2. HALLOWEEN

3. All Hallows' Eve
st
31 October
● Day before All Hallows' Day (All Saint's Day)
● ''hallowed'' = holy, sanctified
●

4. History
●
7th century – Pantheon in Rome consecrated
–
●
●
st
13th May – All Saint's Day
th
1 November (8 century) – for western church
First Sunday after Passover – the Orthodox
church

5. ●
Hallowe'en and
Samhain festival
Samhain
– Celtic
(/ˈsaʊ.wɛn/, /ˈsaʊ.wɪn/)
●
Gaelic word – 'end of the summer'
●
Smoothing the conversion process
●
●
●
E. Britannica – 'in an effort to supplant the
Pagan holiday with a Christian observance'
Oxford D. - 'absorbed and adopted the Celtic
new year festival, the eve and day of Samhain'
Theory – indipendent of Samhain

6. Halloween in America
●
●
●
●
More common in southern colonies (N =
protestants)
'play parties', public events to celebrate the
harvest, sharing stories of the dead, telling
fortunes, dancing, singing
th
Middle of 19 century – annual festivities, but
not Halloween
nd
th
2 half of 19 century – immigrants (Ireland,
Scotland, England)

7. Traditions
●
Bonfires
●
Masks and costumes
●
Trick-or-treating

8. Trick or Treat
●
'A Beggers Night'
●
1920s – young throwing parties
●
WWII – toned down (sugar rationing & mood)
●
●
●
After WWII – bulding houses, suburbs –
popular
1950s & 60s – baby boom – important family
activity
Since 1990s – mostl indoors (busy parents &
children's safety)
●
Malls events

11. Jack-o'-lantern
(Jack O'Lantern)
●
=carved pumpkin
●
Term & practice of carving out of NA
●
●
●
●
Jack – a lazy farmer who uses a cross to trap/
trick the Devil
Apple tree – crosses – couldn't get down
Both agree on not taking Jack's soul –
heaven/hell – pumpkin
The Devil as a coin

13. Costumes
●
Little documentation on costuming before 20 th
century
●
1930s - in stores
●
To immitate supernatural and scary beings
●
Vampires, ghosts, skeletons, witches, devils, …
●
Pop culture figures – presidents, film, tv and
cartoon characters

14. Superstitions
●
Mystery, magic, superstition
●
Feeling close to deceased
●
dinner table, leaving treats, lighting up candles,
…
●
Black cats – witch
●
Ladders
●
Breaking mirrors
●
Stepping on cracs in the road

15. Superstitions
●
Identifying future husbands
–
A ring burried in mashed potatoes – true love to
finder
–
Burning hazelnuts
–
Concoction of walnuts, hazelnuts and nutmeg –
dream
–
Dark room, mirrors, candle

16. Sources
●
www.halloweenhistory.org
●
www.history.com
●
Oxford Dictionaries
●
Google.com
●
The Worst Halloween costumes ever

17. Thank you for attention