Halloween: Difference between revisions

Halloween
Halloween
	A Jack-o'-lantern
Also called	All Hallows’ Eve; All Saints’ Eve
Observed by	Around the world
Type	Secular, Christian, and Celtic tradition
Observances	Costume parties, trick-or-treating in costumes, carving pumpkins, going to haunted houses, bonfires, divination, apple bobbing.
Date	October 31
Related to	Samhain, All Saints’ Day

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Halloween (also spelled Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday observed on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holiday All Saints' Day, but is today largely a secular celebration.

Common Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, committing pranks, telling ghost stories or other frightening tales, and watching horror films.

History

Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)".^[1] The name is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".^[1] A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced Kálan Gái av).

The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes^[2] regarded as the "Celtic New Year".^[3]

The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces.^[4]^[5] Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.^[6] Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual.

Another common practice was divination, which often involved the use of food and drink.

The name 'Halloween' and many of its present-day traditions derive from the Old English era.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Origin of name

The word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Eve, that is, the night before All Hallows Day. Although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English (ealra hálȝena mæssedæȝ, the feast of all saints), All-Hallows-Even is itself not attested until 1556.^[10]

Symbols

Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time encompassing customs of medieval holy days as well as contemporary cultures. The souling practice of commemorating the souls in purgatory with candle lanterns carved from turnips, became adapted into the making of jack-o'-lanterns.^[11] In traditional Celtic Halloween festivals, large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces and placed in windows to ward off evil spirits.^[5] The carving of pumpkins is associated with Halloween in North America where pumpkins are both readily available and much larger – making them easier to carve than turnips.^[12] Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their doorstep after dark. The American tradition of carving pumpkins preceded the Great Famine period of Irish immigration^[13] and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 1800s.^[14]^[15]

The imagery of Halloween is derived from many sources, including national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature (such as the novels Frankenstein and Dracula), and classic horror films (such as Frankenstein and The Mummy).^[16] Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween.

Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, the occult, magic, or mythical monsters.^[17] Traditional characters include ghosts, witches, skeletons, vampires, werewolves, demons, bats, and black cats.^[18] The colours black and orange are associated with the celebrations,^[19] perhaps because of the darkness of night and the colour of fire, autumn leaves or pumpkins.

Trick-or-treating and guising

Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" refers to a (mostly idle) "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. In some parts of Scotland children still go guising. In this custom the child performs some sort of trick, i.e. sings a song or tells a ghost story, to earn their treats.

The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays dates back to the Middle Ages and includes Christmas wassailing. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of souling, when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2). It originated in Ireland and Britain,^[20] although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy.^[21] Shakespeare mentions the practice in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593), when Speed accuses his master of "puling [whimpering or whining] like a beggar at Hallowmas."^[22] The custom of wearing costumes and masks at Halloween goes back to Celtic traditions of attempting to copy the evil spirits or placate them, in Scotland for instance where the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white.^[23]^[24]

American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts wrote the first book length history of the holiday in the US; The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America";

The taste in Hallowe'en festivities now is to study old traditions, and hold a Scotch party, using Burn's poem Hallowe'en as a guide; or to go a-souling as the English used. In short, no custom that was once honored at Hallowe'en is out of fashion now.^[25]

Kelley lived in Lynn, Massachusetts, a town with 4,500 Irish immigrants, 1,900 English immigrants, and 700 Scottish immigrants in 1920.^[26] In her book, Kelley touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic; "Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Hallowe'en customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries".^[27]

At the time of substantial Scottish and Irish immigration to North America in the late 19th century, Halloween had a strong tradition of "guising" - children in Scotland and Ireland disguised in costumes going from door to door requesting food or coins.^[28]

The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in English speaking North America occurs in 1911, when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario reported that it was normal for the smaller children to go street "guising" (see below) on Halloween between 6 and 7 p.m., visiting shops and neighbors to be rewarded with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs..^[29] Another isolated reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920.^[30]

The earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" appears in 1927, from Blackie, Alberta, Canada:

Hallowe’en provided an opportunity for real strenuous fun. No real damage was done except to the temper of some who had to hunt for wagon wheels, gates, wagons, barrels, etc., much of which decorated the front street. The youthful tormentors were at back door and front demanding edible plunder by the word “trick or treat” to which the inmates gladly responded and sent the robbers away rejoicing.^[31]

The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but do not depict trick-or-treating.^[32] The editor of a collection of over 3,000 vintage Halloween postcards writes, "There are cards which mention the custom [of trick-or-treating] or show children in costumes at the doors, but as far as we can tell they were printed later than the 1920s and more than likely even the 1930s. Tricksters of various sorts are shown on the early postcards, but not the means of appeasing them".^[33] Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the first U.S. appearances of the term in 1934,^[34] and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.^[35]

Costumes

Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses.

Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 1900s, as often for adults as for children. The first mass-produced Halloween costumes appeared in stores in the 1930s when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in the United States.

What sets Halloween costumes apart from costumes for other celebrations or days of dressing up is that they are often designed to imitate supernatural and scary beings. Costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as vampires, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils, or in more recent years such science fiction-inspired characters as aliens and superheroes. There are also costumes of pop culture figures like presidents, athletes, celebrities, or film, television, and cartoon characters. Another popular trend is for women (and in some cases, men) to use Halloween as an excuse to wear sexy or revealing costumes, showing off more skin than would be socially acceptable otherwise.

Halloween costume parties generally fall on, or around, 31 October, often falling on the Friday or Saturday prior to Halloween

Costume sales

Big research conducted a survey for the National Retail Federation in the United States and found that 53.3 percent of consumers planned to buy a costume for Halloween 2005, spending $38.11 on average (up $10 from the year before). They were also expected to spend $4.96 billion in 2006, up significantly from just $3.3 billion the previous year.^[36] The troubled economy has caused many Americans to cut back on Halloween spending. In 2009, the National Retail Federation anticipated that American households would decrease Halloween spending by as much as 15% to $56.31. ^[37]

UNICEF

"Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" has become a common sight during Halloween in North America. Started as a local event in a Philadelphia suburb in 1950 and expanded nationally in 1952, the program involves the distribution of small boxes by schools (or in modern times, corporate sponsors like Hallmark, at their licensed stores) to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small-change donations from the houses they visit. It is estimated that children have collected more than $118 million for UNICEF since its inception. In Canada, in 2006, UNICEF decided to discontinue their Halloween collection boxes, citing safety and administrative concerns; after consultation with schools, they instead redesigned the program.^[38]^[39]

Games and other activities

In this Halloween greeting card from 1904, divination is depicted: the young woman looking into a mirror in a darkened room hopes to catch a glimpse of the face of her future husband.

