All About Halloween: A Brief History and Why We Celebrate by Gouldling Alex

Author:Gouldling, Alex [Gouldling, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: CuteCraftyGirl
Published: 2015-10-16T16:00:00+00:00

Halloween Comes to America

During the mid-1800’s, over a million Irish immigrants arrived in the U.S. due to the Great Potato Famine that decimated the main crop that Irish people needed to survive. With this enormous influx of Irish immigrants also came their deep rooted pagan and Catholic traditions - making Halloween in America a popular, revived celebration. Jack-o-lanterns were now carved out of big orange pumpkins harvested in the fall, and there were still large bonfires lit and costumes worn to celebrate October 31st. Despite its pagan Celtic roots, American Halloween traditions became much more focused on fun costumes, candy, and activities by the early 1900’s. Parents and communities didn’t want children to be frightened by super scary stuff like ghosts and witches. The candy corn that we all know and love was first created all the way back in the 1880’s, specifically for Halloween, and was called “chicken feed.” By the 1920’s-1930’s, candy companies realized that Halloween had become a huge national holiday and started advertising for trick-or-treaters. (Yes, parents were already stealing their kids’ Reese’s peanut butter cups a hundred years ago!) No longer did children have to sing a song or perform for their treats, they just had to dress up as their favorite character, knock on doors and say “TRICK OR TREAT”! The threat of an actually “trick” isn’t supposed to be a real one, it is just one of the many customs that has followed Halloween through the ages.

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