Halloween is a great deal of fun in spite of the scary masks, fearful costumes and horror in everything associated with that holiday.
Children in America look forward to Halloween almost as much as their birthday. Perhaps the main reason for that is that it is make-believe and
since the horrors are not real they can be enjoyed without harming others.
since the horrors are not real they can be enjoyed without harming others.
Another reason is that the participants can look forward to lots and lots
of candy on Halloween night. Yes, that mountain of candy donated by the neighbours can last for a whole year.
Children begin planning during the summer what type of costume their parents or guardians are going to make or buy for them.
My favourite costumes when I was a child were The Shadow and El Zorro.
I just loved the capes in those costumes flowing in the wind at Halloween time.
It is not easy for parents to satisfy kid's wishes sometimes. I remember once
there was a child in the neighbourhood who wanted to be dressed as a rocket ship.
Her parents finally found a way to construct a rocket ship costume, the trouble was
that it was very difficult for the child to walk around with that boxy costume,
particularly during the important phase of begging for candy in the neighbourhood,
a tradition called "trick or treat”.
Literally, the “trick” is the scary disguise that the child wears to scare the people
in the house and the “treat” is the candy given to them in return.
Many years ago I tried using a “trick” on the visiting children in my neighbourhood
to see what would happen. Just for fun I prepared a tape recording that sounded like
a scary ghost in a haunted house, with screams, the rolling of chains and the creaking of doors.
Well, the children, during trick or treat were not impressed with my “trick”
and demanded lots of “treat”, namely, lots of candy.
How did Halloween start?
The Celts who celebrated Samhain Eve on New Year’s eve feast more than two thousand years ago.
On that night it was believed that spirits used to appear in many places before they went to the Other World. During that last night people begged for food and drink,
and that was the beginning of the tradition of begging on that occasion. Many centuries later, during the Middle Ages, people in Europe celebrated Hallowmas in the period between October 31st and November 2nd. During Hallowmas the poor people would go house-to-house asking for food, especially “Soul Cakes”, in return for prayers.
The Christian Church adopted the Samhein feast and set the time of celebration the evening before All Saints Day. It was called the Hallow’s Evening, and that is how the name Hallow e’en began. The pioneers who came to the United States of America in European immigration waves during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries brought their celebrations with them, including the celebration of Halloween.
Originally, the spirits believed to appear on that holiday were mostly as ghosts, but as time passed this evolved into all types of imaginary beings including monsters and evil spirits. Factories that fabricated costumes, masks, daggers and other tools terror items helped this expansion of Halloween since that made their sales grow significantly.
Even dragons are common at Halloween time. Near my house in Pennsylvania there is a Halloween ghost-house in the form of a huge dragon shown in Figure 1.
When you enter through the mouth of that monster, you must be ready for all types of horrible scares -but happily-you can escape through the other end, safe and sound.
Included in this article are some photographs illustrating the variety of Halloween costumes and accessories available in my neighborhood; similar things probably are sold in some stores near your home.
Figures 2 and 3 show costumes, skeletons and specialty hats.
Figure 4 shows masks of the walking-dead zombies.
Almost every store has candy for treat or treat, as illustrated by the Halloween baskets in Figure 5.
You can even find a fortune teller robot that will tell you about the horrors of the season, as shown in Figure 6.
For very young children there are pretty costumes such
as those in Figure 7.and that was the beginning of the tradition of begging on that occasion. Many centuries later, during the Middle Ages, people in Europe celebrated Hallowmas in the period between October 31st and November 2nd. During Hallowmas the poor people would go house-to-house asking for food, especially “Soul Cakes”, in return for prayers.
The Christian Church adopted the Samhein feast and set the time of celebration the evening before All Saints Day. It was called the Hallow’s Evening, and that is how the name Hallow e’en began. The pioneers who came to the United States of America in European immigration waves during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries brought their celebrations with them, including the celebration of Halloween.
Originally, the spirits believed to appear on that holiday were mostly as ghosts, but as time passed this evolved into all types of imaginary beings including monsters and evil spirits. Factories that fabricated costumes, masks, daggers and other tools terror items helped this expansion of Halloween since that made their sales grow significantly.
Even dragons are common at Halloween time. Near my house in Pennsylvania there is a Halloween ghost-house in the form of a huge dragon shown in Figure 1.
When you enter through the mouth of that monster, you must be ready for all types of horrible scares -but happily-you can escape through the other end, safe and sound.
Included in this article are some photographs illustrating the variety of Halloween costumes and accessories available in my neighborhood; similar things probably are sold in some stores near your home.
Figures 2 and 3 show costumes, skeletons and specialty hats.
Figure 4 shows masks of the walking-dead zombies.
Almost every store has candy for treat or treat, as illustrated by the Halloween baskets in Figure 5.
You can even find a fortune teller robot that will tell you about the horrors of the season, as shown in Figure 6.
Some costumes as shown in Figure 8 are for decoration, and are meant to be placed high, for instance near the ceiling or on tree limbs near the house entrance.
Two very popular costumes this year are Superman and Spiderman, as
show in Figure 9.
.
Figure 10 shows many accessories, such as knives, swords and chains.
Some masks show monsters smiling or laughing (in macabre ways, no doubt), as in Figure 11, but the majority of the masks have horrible expressions, as shown in Figure 12 .
The favourite dessert for Halloween is pumpkin pie.
This delicious dessert is baked from recently harvested pumpkins.
The pumpkins are also made into Jack-o-Lanterns, which feature carved eyes, noses and toothed mouths through which the light of candles placed inside the hollow pumpkin will shine.
Figures 13 and 14 illustrate the abundance of pumpkins in all local markets.
Lots of Jack-o-Lanterns and their pictures are found everywhere, as shown on the poster in Figure 15.
Two current trends that may grow in the future are participation by young adults such as those in the universities, and the growth of adult Halloween parties.
In some of those future practices trick-or-treat gifts may consist of food for the poor,which would represent a return to the past. Two things are guaranteed: there will be new ways to scare each other and there will be lots of fun.
From my little corner of the world here in Eastern Pennsylvania
I wish all of you friends of "Caraba en Bicicleta" a very happy Halloween.
The same to you Ulises.
Thank you very much!!!
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