There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween parties. One common game is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin.^[40] A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drop the fork into an apple.^[41] Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a very sticky face.

Some games traditionally played at Halloween are forms of divination. A traditional Scottish form of divining one's future spouse is to carve an apple in one long strip, then toss the peel over one's shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name.^[42] Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror. However, if they were destined to die before marriage, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards^[43] from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The telling of ghost stories and viewing of horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of television series and Halloween-themed specials (with the specials usually aimed at children) are commonly aired on or before the holiday, while new horror films are often released theatrically before the holiday to take advantage of the atmosphere.

Haunted attractions

Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare patrons. Most attractions are seasonal Halloween businesses. Origins of these paid scare venues are difficult to pinpoint, but it is generally accepted that they were first commonly used by the Junior Chamber International (Jaycees) for fundraising.^[44] They include haunted houses, corn mazes, and hayrides,^[45] and the level of sophistication of the effects has risen as the industry has grown. Haunted attractions in the United States bring in an estimate $300–500 million each year, and draw some 400,000 customers, although trends suggest a peak in 2005.^[44] This increase in interest has led to more highly technical special effects and costuming that is comparable with that in Hollywood films.^[46]

Foods

Because the holiday comes in the wake of the annual apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples outside North America), caramel or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.

At one time, candy apples were commonly given to children, but the practice rapidly waned in the wake of widespread rumors that some individuals were embedding items like pins and razor blades in the apples.^[47] While there is evidence of such incidents,^[48] they are quite rare and have never resulted in serious injury. Nonetheless, many parents assumed that such heinous practices were rampant because of the mass media. At the peak of the hysteria, some hospitals offered free X-rays of children's Halloween hauls in order to find evidence of tampering. Virtually all of the few known candy poisoning incidents involved parents who poisoned their own children's candy.

One custom that persists in modern-day Ireland is the baking (or more often nowadays, the purchase) of a barmbrack (Irish: báirín breac), which is a light fruitcake, into which a plain ring, a coin and other charms are placed before baking. It is said that those who get a ring will find their true love in the ensuing year. This is similar to the tradition of king cake at the festival of Epiphany.

List of foods associated with the holiday:

Barmbrack (Ireland)
Bonfire toffee (Britain)
Candy apples
Candy corn (North America)
Caramel apples
Caramel corn
Colcannon (Ireland)
Pumpkin, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread
Roasted pumpkin seeds
Roasted sweet corn
Soul cakes
Novelty candy shaped like skulls, pumpkins, bats, worms, etc.

Around the world

Halloween is not celebrated in all countries and regions of the world, and among those that do the traditions and importance of the celebration vary significantly. Celebration in the United States and Canada has had a significant impact on how the holiday is observed in other nations. This larger North American influence, particularly in iconic and commercial elements, has extended to places such as South America, Europe, to Japan under the auspices of the Japanese Biscuit Association, and other parts of East Asia.^[49]

Religious perspectives

Christianity

Christian attitudes towards Halloween are quite diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions of All Saints’ Day,^[50]^[51] while some other Protestants celebrate the holiday as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation.^[52]^[53] Father Gabriele Amorth, a Vatican-appointed exorcist in Rome, has said, "if English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that."^[54] In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a "Saint Fest" on the holiday.^[55] Similarly, many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy.

Many Christians ascribe no negative significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular holiday devoted to celebrating "imaginary spooks" and handing out candy. To these Christians, Halloween holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage.^[56] In the Roman Catholic Church Halloween is viewed as having a Christian connection,^[57] and Halloween celebrations are common in Catholic parochial schools throughout North America and in Ireland.

Other Christians feel concerned about Halloween, and reject the holiday because they feel it trivializes - or celebrates - paganism, the occult, or other practices and cultural phenomena deemed incompatible with their beliefs.^[58] A response among some fundamentalist and conservative evangelical churches in recent years has been the use of 'Hell houses', themed pamphlets, or comic-style tracts such as those created by Jack T. Chick in order to make use of Halloween's popularity as an opportunity for evangelism.^[55] Some consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith^[59] because of its origin as a pagan "Festival of the Dead". For example, Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Halloween because they believe anything that originated from a pagan holiday should not be celebrated by true Christians.^[60]

Paganism

Celtic Pagans consider the season a holy time of year.^[61] Celtic Reconstructionists, and others who maintain ancestral customs, make offerings to the gods and the ancestors.^[61] Some Wiccans feel that the tradition is offensive to Wiccan practitioners for promoting stereotypical caricatures of "wicked witches".^[62]

