The traditions of Halloween started further back than you may think. The origin of the celebration can be traced back to the Celtics in Ireland more than 2000 year ago. Since then the traditions have grown and changed with influences from the Roman, the Catholics, and America.
The first Halloween celebrations are more than 2000 years old. The ancient Celtics would celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of winter on the first of November. They believed the day before, October 31, called Samhain, the boundaries between the living and the dead were blurred. On this day, the ghosts of the dead visit Earth. In addition to potentially damaging crops and causing mayhem, the ghosts were believed to predict the future. The Celtics would dress in costume, usually animal skins in order to welcome the ghosts.
In 43 AD., the Romans conquered most of the Celtic land. After many years of merging cultures, two Roman celebrations were combined with Samhain. The first is Feralia, the day the Romans honor their dead and the second is a day honoring Pomona, the goddess of fruits and trees. Pomona’s is symbolized by the apple, which is possibly where the tradition of bobbing for apples may have originated.
Between the years of 609 and 1000 AD., the celebration was further modified by the papal decrees commemorating All Souls Day on November 2nd and All Saints Day on November 1st. All Saints Day was also known as All-hallows, therefore making the day prior All-hallows eve or Halloween.
The traditions continued to evolve as people moved to America. First the holiday was heavily resisted by most colonists given the strict Protestant views of the colonies. But as time moves on, the holiday gained traction. There are reasons behind all of the traditions of Halloween, from the idea of saying “Trick or Treat”, to handing out candy, to avoiding walking under ladders or not allowing a black cat to cross your path. From its early beginnings of a Celtic celebration, it has morphed into the second largest commercial holiday in the United States.
What is your favorite Halloween tradition? If you are dressing up this year, what are you going as? Why? What is your favorite Halloween candy?
my favorite Halloween tradition is taking my younger cousin around the block, and her saying(when we rang the door bell) her saying "give me candy" instead of saying" trick or treat."Yes, I am dressing up as a vampire, I am doing this because when I went to the Halloween store, I saw the fangs and thought they were cool so I decided to dress as a vampire. My favorite candy is jolly rancher, or milky way
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely pick milky way.
DeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is going to my cousins house and going trick-or-treating and playing flashlight tag. We have been doing this for as long as i can remember and i love it! but thelast year and this year i havent been able to go because of other conflicts. Im not positive what im going to be this year yet! im either going to be a super hero or a teen age mutan ninja turtle because im hopefully going to match the people im going with.My favorite halloween candy is a kit kat
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is picking, gutting and carving pumpkins with my parents,sister,and brothers. I'm going as an evil Raggedy Ann doll. I'm going in that costume because my friend Molly and me are going to be identical twin sister evil Raggedy Ann dolls together. My favorite Halloween candy is candy corn because it is in season, delicious, and I'm pretty sure almost pure sugar. What normal human being couldn't like that?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is telling ghost stories,even though most of the time Ryan tells supper scary ones and I have to sleep with the light on. This year I am dressing up as Little Red Rotting Hood. I am going as her because I wanted to be Little Red Riding Hood, but I also wanted to be a zombie. Then bam! Little Red Rotting Hood was born. I don't eat much candy but if I had to chose I would probably choose starbursts.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition has to be carving pumpkins and baking pumpkin seeds. This year, I am going as Napoleon Dynamite. I came across the costume by complete mistake at the Halloween store. I have the wig, glasses, Vote for Pedro shirt, and his sweet moon boots. My favorite Halloween candy has to be the chocolates. Kit Kat, Snickers, Nestle Crunch, Twix, and Milky Way.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is probably dressing up or carving pumpkins. I think that I have made my own traditions by repeatedly doing things on Halloween. I am dressing up as a monkey. I am doing this because I made a comic about a monkey and I want to support it. I don't eat a lot of candy but is I had to pick one, I would pick Reese's.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is to go trick-or-treating! I have always love trick-or-treating with my family since I was a little kid, especially the candy! I am dressing up, I am going to be a 80s Valley Girl! I’m going to be a 80s Valley Girl because… I’m not sure…! But I do know that my favorite Halloween candy is definitely TWIX!
