HALLOWEEN

Whether it is Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, Nightmare on Elm Street, black cats or witches, Halloween is a night of mystery and mayhem.

The Celtics 1st celebrated Halloween in Ireland. They had celebrated the Samhain festival in which this was the end of summer and their harvest and the beginning of the long winter. The Samhain Day represents a day when the living and the dead walked the earth together at night. The dead were in the form of souls or apparitions.

The Druids celebrated this day by building large bonfires and sacrificing and burning crops, etc. they had worn costumes on their heads in the shapes of animals.

The American customs are not much different. It had started with All Saints Day in England. They held a parade and the poor people would beg for food. People would oblige them and give them "Soul Cakes" with a promise the poor would pray for the people's deceased family.

This tradition was passed down to "going-a-souling." The children in the village would dress up in homemade costumes and go from house to house and ask for money and food. Hence, today's tradition with the costumes that people buy or make and wear door to door.

The traditions of Halloween state that the early people had dressed in "costumes" or a disguise to protect themselves from the ghosts that walked the earth on this night. People would wear the masks and odd shaped clothing if they had to go out into the night. The spirits that walked the earth would think these people one of their own. People would also place food outside their homes in an attempt to keep these spirits happy, so they would not enter the home.

It is said in the early 19th century, that with the new immigrants who came to America, so were new traditions. So the traditions of the immigrants and of the Americans became meshed together. In the 1920's and the 1930's, Halloween became a community holiday. Parades and town sized celebrations ensued and children would dress up and go "trick-or-trating."

Even today, the traditions of Halloween haven't changed very much. Children still dress up and go door to door receiving treats from people

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