References

^ ^a ^b Rogers, Nicholas (2002). "Samhain and the Celtic Origins of Halloween". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp.11–21. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.
^ Hutton, Ronald (1996). Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-288045-4
^ Danaher, Kevin (1972). The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs, pp.190–232. Dublin: Mercier Press. ISBN 1-85635-093-2
^ Campbell, John Gregorson (1900, 1902, 2005). The Gaelic Otherworld. Black, Ronald (Ed.), pp.559–62. Edinburgh: Birlinn. ISBN 1-84158-207-7.
^ ^a ^b Arnold, Bettina (2001-10-31). "Bettina Arnold – Halloween Lecture: Halloween Customs in the Celtic World". Halloween Inaugural Celebration. University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee: Center for Celtic Studies. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
^ O'Driscoll, Robert (ed.) (1981) The Celtic Consciousness New York, Braziller ISBN 0-8076-1136-0 pp.197–216: Ross, Anne "Material Culture, Myth and Folk Memory" (on modern survivals); pp.217–242: Danaher, Kevin "Irish Folk Tradition and the Celtic Calendar" (on specific customs and rituals)
^ Salomonsen, Jone (2002). Enchanted Feminism: Ritual, Gender and Divinity Among the Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco, p.190. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-22392-X.
^ Ellwood, Robert S; McGraw, Barabara A. (1999). Many Peoples, Many Faiths: Women and Men in The World Religions, p. 31. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-010735-2
^ Christian, Roy (1967). Old English Customs, pp. 40, 110. Hastings House.
^ Simpson, John (1989). Oxford English Dictionary (second ed.). London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-861186-2. OCLC 17648714. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ Rogers, Nicholas (2002). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp.29, 57. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.
^ Skal, David J. (2002). Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween, p.34. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 1-58234-230-X.
^ Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Great Carbuncle," in "Twice-Told Tales", 1837: Hide it [the great carbuncle] under thy cloak, say'st thou? Why, it will gleam through the holes, and make thee look like a jack-o'-lantern!
^ As late as 1900, an article on Thanksgiving entertaining recommended a lit jack-o'-lantern as part of the festivities. "The Day We Celebrate: Thanksgiving Treated Gastronomically and Socially," The New York Times, November 24, 1895, p. 27. "Odd Ornaments for Table," The New York Times, October 21, 1900, p. 12.
^ Skal, David J. (2002). Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween. New York: Bloomsbury. p. 32. ISBN 1-58234-230-X. The earliest reference to associate carved vegetable lanterns with Halloween in Britain is Ruth Edna Kelley, The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), Chapter 8, which mentions turnip lanterns in Scotland.
^ Rogers, Nicholas (2002). "Halloween Goes to Hollywood". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp. 103–124. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.
^ Simpson, Jacqueline All Saints' Day in Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, Howarth, G and Leeman, O (2001)London Routledge ISBN 0-415-18825-3, p.14 Halloween is closely associated in folklore with death and the supernatural.
^ Hal Siemer, "Spooky Halloween: A Celebration of the Dark", QuestMagazine.com, October 1, 2006.
^ Heller, Steven. (2005). Halloween: Vintage Holiday Graphics, Taschen Icons series. ISBN 3-8228-4585-X.
^ Cite error: The named reference AFP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Ask Anne", Washington Post, Nov. 21, 1948, p. S11.
^ Act 2, Scene 1.
^ Campbell, John Gregorson (1900, 1902, 2005) The Gaelic Otherworld. Edited by Ronald Black. Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 1-84158-207-7 pp.559-62
^ Arnold, Bettina (2001-10-31). "Halloween Customs in the Celtic World". University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
^ Ruth Edna Kelley, The Book of Hallowe'en, Boston: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co., 1919, chapter 15, p.127. "Hallowe'en in America."
^ U.S. Census, January 1, 1920, State of Massachusetts, City of Lynn.
^ Kelley, Ruth Edna. http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/boh/boh17.htm Hallowe'en in America
^ Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) "Festive Rights:Halloween in the British Isles". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. p.48. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514691-3
^ Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) "Coming Over:Halloween in North America". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. p.76. Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-19-514691-3
^ Theo. E. Wright, "A Halloween Story," St. Nicholas, October 1915, p. 1144. Mae McGuire Telford, "What Shall We Do Halloween?" Ladies Home Journal, October 1920, p. 135.
^ "'Trick or Treat' Is Demand," Herald (Lethbridge, Alberta), November 4, 1927, p. 5, dateline Blackie, Alberta, Nov. 3.
^ For examples, see the websites Postcard & Greeting Card Museum: Halloween Gallery, Antique Hallowe'en Postcards, Vintage Halloween Postcards, and Morticia's Morgue Antique Halloween Postcards.
^ E-mail from Louise and Gary Carpentier, 29 May 2007, editors of Halloween Postcards Catalog (CD-ROM), G & L Postcards.
^ "Halloween Pranks Keep Police on Hop," Oregon Journal (Portland, Oregon), November 1, 1934:
Other young goblins and ghosts, employing modern shakedown methods, successfully worked the "trick or treat" system in all parts of the city.
"The Gangsters of Tomorrow", The Helena Independent (Helena, Montana), November 2, 1934, p. 4:
Pretty Boy John Doe rang the door bells and his gang waited his signal. It was his plan to proceed cautiously at first and give a citizen every opportunity to comply with his demands before pulling any rough stuff. "Madam, we are here for the usual purpose, 'trick or treat.'" This is the old demand of the little people who go out to have some innocent fun. Many women have some apples, cookies or doughnuts for them, but they call rather early and the "treat" is given out gladly.
The Chicago Tribune also mentioned door-to-door begging in Aurora, Illinois on Halloween in 1934, although not by the term "trick-or-treating." "Front Views and Profiles" (column), Chicago Tribune, Nov. 3, 1934, p. 17.
^ Doris Hudson Moss, "A Victim of the Window-Soaping Brigade?" The American Home, November 1939, p. 48. Moss was a California-based writer.
^ Grannis, Kathy (September 20, 2006). "As Halloween Shifts to Seasonal Celebration, Retailers Not Spooked by Surge in Spending". National Retail Federation. Retrieved 31 October 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ "Halloween - Retail Horror Story?". Orlando Sentinel. October 29, 2009.
^ Beauchemin, Genevieve (2006-05-31). "UNICEF to end Halloween 'orange box' program". CTV. Retrieved 2006-10-29. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ "History of the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF Campaign". UNICEF Canada. 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
^ "Kids-Fun-And-Games.com". Kids-Fun-And-Games.com. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
^ "Halloween Party Game Ideas" Kidzworld.com. Retrieved on 2009-03-17.
^ McNeill, F. Marian (1961, 1990) The Silver Bough, Vol. 3. William MacLellan, Glasgow ISBN 0-948474-04-1 pp.11–46
^ "Vintage Halloween Cards". Vintage Holiday Crafts. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
^ ^a ^b Associated Press (2005-10-30). "Haunted house business getting frightfully hard". MSNBC.com. MSNBC. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
^ Greg Ryan (2008-09-17). "A Model of Mayhem". Hudson Valley Magazine. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
^ Wilson, Craig (2006-10-12). "Haunted houses get really scary". USAToday.com.
^ Rogers, Nicholas (2002). "Razor in the Apple: Struggle for Safe and Sane Halloween, c. 1920–1990," Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp. 78–102. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.
^ "Urban Legends Reference Pages: Pins and Needles in Halloween Candy". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
^ Rogers, Nicholas (2002). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, p.164. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.
^ "Bishop Challenges Supermarkets to Lighten up Halloween". The Church of England. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
^ "Halloween and All Saints Day". newadvent.org. n.d. Retrieved 2006-10-22.
^ "Reformation Day". Retrieved 2009-10-22.
^ "Reformation Day: What, Why, and Resources for Worship". The General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church. 2005-10-21. Retrieved 2006-10-22.
^ Gyles Brandreth, "The Devil is gaining ground" The Sunday Telegraph (London), March 11, 2000.
^ ^a ^b "Salem 'Saint Fest' restores Christian message to Halloween". www.rcab.org. n.d. Retrieved 2006-10-22.
^ "Feast of Samhain/Celtic New Year/Celebration of All Celtic Saints November 1". All Saints Parish. n.d. Retrieved 2006-11-22.
^ Halloween’s Christian Roots AmericanCatholic.org. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
^ Halloween: Satan's New Year (2006) by Billye Dymally, Halloween: Counterfeit Holy Day (2005) by Kele Gershom, and Halloween: What's a Christian to Do? (1998) by Steve Russo. An opposing viewpoint is found in The Magic Eightball Test: A Christian Defense of Halloween and All Things Spooky (2006) by Lint Hatcher.
^ ""Trick?" or "Treat?"—Unmasking Halloween". The Restored Church of God. n.d. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
^ "Not Everyone Celebrates Halloween, by Samantha Robinson". Daily Egyptian at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
^ ^a ^b "A to Z of Halloween". The Limerick Leader. 2009-10-29. Retrieved 2009-10-29.
^ Reece, Kevin (2004-10-24). "School District Bans Halloween". KOMO News. Retrieved 2006-09-14.