ReplyDeleteFor Halloween, my favorite tradition is carving pumpkins. I like picking out what I want carved into the pumpkin. I am dressing up as Katniss Everdeen, aka, the girl on fire, or the mockingjay. I am a HUGE fan of the Hunger Games. Seriously, I've read the series 6 times! My favorite Halloween candy is either Three Musketeers, or plain chocolate.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is trick or treating. Every year we throw a big party and invite all our friends and their families. We all have dinner together and play and trick or treat together. I love running around with my friends and having candy-eating-contests and doing whatever we want for however late we want. For Halloween, I am going to be an Oreo. I am often called the "Oreo Queen", so I figured this costume will suit me well. Whenever I get the chance, I write "Oreos" on our grocery list. It doesn't always work out, but it's better to try and fail than never try at all. My favorite Halloween candy is probably... well, I like them all!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is definitely trick or treating. I am dressing up as a Huntress of Artemis because I read the Percy Jackson series and I thought it might be fun to try. my favorite Halloween candy is butterfingers or reeses
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is going tick-or-treating. This Halloween I was a basketball nerd because I love basketball, and because I like to be funny, I was the best nerd ever!! My favorite candy is Three Musketeers, Twix, Nestle Crunch, Mr. Goodbar, Milky Way Midnight, Kit Kat, and M&M's. Man do I love all candy, that list could have gone on forever!!!! I hope all of you had a great Halloween, and I hope you are not sick from all the candy!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is probably pumpkin carving with my family. I was a ninja because that was the only thing that stood out on my Mom's cheap Halloween costume website. My favorite candy is PLAIN M&Ms. My parents always buy peanut M&Ms so I get really mad at them for not getting plain. Happy Halloween everybody! -Connor
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite halloween traditions is we live near this house that every year sets up a dragon that blows fire, it didn't work this year. i went as superman. my favorite candy is those sour punch straws.
ReplyDeleteon Halloween I like to carve pumpkins and go trick or treating. This year I decided to be an evil witch, I looked awesome. My favorite candies are three musketeers, M&M's, nestle crunch, plain chocolate, kit-kats, and whoppers. Also, this year some guy was giving out bottles of orange juice (at least it tasted good) :)
ReplyDeleteI also like reeses
DeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is going trick or treating with my neighborhood friends. This year I was Princess Leia from Star Wars. I like candy corn, dots and skittles. Also there is a guy in my neighborhood that gives out cans of soda and its pretty good.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is going trick or treating in my neighborhood every year for Halloween.I went as a One Direction fan. My favorite Halloween candy is twix, milky ways ,snickers and kit kats and almond joys.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween traditions are celebrating my birthday, going trick-or-treating, and going to Haunted Woods, Haunted world, or the Haunted Maze. I went as a ninja. I like Hershey's milk chocolate, milky way, snickers, and those sour string things!!!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is carving pumpkins. I went as a taco. I anything sour, chocolate, and laffy taffys.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is carving pumpkins. I was Bear Grylls. I went as him because there was nothing I would rather go as than him. My favorite Halloween candy is lemon heads.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite halloween tradition is trick or treating. I was Jeremy Lin. I was him because he is one of my favorite basketball player after harrison barnes and steph curry.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite halloween candy is Ulker
ReplyDeletewhat is ulker?
DeleteUlker is a turkish candy bar
DeleteUlker is a turkish candy bar
Deletemy favorite Halloween tradition is trying to scare people out of their minds .I was a guy from the 50's. I had my uncle 's Letterman jacket and gel so why not. My favorite Halloween candy is any thing edible.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite tradition about halloween is carving pumpkins and at the end of trick- or-treating my brothers and I lay out our candy and trade.I was a mime because I can do a coupleof mime tricks and I just plain love mimes.
ReplyDeleteMy FAVORITE halloween candies are air heads,laffy taffys and Hershey bars.:)
My favorite Halloween tradition is of course trick or treating.I was Jason because what other Halloween costume are you going for an 11 year old boy that is under 40$.My favorite Halloween candy is anything that is chocolate.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is going trick or treating with my brother and my friends. This year I am going as an Oregon duck because I like that team and it was easy. My favorite Halloween candy is kit kat!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is going trick or treating with my little brother. This year I was wonder women because it was easy to be. My favorite Halloween candy are snickers.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is carving pumpkins. This year I was scream for Halloween. I was scream because I had just seen part of the movie and the costume was only 20 bucks. My favorite Halloween candy is salt water taffy.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is getting together with friends and trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.This year I dressed up as a rubrics cube.I make it myself and it took forever! I wanted to be a rubrics cube because I like to solve rubrics cubes and thought it was a good idea to be one and make it myself so we don't have to waste a bunch of money on a costume that you probably will only wear once. I don't really have a favorite candy but I like Kit-Kat bars and jolly ranchers.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is hanging out with my friends. We have a lot of good times on Halloween. I dressed up as flash because there was not a good batman costume so I went with my 2nd favorite superhero. My favorite Halloween candy is reces penut butter ups there sooooo good.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is going down Harrison Boulevard with my friends. I usually do it every year with a friend. I went as a Soul Taker because I like scary things. My favorite Halloween candy is the Reese's candy.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is scaring people and going trick or treating with friends. haha those are the days. I dressed up as a ninja this year with isabela. And my favorite halloween candy by far is kit cats.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a Halloween tradition other than trick-or-treating. This year I dressed up as winnie the pooh because it was the most convenient. My favorite candy would have to be Kit Kat or Crunch although I do love like it when my neighbor gives out gum.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Halloween tradition is Carving Pumpkins because I find it very fun because you get to make a design on a pumpkin! This year, I was reluctant to dress up and go out, but my friends FINALLY convinced me to go out and trick-or-treat so I threw on last years costume and went trick-or-treating as a Tootsie Roll. My favorite candy is what you might not expect-3 Musketeers because they are VERY good! I actually hate Tootsie Roles but like the costume
ReplyDelete