I am sure many of us celebrate Halloween every year, but not many people know the origin of Halloween. The Halloween is the biggest festival in North America and many European countries, it also is celebrated in some other parts of the World too. It originated from Great Britain . In the beginning, it was celebrated as harvest festival because Oct 31st is the transition season from Fall to Winter. More than 2000 years ago, people lived in that area believe in ancient Gods such as Wind God, Mountain God, etc. In the harvest festival, the ancient people built sacred bonfires to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to bride the ancient Gods and wishing they would not harm their relatives, livestock or natural disasters in the next year. By the 9th century, it was influenced by Christianity and renamed it as Halloween meaning All Saints’ Day.
When they migrated to America, they brought their culture with them too. Before the second half of 19th century, the Halloween was not popular, after the mass migration of Irish to America, it became popular. In the beginning of 20th century, vandalism caused by children rising on Halloween. The kids demanded Treat or Trick, it means if you didn’t give me candies or bakes, I would vandalize your houses in Halloween. The bribes from home owners were overtime to become accustomed to it. Nowadays in Halloween, the kids with devil costumes politely knock home owners in neighborhood to “demand” bribes. The home owners nicely give away candies.
Youths never give away any holidays to go out with their friends in house parties, bar or club. A week before Halloween, people go to shopping to buy costumes, candies, foods and other decorations related to Halloween. At the Sunset of Halloween, children disguise as devil spirits by put on costumes, they often go with their parents in group to knock the doors of neighbors with the porch lights on to signal to the kids that they are ready to bribe. Many horror movies made up from Halloween events. Some estimated that Halloween generates about 9 billions for the US economy.
Halloween is the most important holiday in North America in term of economic or culture. The holiday is also an occasion for youths, parents, kids and friends having time together. I don’t know if your country celebrate Halloween or not, how does Halloween celebrate in your country? I hope through this article, you can know the origin of Halloween and how it evolved overtime. Please drop the comments below if you have any questions or thoughts about Halloween.