External links

Halloween at Curlie
Samhain: Season of Death and Renewal – Celtic Studies, Gaelic culture and religion
U.S. Census data about Halloween in the United States

Related information

[rogers_s-1] Rogers, Nicholas (2002). "Samhain and the Celtic Origins of Halloween". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp.11–21. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.

[stations-2] Hutton, Ronald (1996). Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-288045-4

[danaher-3] Danaher, Kevin (1972). The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs, pp.190–232. Dublin: Mercier Press. ISBN 1-85635-093-2

[campbell-4] Campbell, John Gregorson (1900, 1902, 2005). The Gaelic Otherworld. Black, Ronald (Ed.), pp.559–62. Edinburgh: Birlinn. ISBN 1-84158-207-7.

[arnoldb-5] Arnold, Bettina (2001-10-31). "Bettina Arnold – Halloween Lecture: Halloween Customs in the Celtic World". Halloween Inaugural Celebration. University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee: Center for Celtic Studies. Retrieved 2007-10-16.

[O'Driscoll-6] O'Driscoll, Robert (ed.) (1981) The Celtic Consciousness New York, Braziller ISBN 0-8076-1136-0 pp.197–216: Ross, Anne "Material Culture, Myth and Folk Memory" (on modern survivals); pp.217–242: Danaher, Kevin "Irish Folk Tradition and the Celtic Calendar" (on specific customs and rituals)

[7] Salomonsen, Jone (2002). Enchanted Feminism: Ritual, Gender and Divinity Among the Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco, p.190. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-22392-X.

[8] Ellwood, Robert S; McGraw, Barabara A. (1999). Many Peoples, Many Faiths: Women and Men in The World Religions, p. 31. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-010735-2

[9] Christian, Roy (1967). Old English Customs, pp. 40, 110. Hastings House.

[OED-10] Simpson, John (1989). Oxford English Dictionary (second ed.). London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-861186-2. OCLC 17648714. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

[rogers_f-11] Rogers, Nicholas (2002). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp.29, 57. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.

[skal-12] Skal, David J. (2002). Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween, p.34. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 1-58234-230-X.

[13] Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Great Carbuncle," in "Twice-Told Tales", 1837: Hide it [the great carbuncle] under thy cloak, say'st thou? Why, it will gleam through the holes, and make thee look like a jack-o'-lantern!

[14] As late as 1900, an article on Thanksgiving entertaining recommended a lit jack-o'-lantern as part of the festivities. "The Day We Celebrate: Thanksgiving Treated Gastronomically and Socially," The New York Times, November 24, 1895, p. 27. "Odd Ornaments for Table," The New York Times, October 21, 1900, p. 12.

[15] Skal, David J. (2002). Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween. New York: Bloomsbury. p. 32. ISBN 1-58234-230-X. The earliest reference to associate carved vegetable lanterns with Halloween in Britain is Ruth Edna Kelley, The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), Chapter 8, which mentions turnip lanterns in Scotland.

[rogers_h-16] Rogers, Nicholas (2002). "Halloween Goes to Hollywood". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp. 103–124. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.

[17] Simpson, Jacqueline All Saints' Day in Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, Howarth, G and Leeman, O (2001)London Routledge ISBN 0-415-18825-3, p.14 Halloween is closely associated in folklore with death and the supernatural.

[18] Hal Siemer, "Spooky Halloween: A Celebration of the Dark", QuestMagazine.com, October 1, 2006.

[heller-19] Heller, Steven. (2005). Halloween: Vintage Holiday Graphics, Taschen Icons series. ISBN 3-8228-4585-X.

[AFP-20] Cite error: The named reference AFP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[21] "Ask Anne", Washington Post, Nov. 21, 1948, p. S11.

[22] Act 2, Scene 1.

[Campbell-23] Campbell, John Gregorson (1900, 1902, 2005) The Gaelic Otherworld. Edited by Ronald Black. Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 1-84158-207-7 pp.559-62

[ArnoldB-24] Arnold, Bettina (2001-10-31). "Halloween Customs in the Celtic World". University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Retrieved 2007-10-16.

[25] Ruth Edna Kelley, The Book of Hallowe'en, Boston: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co., 1919, chapter 15, p.127. "Hallowe'en in America."

[26] U.S. Census, January 1, 1920, State of Massachusetts, City of Lynn.

[27] Kelley, Ruth Edna. http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/boh/boh17.htm Hallowe'en in America

[ATP-28] Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) "Festive Rights:Halloween in the British Isles". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. p.48. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514691-3

[29] Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) "Coming Over:Halloween in North America". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. p.76. Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-19-514691-3

[30] Theo. E. Wright, "A Halloween Story," St. Nicholas, October 1915, p. 1144. Mae McGuire Telford, "What Shall We Do Halloween?" Ladies Home Journal, October 1920, p. 135.

[31] "'Trick or Treat' Is Demand," Herald (Lethbridge, Alberta), November 4, 1927, p. 5, dateline Blackie, Alberta, Nov. 3.

[32] For examples, see the websites Postcard & Greeting Card Museum: Halloween Gallery, Antique Hallowe'en Postcards, Vintage Halloween Postcards, and Morticia's Morgue Antique Halloween Postcards.

[33] E-mail from Louise and Gary Carpentier, 29 May 2007, editors of Halloween Postcards Catalog (CD-ROM), G & L Postcards.

[34] "Halloween Pranks Keep Police on Hop," Oregon Journal (Portland, Oregon), November 1, 1934:
Other young goblins and ghosts, employing modern shakedown methods, successfully worked the "trick or treat" system in all parts of the city.
"The Gangsters of Tomorrow", The Helena Independent (Helena, Montana), November 2, 1934, p. 4:
Pretty Boy John Doe rang the door bells and his gang waited his signal. It was his plan to proceed cautiously at first and give a citizen every opportunity to comply with his demands before pulling any rough stuff. "Madam, we are here for the usual purpose, 'trick or treat.'" This is the old demand of the little people who go out to have some innocent fun. Many women have some apples, cookies or doughnuts for them, but they call rather early and the "treat" is given out gladly.
The Chicago Tribune also mentioned door-to-door begging in Aurora, Illinois on Halloween in 1934, although not by the term "trick-or-treating." "Front Views and Profiles" (column), Chicago Tribune, Nov. 3, 1934, p. 17.

