A question for Americans and others who celebrate this autumn festivity. It seems that we have another Halloween coming up. I am curious about the origins and reasons behind this holiday. I know how you celebrate but it would be interesting to hear the whys.
Disclaimer for the internet: Now, if you read this and think you have to “defend” Halloween or that I have a controversial agenda, CHILL. Different countries, different cultures and traditions.
Anyways, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I could Google but that’s just boring and generic, lol.
I live in Canada and from what I understand (have been told), the Irish and Scottish immigrants brought Halloween traditions to Canada in like the mid 19th century (or something like that). It is believed that the boundary between the living and the dead blurred on Oct 31st, so people wore costumes and lit fires to ward off spirits. Thats where the costumes came from.
Where I grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba there was also something called “Gate night” which occured Oct 30th. Its when people would run around late at night and do pranks on others (some of those pranks werent very friendly unfortunately). Idk if all areas of the world have something like this on Oct 30th. But it was very common thing in Manitoba every year.
I absolutely love this topic!
So I moved to the US when I was seven and was introduced to Halloween. Unfortunately we moved 7 times in 5 years so I had a hard time finding a good community to enjoy the festivities with. This all changed when I moved to Canada. In the 5th grade I started celebrating by dressing up and finding ways to get scared (scary music, scary movies, ghost stories) Loved the atmosphere in my area. We used to have just about everyone decorate and trick or treating when from 5 pm - 10 pm. I remember going house to house with a pillow case and sometimes having to come home to get a new one - that’s a lot of candy LOL.
I am not sure of the origin of Halloween (think Dana has the right facts there) but for me it is a time to be anything you want to be and it is all about the scare! I trick or treated till I was 25 years old. The only reason I stopped was because I bought a house and wanted to start scaring the neighborhood kids. I would create a haunted maze for the trick or treaters and make sure to give them a cool haunted experience. G rated for the youngins.
I do remember being in England over Halloween and had the restaurant I worked turn a section into a Halloween maze. The people all thought I was nuts but now I hear that area does Halloween yearly. I guess it took some time for it to catch on in those parts.
Halloween was the coolest as a kid. You buy or make a weird costume (clown or punk rocker were favorites of mine) and you go door to door trick or treating. In my state in America, it is expected that you’ll tell a joke to get your candy. Usually something silly like “why did the cookie go to the hospital? It was feeling crummy”. Pretty generic sweet stuff. But the holiday was also about weather changing and carving pumpkins. And getting to walk around your neighborhood in the dark being scared or house displays that you would have to bravely stride up to to claim a chocolate bar.
I cannot tell you how many cute costumes I thought were absolutely ruined because my Mom made me trick or treat with a coat on because there was snow on the ground. Halloween as an adult is me asking my husband if this is the year we carve pumpkins and then never carving pumpkins. But maybe this year…
I’m here for the slasher films lol for me I love to indulge in the Halloween and Scream film series until I’ve had my fill and then I’m ready for thanksgiving it’s like a season to face fears for me and then I’m free and ready to enjoy the holiday season which I love and is the last bit of down time I get before my life turns chaotic with the sprint to baseball season which starts in February officially for high school.
Samhain was the last day of the pagan calendar and a time to honour the dead. It was thought to be the moment where there was the thinnest veil between the living and the dead so a good time for ritual and repair and honour. Deeply spiritual. This was then appropriated by the Christian faith (as most prominent dates were) and turned into a time to revere Saints on all hallows eve. Then the big bucks men kicked in to monetise what was once a deeply spiritual practice and instead we are encouraged to buy a tonne of plastic from a store area that rotates stock depending on what ‘festival’ is being sold…Easter eggs, BBQ and alcohol, Halloween crap then Santa stuff.
For me, I love Halloween because it allows me to explore my spooky side, my quiet belief in spiritual energy (not religious belief). Usually, I will watch the classics like Halloween and Friday 13th, carve pumpkins, light candles, get cosy and just enjoy quiet moments with my partner indoors with the dark nights and cooler temperatures. It’s a particularly cool time because lots more spooky stuff is on the TV and I love that. Im reading Dracula this year for the first time since I was 12 years old and I’m doing it chronologically through Daily Dracula substack. It’s been awesome and takes the full date duration of the book to read through emails of chapters sent in the correct date order they happen in Dracula. It’s been a nice addition to this year. Recommended.
Holloween is fun. Second to summer. It’s the costume and the chance to be someone’s good time friend. My wife and I were handing out candy one year, this little old man, with , we were told alzheimer, came up wearing angel wings. And a smile, in his costume. The nurse said is the one time of year that he can go and be a kid.
I once had an older woman show up to my door in a witch costume. I thought she was getting the Candy for the kids (sometimes they were too scared to come to the door lol). She told me " I’m 90 and don’t have any kids…I’m out here living my best life". I just had to give her some extra candy
