HALLOWEEN

WHY AND WHEN DID HALLOWEEN START?  HALLOWEEN BEGAN IN THE MID-1800’s FAR FROM THE UNITED STATES  BY OUR IRISH IMMIGRANTS.  WHEN THEY BEGAN AS COLONISTS TRAVELING TO THE UNITED STATES,  HALLOWEEN WAS BORN IN THE USA.  HALLOWEEN, ORIGINALLY CALLED HALLOW’S EVE, WAS A HOLIDAY TO CELEBRATE THE EVE OF ALL SAINTS DAY, NOVEMBER 1ST, OR SAMHAIN’S DAY. HALLOWEEN, OR HALLOWS EVE  AS IT WAS CALLED, WAS INITIALLY STARTED TO WARD OFF EVIL SPIRITS. PEOPLE BEGAN DRESSING UP IN SCARY OUTFITS, TELLING SCARY STORIES, AND GOING TO NEIGHBORING HOMES ASKING FOR MONEY.  HALLOWEEN BEGAN IN THE UNITED STATES AFTER AMERICAN COLONISTS  BROUGHT THIS TRADITION OVER. 

AROUND THE 1920’s, HALLOWEEN (HALLOWS EVE) IS WHEN AMERICANS STARTED PLAYING SERIOUS PRANKS IN MAJOR CITIES ON HALLOWEEN.  THESE PRANKS WOULD DAMAGE QUITE A BIT OF PROPERTY AND WERE VERY COSTLY TO REPAIR.  THE AMERICANS ENJOYED ALL OF THE HALLOWEEN TRADITIONS VERY MUCH.   

HOW DID CARVING PUMPKINS START?  THE CARVING OF JACK-O-LANTERNS WAS PART OF THE HALLOWEEN’S BEGINNING.  THE CARVING OF TURNIPS, ORIGINALLY STARTED BY THE IRISH, DID NOT HAVE PUMPKINS TO CARVE AS THEY WERE NOT CULTIVATED THERE.   THE IRISH, WOULD USE THESE TURNIPS BY PLACING CANDLES INSIDE  THEM TO WARD OFF EVIL SPIRITS.  

HOW DID TRICK-OR-TREATING START?  APPROXIMATELY IN THE 1940’S, THE CANDY INDUSTRY GOT WIND OF THE HALLOWEEN TRADITION TO KNOCK ON NEIGHBOR’S DOORS ASKING FOR MONEY.  THE INDUSTRY SAW THIS AS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO INTRODUCE HALLOWEEN DECORATED CANDY OFFERING ANOTHER OPTION.  

WHERE DID THE TERM, JACK-O-LANTERN COME FROM?  WHO IS STINGY JACK?  IN THE 1800’S ACCORDING TO THE IRISH, THE STINGY JACK TALE BEGAN.  STINGY JACK WAS A MEAN, OLD MAN WHO WAS HATED BY EVERYONE DUE TO HIS CRUEL TREATMENT, EVEN THE DEVIL HIMSELF.  ONE NIGHT, STINGY JACK MANAGED TO CHASE THE DEVIL UP A TREE WITH SILVER CROSSES.  THE DEVIL BEGGED TO COME DOWN OUT OF THE TREE BUT COULD NOT BE NEAR THE CROSSES.  STINGY JACK FINALLY AGREED TO REMOVE THE CROSSES HE HAD PLACED AROUND THE TREE, AND LET THE DEVIL COME DOWN IF HE PROMISED NOT TO TAKE JACK’S SOUL.  

AFTER JACK DIED, HE TRIED TO GET INTO HEAVEN.  ST. PETER SAID HE COULD NOT ENTER THOSE PEARLY GATES DUE TO A LIFETIME OF TREATING OTHERS SO MEANLY.  JACK THEN SEARCHED FOR THE DEVIL.  BECAUSE THE DEVIL PROMISED NOT TO TAKE JACK’S SOUL, HE WOULD  NOT LET HIM ENTER HELL EITHER.  AS THE DEVIL TURNED JACK AWAY, JACK REALIZED HE HAD ONE OF HIS FAVORITE TURNIPS ON HIM.  JACK ASKED THE DEVIL, “HOW AM I GOING TO GO THROUGH ETERNITY WITH NO LIGHT TO SEE?”  THE DEVIL FINALLY AGREED TO GIVE HIM AN EMBER TO HELP OUT.  JACK-O-LANTERNS BEGAN AFTER IMMIGRANTS TRAVELED TO THE UNITED STATES AND FOUND THAT PUMPKINS WERE EASIER TO CARVE.  

HALLOWEEN TODAY IS CELEBRATED BY MANY DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD.  FROM TOTS TO TEENS, MANY DRESS UP GOING DOOR TO DOOR COLLECTING CANDY IN A PILLOWCASE OR PLASTIC PUMPKIN WITH A HANDLE ON IT. MANY CARVE PUMPKINS AND PLACE A CANDLE IN THEM ON THEIR PORCH.  HALLOWEEN CONSIDERED EVIL BY SOME CULTURES OR RELIGIONS AND IS A DAY OF SACRIFICING FOR DEVIL WORSHIPERS.  DEVIL WORSHIPERS WILL HOLD THEIR  SEANCES AND SACRIFICING IN EMPTY WOODED AREAS, KILLING A HUMAN OR ANIMAL IN HONOR OF THE DEVIL.   BOO!