[35] Doris Hudson Moss, "A Victim of the Window-Soaping Brigade?" The American Home, November 1939, p. 48. Moss was a California-based writer.

[36] Grannis, Kathy (September 20, 2006). "As Halloween Shifts to Seasonal Celebration, Retailers Not Spooked by Surge in Spending". National Retail Federation. Retrieved 31 October 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

[post2-37] "Halloween - Retail Horror Story?". Orlando Sentinel. October 29, 2009.

[ctv-38] Beauchemin, Genevieve (2006-05-31). "UNICEF to end Halloween 'orange box' program". CTV. Retrieved 2006-10-29. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

[ca_un-39] "History of the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF Campaign". UNICEF Canada. 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-25.

[40] "Kids-Fun-And-Games.com". Kids-Fun-And-Games.com. Retrieved 2010-08-25.

[41] "Halloween Party Game Ideas" Kidzworld.com. Retrieved on 2009-03-17.

[McNeill-42] McNeill, F. Marian (1961, 1990) The Silver Bough, Vol. 3. William MacLellan, Glasgow ISBN 0-948474-04-1 pp.11–46

[43] "Vintage Halloween Cards". Vintage Holiday Crafts. Retrieved 2009-10-28.

[msnbc-44] Associated Press (2005-10-30). "Haunted house business getting frightfully hard". MSNBC.com. MSNBC. Retrieved 2008-11-18.

[hvmag-45] Greg Ryan (2008-09-17). "A Model of Mayhem". Hudson Valley Magazine. Retrieved 2008-10-06.

[usatoday-haunt-46] Wilson, Craig (2006-10-12). "Haunted houses get really scary". USAToday.com.

[rogers_r-47] Rogers, Nicholas (2002). "Razor in the Apple: Struggle for Safe and Sane Halloween, c. 1920–1990," Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, pp. 78–102. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.

[48] "Urban Legends Reference Pages: Pins and Needles in Halloween Candy". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2008-10-31.

[rogers_m-49] Rogers, Nicholas (2002). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, p.164. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.

[50] "Bishop Challenges Supermarkets to Lighten up Halloween". The Church of England. Retrieved 2009-10-28.

[newadvent.org-51] "Halloween and All Saints Day". newadvent.org. n.d. Retrieved 2006-10-22.

[52] "Reformation Day". Retrieved 2009-10-22.

[RefDay-53] "Reformation Day: What, Why, and Resources for Worship". The General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church. 2005-10-21. Retrieved 2006-10-22.

[Brandreth-54] Gyles Brandreth, "The Devil is gaining ground" The Sunday Telegraph (London), March 11, 2000.

[www.rcab.org-55] "Salem 'Saint Fest' restores Christian message to Halloween". www.rcab.org. n.d. Retrieved 2006-10-22.

[CelticChristians-56] "Feast of Samhain/Celtic New Year/Celebration of All Celtic Saints November 1". All Saints Parish. n.d. Retrieved 2006-11-22.

[57] Halloween’s Christian Roots AmericanCatholic.org. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.

[Dymally-58] Halloween: Satan's New Year (2006) by Billye Dymally, Halloween: Counterfeit Holy Day (2005) by Kele Gershom, and Halloween: What's a Christian to Do? (1998) by Steve Russo. An opposing viewpoint is found in The Magic Eightball Test: A Christian Defense of Halloween and All Things Spooky (2006) by Lint Hatcher.

[www.thercg.org-59] ""Trick?" or "Treat?"—Unmasking Halloween". The Restored Church of God. n.d. Retrieved 2007-09-21.

[60] "Not Everyone Celebrates Halloween, by Samantha Robinson". Daily Egyptian at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL. Retrieved 2009-10-28.

[LimerickLeader-61] "A to Z of Halloween". The Limerick Leader. 2009-10-29. Retrieved 2009-10-29.

[Reece-62] Reece, Kevin (2004-10-24). "School District Bans Halloween". KOMO News. Retrieved 2006-09-14.

