, but few cultures observe it.  

Jack-o’-lantern

Origin 

According to some sources, the practice of making jack-o’-lanterns originated in Ireland and the name, jack-o’-lantern, most probably comes from an Irish myth (or folktale) which is about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” In Ireland, people started to carve demonic faces out of turnips to frighten away Jack’s wandering soul. This custom was later taken to America by Irish immigrants. The original jack-o’-lantern has been a carved turnip, but since pumpkin was a native vegetable to America, the new lanterns were made of pumpkins. 

Stingy Jack

As stated in history.com, Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him but he refused to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. But he betrayed him, and kept the coin in his pocket next to a silver Cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack tricked the devil once more by making him climb a tree and had him got stuck there for a while, until he released the devil with new promises. Actually, the devil promised jack not to bother him for ten more years, beside his previous promise, not to claim his soul once he’s dead. 

Finally, when Jack died, he was not allowed to enter either heaven or hell due to his unacceptable deeds on earth. As a result, jack remained a wandering soul, roaming the earth with only a carved turnip with an ember, a burning coal, inside to light his way; The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern.”

Do you celebrate Halloween in your country? If not, do you think it is ok for different nations to celebrate traditions of other cultures?

Halloween

Robi B