3. All Hallows' Eve
st
31 October
● Day before All Hallows' Day (All Saint's Day)
● ''hallowed'' = holy, sanctified
●
4. History
●
7th century – Pantheon in Rome consecrated
–
●
●
st
13th May – All Saint's Day
th
1 November (8 century) – for western church
First Sunday after Passover – the Orthodox
church
5. Hallowe'en and Samhain
●
Samhain (/ˈsaʊ.wɛn/, /ˈsaʊ.wɪn/) – Celtic festival
●
Gaelic word – 'end of the summer'
●
Smoothing the conversion process
●
●
●
E. Britannica – 'in an effort to supplant the
Pagan holiday with a Christian observance'
Oxford D. - 'absorbed and adopted the Celtic
new year festival, the eve and day of Samhain'
Theory – independent of Samhain
6. Halloween in America
●
●
●
●
More common in southern colonies (N =
protestants)
'play parties', public events to celebrate the
harvest, sharing stories of the dead, telling
fortunes, dancing, singing
th
Middle of 19 century – annual festivities, but
not Halloween
nd
th
2 half of 19 century – immigrants (Ireland,
Scotland, England)
8. Trick or Treat
●
'A Beggers Night'
●
1920s – young throwing parties
●
WWII – toned down (sugar rationing & mood)
●
After WWII – bulding houses, suburbs – popular
●
●
1950s & 60s – baby boom – important family
activity
Since 1990s – mostly indoors (busy parents &
children's safety)
●
Malls events
9.
10.
11. Jack-o'-lantern
(Jack O'Lantern)
●
=carved pumpkin
●
Term & practice of carving out of NA
●
●
●
●
Jack – a lazy farmer who uses a cross to trap/
trick the Devil
Apple tree – crosses – couldn't get down
Both agree on not taking Jack's soul –
heaven/hell – pumpkin
The Devil as a coin
12.
13. Costumes
●
Little documentation on costuming before 20th
century
●
1930s - in stores
●
To immitate supernatural and scary beings
●
Vampires, ghosts, skeletons, witches, devils, …
●
Pop culture figures – presidents, film, tv and
cartoon characters
15. Superstitions
●
Identifying future husbands
–
A ring burried in mashed potatoes – true love to
finder
–
Burning hazelnuts
–
Concoction of walnuts, hazelnuts and nutmeg –
dream
–
Dark room, mirrors, candle