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@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 |holiday_name = Halloween
 |type = Secular
-|longtype = Secular, with roots in Christian and Celtic tradition
+|longtype = Secular, Christian, and Celtic tradition
 |image = Jack-o'-Lantern_2003-10-31.jpg
 |caption = A [[Jack-o'-lantern]]
@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 ==Symbols==
+[[File:Kobe Mosaic17s3072.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Jac-o'lantern in [[Kobe]], [[Japan]].]]
-[[File:Traditional Irish halloween Jack-o'-lantern.jpg|thumb|upright|A traditional Irish halloween [[rutabaga|turnip]] Jack-o'-lantern from the early 20th century on display in the [[Museum of Country Life]], Ireland]]
 Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time encompassing customs of medieval holy days as well as contemporary cultures. The [[souling]] practice of commemorating the souls in purgatory with candle lanterns carved from [[rutabaga|turnips]], became adapted into the making of jack-o'-lanterns.<ref name="rogers_f">Rogers, Nicholas (2002). ''Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night'', pp.29, 57. New York: [[Oxford University Press]]. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.</ref> In traditional Celtic Halloween festivals, large [[rutabaga|turnips]] were hollowed out, carved with faces and placed in windows to ward off evil spirits.<ref name=arnoldb/> The carving of [[pumpkin]]s is associated with Halloween in North America where pumpkins are both readily available and much larger&nbsp;– making them easier to carve than turnips.<ref name="skal">Skal, David J. (2002). ''[[Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween]]'', p.34. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 1-58234-230-X.</ref> Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their doorstep after dark. The American tradition of carving pumpkins preceded [[Irish Potato Famine (1845–1849)|the Great Famine]] period of Irish immigration<ref>Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Great Carbuncle," in "Twice-Told Tales", 1837: Hide it [the great carbuncle] under thy cloak, say'st thou? Why, it will gleam through the holes, and make thee look like a jack-o'-lantern!</ref> and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 1800s.<ref>As late as 1900, an article on Thanksgiving entertaining recommended a lit jack-o'-lantern as part of the festivities. "The Day We Celebrate: Thanksgiving Treated Gastronomically and Socially," ''The New York Times'', November 24, 1895, p. 27. "Odd Ornaments for Table," ''The New York Times'', October 21, 1900, p. 12.</ref><ref>Skal, David J. (2002). ''Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween''. New York: Bloomsbury. p. 32. ISBN 1-58234-230-X. The earliest reference to associate carved vegetable lanterns with Halloween in Britain is Ruth Edna Kelley, ''The Book of Hallowe'en'' (1919), Chapter 8, which mentions [[rutabaga|turnip]] lanterns in Scotland.</ref>
@@ Line 51: / Line 50: @@
 ==Trick-or-treating and guising==
 {{Main| Trick-or-treating}}
+[[File:Trick or treat in sweden.jpeg|thumb|left|200px|Trick-or-treating in [[Sweden]].]]
 Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" refers to a (mostly idle) "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. In some parts of Scotland children still go guising. In this custom the child performs some sort of trick, i.e. sings a song or tells a ghost story, to earn their treats.
+The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays dates back to the [[Middle Ages]] and includes [[Christmas]] [[wassailing]]. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of [[souling]], when poor folk would go door to door on [[All Saints|Hallowmas]] (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on [[All Souls Day]] (November 2). It originated in Ireland and Britain,<ref name=AFP/> although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy.<ref>"Ask Anne", ''Washington Post'', Nov. 21, 1948, p. S11.</ref> [[Shakespeare]] mentions the practice in his comedy ''[[The Two Gentlemen of Verona]]'' (1593), when Speed accuses his master of "puling [whimpering or whining] like a beggar at Hallowmas."<ref>Act 2, Scene 1.</ref> The custom of wearing [[costumes]] and [[mask]]s at Halloween goes back to Celtic traditions of attempting to copy the [[Demon|evil spirits]] or placate them, in [[Scotland]] for instance where the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white.<ref name="Campbell">Campbell, John Gregorson (1900, 1902, 2005) ''The Gaelic Otherworld''. Edited by Ronald Black. Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 1-84158-207-7 pp.559-62</ref><ref name=ArnoldB>{{cite web|url=http://www.uwm.edu/~barnold/lectures/holloween.html |title=Halloween Customs in the Celtic World |accessdate=2007-10-16 |last=Arnold |first=Bettina |date=2001-10-31 |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee }}</ref>
+American historian and author [[Ruth Edna Kelley]] of Massachusetts wrote the first book length history of the holiday in the US; ''The Book of Hallowe'en'' (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America";
+<blockquote>The taste in Hallowe'en festivities now is to study old traditions, and hold a Scotch party, using [[Robert Burns|Burn's]] poem ''Hallowe'en'' as a guide; or to go a-souling as the English used. In short, no custom that was once honored at Hallowe'en is out of fashion now.<ref>[[Ruth Edna Kelley]], ''The Book of Hallowe'en'', Boston: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co., 1919, chapter 15, p.127. "[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pDraHi4-PpgC&pg=PA127&dq=Ruth+Edna+Kelley+The+Book+of+Hallowe%27en+a-souling#v=onepage&q=&f=false Hallowe'en in America]."</ref></blockquote>
+Kelley lived in [[Lynn, Massachusetts]], a town with 4,500 Irish immigrants, 1,900 English immigrants, and 700 Scottish immigrants in 1920.<ref>U.S. Census, January 1, 1920, State of Massachusetts, City of Lynn.</ref> In her book, Kelley touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic;  "Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Hallowe'en customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries".<ref>Kelley, Ruth Edna. http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/boh/boh17.htm Hallowe'en in America</ref>
+At the time of substantial Scottish and Irish immigration to North America in the late 19th century, Halloween had a strong tradition of "guising" - children in Scotland and Ireland disguised in costumes going from door to door requesting food or coins.<ref name=ATP>Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) "Festive Rights:Halloween in the British Isles". ''Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night''. p.48. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514691-3</ref>
+The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in English speaking North America occurs in 1911, when a newspaper in [[Kingston, Ontario]] reported that it was normal for the smaller children to go street "guising" (see below) on Halloween between 6 and 7 p.m., visiting shops and neighbors to be rewarded with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs..<ref>Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) "Coming Over:Halloween in North America". ''Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night''. p.76. Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-19-514691-3</ref> Another isolated reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in [[Chicago]] in 1920.<ref>Theo. E. Wright, "A Halloween Story," ''St. Nicholas'', October 1915, p. 1144. Mae McGuire Telford, "What Shall We Do Halloween?" ''[[Ladies Home Journal]]'', October 1920, p. 135.</ref>
+The earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" appears in 1927, from [[Blackie, Alberta]], Canada:<blockquote>Hallowe’en provided an opportunity for real strenuous fun. No real damage was done except to the temper of some who had to hunt for wagon wheels, gates, wagons, barrels, etc., much of which decorated the front street. The youthful tormentors were at back door and front demanding edible plunder by the word “trick or treat” to which the inmates gladly responded and sent the robbers away rejoicing.<ref>"'Trick or Treat' Is Demand," ''Herald'' ([[Lethbridge]], [[Alberta]]), November 4, 1927, p. 5, dateline [[Blackie, Alberta]], Nov. 3.</ref></blockquote>
+The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but do not depict trick-or-treating.<ref>For examples, see the websites [http://www.emotionscards.com/museum/hallow1.html Postcard & Greeting Card Museum: Halloween Gallery], [http://www.shaktiweb.com/postcards/ Antique Hallowe'en Postcards], [http://antiques.about.com/od/collectingbookspaper/ig/Halloween-Postcard-Gallery/index.htm Vintage Halloween Postcards], and [http://www.morticiasmorgue.com/hw/hw3.html Morticia's Morgue Antique Halloween Postcards].</ref> The editor of a collection of over 3,000 vintage Halloween postcards writes, "There are cards which mention the custom [of trick-or-treating] or show children in costumes at the doors, but as far as we can tell they were printed later than the 1920s and more than likely even the 1930s. Tricksters of various sorts are shown on the early postcards, but not the means of appeasing them".<ref>E-mail from Louise and Gary Carpentier, 29 May 2007, editors of ''[http://www.halloweenpostcard.com/ Halloween Postcards Catalog]'' (CD-ROM), G & L Postcards.</ref> Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the first U.S. appearances of the term in 1934,<ref>"Halloween Pranks Keep Police on Hop," ''[[Oregon Journal]]'' ([[Portland, Oregon]]), November 1, 1934:<blockquote>Other young goblins and ghosts, employing modern shakedown methods, successfully worked the "trick or treat" system in all parts of the city.</blockquote> "The Gangsters of Tomorrow", ''The Helena Independent'' ([[Helena, Montana]]), November 2, 1934, p. 4:<blockquote>[[Pretty Boy Floyd|Pretty Boy]] [[John Doe]] rang the door bells  and his gang waited his signal. It was his plan to proceed cautiously at first and give a citizen every opportunity to comply with his demands before pulling any rough stuff. "Madam, we are here for the usual purpose, 'trick or treat.'" This is the old demand of the little people who go out to have some innocent fun. Many women have some apples, cookies or doughnuts for them, but they call rather early and the "treat" is given out gladly.</blockquote> The ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' also mentioned door-to-door begging in [[Aurora, Illinois]] on Halloween in 1934, although not by the term "trick-or-treating." "Front Views and Profiles" (column), ''Chicago Tribune'', Nov. 3, 1934, p. 17.</ref> and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.<ref>Doris Hudson Moss, "A Victim of the Window-Soaping Brigade?" ''The American Home'', November 1939, p. 48. Moss was a [[California]]-based writer.</ref>
 ===Costumes===
@@ Line 58: / Line 72: @@
 [[File:Trick-or-treaters in Dublin.jpg|250px|thumb|left|People dressing in Halloween Costumes.]]
 Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses.
+Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 1900s, as often for adults as for children. The first mass-produced Halloween costumes appeared in stores in the 1930s when [[trick-or-treating]] was becoming popular in the United States.
+What sets Halloween costumes apart from costumes for other celebrations or days of dressing up is that they are often designed to imitate [[supernatural]] and scary beings. Costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as [[vampire]]s, [[Ghosts in European culture|ghost]]s, [[Skeleton (undead)|skeletons]], [[witch]]es, and [[devil]]s, or in more recent years such [[science fiction]]-inspired characters as [[extraterrestrial life|alien]]s and [[superhero]]es. There are also costumes of pop culture figures like presidents, athletes, celebrities, or film, television, and cartoon characters. Another popular trend is for women (and in some cases, men) to use Halloween as an excuse to wear sexy or revealing costumes, showing off more skin than would be socially acceptable otherwise.
+Halloween [[costume party|costume parties]] generally fall on, or around, 31 October, often falling on the Friday or Saturday prior to Halloween
 ====Costume sales====
 Big research conducted a survey for the [[National Retail Federation]] in the United States and found that 53.3&nbsp;percent of consumers planned to buy a costume for Halloween 2005, spending $38.11 on average (up $10 from the year before). They were also expected to spend $4.96&nbsp;billion in 2006, up significantly from just $3.3&nbsp;billion the previous year.<ref>{{cite web | last = Grannis | first = Kathy | coauthors = Scott Krugman | title = As Halloween Shifts to Seasonal Celebration, Retailers Not Spooked by Surge in Spending | work = | publisher = National Retail Federation |date=September 20, 2006 | url = http://www.nrf.com/content/default.asp?folder=press/release2006&file=halloween06.htm | accessdate=31 October 2006}}</ref>  The troubled economy has caused many Americans to cut back on Halloween spending.  In 2009, the National Retail Federation anticipated that American households would decrease Halloween spending by as much as 15% to $56.31.    <ref name=post2>{{cite news |title=Halloween - Retail Horror Story?  |work=Orlando Sentinel |date=October 29, 2009 |url=http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2009-10-24/news/0910230194_1_halloween-headquarters-temporary-halloween-stores-spirit-halloween }}</ref>

v t e Holidays, observances, and celebrations in the United States
January	New Year's Day (federal) Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. (federal) Birthday of Eugenio María de Hostos (PR) Confederate Heroes Day (TX) Eve of Three Kings' Day (PR, religious) Feast of Epiphany / Feast of Theophany (religious) Fred Korematsu Day (AZ, CA, FL, HI, VA) Idaho Human Rights Day (ID) Inauguration Day (federal quadrennial) Kansas Day (KS) Makar Sankranti / Pongal (religious) Robert E. Lee Day (FL) Stephen Foster Memorial Day (36) The Eighth (LA) Three Kings' Day (PR, VI, religious) World Religion Day (religious)
January–February	Super Bowl Sunday Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year (NY, cultural, religious) Vasant Panchami (religious)
February American Heart Month Black History Month	Washington's Birthday (federal) Valentine's Day Birthday of Luis Muñoz Marín (PR) Candlemas (religious) Charles Darwin Day / Darwin Day (CA, DE) Day of Remembrance (CA, OR, WA, cultural) Georgia Day (GA) Groundhog Day Imbolc (religious) Lincoln's Birthday (CA, CT, IL, IN, MO, NY, WV) National Girls and Women in Sports Day National Freedom Day (36) Nirvana Day (religious) Presentation of Our Lord to the Temple (religious) Promised Reformer Day (religious) Ronald Reagan Day (CA) Rosa Parks Day (CA, MO) Saviours' Day (religious) Susan B. Anthony Day (CA, FL, NY, WI, WV, proposed federal) Tu B’shvat (religious)
February–March	Mardi Gras Ash Wednesday (PR, religious) Carnival (PR, VI, religious) Clean Monday (religious) Courir de Mardi Gras (religious) Intercalary Days (religious) Mahashivaratri (religious) Purim (religious) Shrove Tuesday (religious) Super Tuesday
March Irish-American Heritage Month Colon Cancer Awareness Month Women's History Month	Saint Patrick's Day (religious) Spring break (week) Annunciation of the Virgin Mary / Annunciation of the Theotokos (religious) Casimir Pulaski Day (IL) Cesar Chavez Day (CA, CO, TX, proposed federal) Emancipation Day in Puerto Rico (PR, cultural) Evacuation Day (Suffolk County, MA) Harriet Tubman Day (NY) Hola Mohalla (religious) Holi (NY, religious) L. Ron Hubbard's Birthday (religious) Lailat al-Mi'raj (religious) Liberation and Freedom Day (Charlottesville, VA, cultural) Mardi Gras (AL (in two counties), LA) Maryland Day (MD) Medal of Honor Day National Poison Prevention Week (week) Nowruz (cultural, religious) Ostara (religious) Pi Day Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Day (HI) Promised Messiah Day (religious) Saint Joseph's Day (religious) Seward's Day (AK) Texas Independence Day (TX) Town Meeting Day (VT) Transfer Day (VI) Trans Day of Visibility (cultural)
March–April	Easter (religious) Good Friday (CT, NC, PR, NJ, VI, religious) Hanuman Jayanti (religious) Holy Thursday (PR, VI, religious) Holy Week (PR, religious, week) Lazarus Saturday (religious) Mahavir Janma Kalyanak (religious) Mesha Sankranti / Hindu New Year (religious) Palm Sunday (PR, religious) Passover (religious, week) Easter Monday / Bright Monday (VI, religious) Ramnavami (religious) Chandramana Uugadi / Souramana Uugadi (religious)
April Arab American Heritage Month Confederate History Month	420 April Fools' Day Arbor Day Birthday of José de Diego (PR) Confederate Memorial Day (AL, MS) Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust (week) Earth Day Emancipation Day (cultural) Thomas Jefferson's Birthday (AL) Lag B’Omer (religious) Last Friday of Great Lent (religious) Pascua Florida (FL) Patriots' Day (MA, ME) Ridván (religious) San Jacinto Day (TX) Siblings Day Walpurgis Night (religious) Yom Ha'atzmaut (cultural, religious)
May Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Jewish American Heritage Month Military Appreciation Month	Memorial Day (federal) Mother's Day (36) Cinco de Mayo Ascension of Baháʼu'lláh (religious) Ascension of Our Lord (religious) Caliphate Day (religious) Declaration of the Bab (religious) Harvey Milk Day (CA) International Workers' Day / May Day (CA, unofficial, proposed state) Law Day (36) Loyalty Day (36) Malcolm X Day (CA, IL, proposed federal) Military Spouse Day National Day of Prayer (36) National Day of Reason National Defense Transportation Day (36) National Maritime Day (36) Peace Officers Memorial Day (36) Pentecost (religious) Shavuot (religious) Truman Day (MO) Vesak / Buddha's Birthday (religious)
June Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month	Juneteenth (federal, cultural) Father's Day (36) Bunker Hill Day (Suffolk County, MA) Carolina Day (SC) Don Young Day (AK) Fast of the Holy Apostles (religious) Flag Day (36, proposed federal) Helen Keller Day (PA) Honor America Days (3 weeks) Jefferson Davis Day (AL, FL) Kamehameha Day (HI) Litha (religious) Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Sahib (religious) Odunde Festival (Philadelphia, PA, cultural) Senior Week (week) Saint John's Day (PR, religious) West Virginia Day (WV)
July	Independence Day (federal) Asalha Puja Day (religious) Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera (PR) Birthday of Dr. José Celso Barbosa (PR) Emancipation Day in the U.S. Virgin Islands (VI, cultural) Guru Purnima (religious) Khordad Sal (religious) Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (HI, unofficial, cultural) Martyrdom of the Báb (religious) Parents' Day (36) Pioneer Day (UT) Puerto Rico Constitution Day (PR)
July–August	Summer vacation Tisha B'Av (religious)
August	American Family Day (AZ) Barack Obama Day in Illinois (IL) Bennington Battle Day (VT) Dormition of the Theotokos (religious) Eid-e-Ghadeer (religious) Fast in Honor of the Holy Mother of Lord Jesus (religious) Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (religious) Hawaii Admission Day / Statehood Day (HI) Krishna Janmashtami (religious) Lammas (religious) Lyndon Baines Johnson Day (TX) Naga Panchami (religious) National Aviation Day (36) Paryushana (religious) Raksha Bandhan (religious) Transfiguration of the Lord (religious) Victory Day (RI) Women's Equality Day (36)
September Prostate Cancer Awareness Month Childhood Cancer Awareness Month	Labor Day (federal) Brazilian Day (NY, cultural) California Admission Day (CA) Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Day (36) Constitution Day (36) Constitution Week Defenders Day (MD) Elevation of the Holy Cross (religious) Feast of San Gennaro (NY, cultural, religious) Ganesh Chaturthi (religious) Gold Star Mother's Day (36) His Holiness Sakya Trizin's Birthday (religious) Mabon (religious) National Grandparents Day (36) National Payroll Week (week) Nativity of Mary / Nativity of the Theotokos (religious) Native American Day (proposed federal) Patriot Day (36) Von Steuben Day
September–October Hispanic Heritage Month	Chehlum Imam Hussain (religious) Oktoberfest Pitri Paksha (religious) Rosh Hashanah / Feast of Trumpets (TX, NY, religious) Shemini Atzeret (religious) Simchat Torah (religious) Vijaya Dashami (religious) Yom Kippur / Day of Atonement (TX, NY, religious)
October Breast Cancer Awareness Month Disability Employment Awareness Month Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month Filipino American History Month LGBT History Month	Columbus Day (federal) Halloween Alaska Day (AK) Child Health Day (36) General Pulaski Memorial Day German-American Day Indigenous Peoples' Day International Day of Non-Violence Leif Erikson Day (36) Missouri Day (MO) Nanomonestotse (cultural) National School Lunch Week (week) Native American Day in South Dakota (SD) Nevada Day (NV) Spirit Day (cultural) Sweetest Day Sukkot / Feast of Tabernacles (religious, week) Virgin Islands–Puerto Rico Friendship Day (PR, VI) White Cane Safety Day (36)
October–November	Birth of the Báb (religious) Birth of Baháʼu'lláh (religious) Day of the Dead (VI) Diwali (NY, religious) Mawlid al-Nabi (religious)
November Native American Indian Heritage Month	Veterans Day (federal) Thanksgiving (federal) Ascension of ‘Abdu’l Baha (religious) All Saints' Day (religious) Beginning of the Nativity Fast (religious) Beltane / Samhain (religious) Barack Obama Day in Alabama (Perry County, AL) D. Hamilton Jackson Day (VI) Day after Thanksgiving (24) Day of the Covenant (religious) Discovery of Puerto Rico Day (PR) Election Day (CA, DE, HI, KY, MT, NJ, NY, OH, PR, VA, WV, proposed federal) Family Day (NV) Guru Nanak Gurpurab (religious) Hanukkah (religious) Lā Kūʻokoʻa (HI, unofficial, cultural) Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur (religious) Native American Heritage Day (MD, WA, cultural) Presentation of the Theotokos to the Temple (religious) Trans Day of Remembrance (cultural) Unthanksgiving Day (cultural)
December	Christmas (religious, federal) New Year's Eve Advent Sunday (religious) Alabama Day (AL) Birthday of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib (religious) Bodhi Day (religious) Chalica (religious) Christmas Eve (KY, NC, SC, PR, VI) Day after Christmas (KY, NC, SC, TX, VI) Festivus HumanLight Hanukkah (religious, week) Immaculate Conception (religious) Indiana Day (IN) Kwanzaa (cultural, week) Milad Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (religious) National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (36) Nativity of Jesus (religious) Old Year's Night (VI) Pan American Aviation Day (36) Pancha Ganapati (religious, week) Rosa Parks Day (OH, OR) Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (religious) Wright Brothers Day (36) Yule (religious) Zartosht No-Diso (religious)
Varies (year round)	Eid al-Adha (NY, religious) Eid al-Fitr (NY, religious) Islamic New Year (religious) Yawm al-Arafa (religious) Hajj (religious) Laylat al-Qadr (religious) Navaratri (religious, four times a year) Obon (religious) Onam (religious) Ramadan (religious, month) Ghost Festival (religious) Yawm Aashura (religious)
Legend: (federal) = federal holidays, (abbreviation) = state/territorial holidays, (religious) = religious holidays, (cultural) = holiday related to a specific racial/ethnic group or sexual minority, (week) = week-long holidays, (month) = month-long holidays, (36) = Title 36 Observances and Ceremonies See also: Lists of holidays, Hallmark holidays, Public holidays in the United States, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.