Halloween Country Trends: America


Figure 1.--Carving a pumpkin to produce a Jack-o-lantern is a time honored tradition in America. Today the Jack-o-latern is more likely to be plastic, but many families still enjoy the real thing. Here we see two boys presumably brothers carving a Jack-o-latern, probably about 1930.

Halloween has become one of the most important and widely celebrated festivals on the contemporary American calendar, and it is not even officially a holiday. No day off is given for Halloween, no federal decree is proclaimed establishing it as a national holiday. People simply do it. Halloween has a number of mostly European influences, none more important than the Irish who began emigrating to America in large numbers with their Celtic Halloween tradituons. In recent years, American Halloween has begun to spread to other countries. The Halloween that the Irish brought to America was a raukus, largely adult festival. Americans significantly transforned it. And it became a largely children's holiday by the turn of the 20th century. Kids of course loved dressing up and raking in candy for trick-or-treat. What more could a kid ask for than a fun day and coming home with a huge bag full of candy. In recent years Halloween has become increasingly popular with adults.

Overview

Halloween has become one of the most important and widely celebrated festivals on the contemporary American calendar, and it is not even officially a holiday. No day off is given for Halloween, no federal decree is proclaimed establishing it as a national holiday. People simply do it. And American children by the turn-of-the 20th century had taken over the varying Halloween traditions and made it a celevration of their own.

Influences


Puritans

The Puritans who came to America left England because they saw the Church of England as too Catholic. Thus when they arrived in Plymouth they wanted nothing to do with Halloween which they saw as a non-Christian Catholic tradition. The southern colonies were more strongly Anglican and as a result, Haloween traditions were more tolerated.

The Irish

The American Halloween tradition has its roots in Europe, especially Ireland. The name for the holiday, Halloween, comes from the Irish "Hallow E'en" meaning All Hallows Eve, or the night before the 'All Hallows'. It was also variously called 'All Hallowmas', or 'All Saints', or 'All Souls' Day. The holiday was observed on November 1. The old English word 'Hallow' meant 'sanctify'. Roman Catholics and after the Reformation Episcopalians and Lutherians observed All Hallows Day to honor all the Saints in heaven, both known and unknown. For a time it was consudered one of the most important Church celebrations. Church attendance during the Medieval era was mandatory. It is no accident that Americans began to celebrate Haloween in the 1840s when the Irish began arriving in large numbers because of the Potato Famine. The Irish were a Celtic people and thus American Haloween is strongly indluenced by Irish Celtic traditions. The Celtic celebration was a kind of New Year's event. By the mid-1840s the ancient beliefs in hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches which for centuries were very real had largely wained. Thus dressing up was now a kind of celebration.

Chronology

We do not have a lot of chronological information on Halloween yet. Most of our traditions began with Britain with all kinds of add ons brought by the various people who emigrated to England over time. The Puritans who came to America left England because they saw the Church of England as too Catholic. Thus when they arrived in Plymouth they wanted nothing to do with Halloween which they saw as a non-Christian Catholic tradition. They even objected to Chistmas. The southern colonies were more strongly Anglican and as a result, Halloween traditions were more tolerated, but we are not sure to what extent there were Halloween celebrations. The primary English celebration was more oriented toward a mix of All Saints Day, Guy Fawkes Day, and burning a bonfire. There seems to have been some traditions at play in the early-19th century. Washington Irving wrote 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow', a short story (1820). It was apparently based on a German folk tale. We are not sure to what extent the story was popular because Halloween was well established or because it helped popuarize celebrations. We think a major shift came with the arrivals of the Irish in large numbers (1840s). The earliest photographic evidence we have comes from upstate New York (1870s) We see unidentified boys with a Jack o'latern. I recall Halloween as a boy (late-40s-early-50). What I recall most is trick-or-treat which meant a huge hawl of candy. I recall doing Jack o-latterns. I wan't all that interested in costumes, but other kids were. I don't recall adults being interesed at all. This has changed in recentbyears with adults becoming involved.

Features


Pranks

From the very beginning playing prants on people was an important part of Halloween. A favorite was over-turning outhouses. People at the time did not yet have indoor plumbing.

Trick or Treat

The part of Halloween that has traditionally really interested Anerican children is of course "Trick-or-treat" and all the candy to be obtained. Many Halloween traditions are Irish. The custom of trick-or-treat, however, some say did not come with the Irish, although there are elements of the Celtic traditions which seem related. There is alsio a non-Celtic European import--"souling". This was a tradition dating back to the medieval era (9th century AD). On All Souls Day (November 1) people would walk from village to village pleading for "soul cakes". They were square pieces of bread baked with currants. The custom was that the more soul cakes the beggars received, the more prayers they would say on behalf of relatives of the people providing the cakes. Christins at the time believed that the dead remained in purgatory after death, and the prayers of loved ones and even strangers could speed a soul's passage to heaven.

Jack-o-lantern

Another Halloween favorite is the Jack-o-lantern which is an Irish custom. Susposedly a man of course named Jack was the village drunkard and noririous trickster. He managed the difficult feat of tricking Satan into climbing up a tree. Jack then proceeded to carve an image of a cross in the tree's trunk. This effectively trapped Saten in the tree. Finally Jack got SAtn to promise never to tempt him again and in return, Jack let him down. When Jack passed away, he was refused entance to Heaven because of his sinful life. He was also refused entance to Hell because he had tricked Satan. Satan did give him an ember to light his way in the darkness. Jack while in Ireland carried the ember in a hollowed-out turnip. The Irish called them "Jack's lanterns". When Americans began celebrating Halloween they decided to use pumpkins. Some say they were more plentiful. That doesen't sound quite right to us. Pumkins were, however, were easier to carve and certainly made a better display because of the larger size and color of the pumpkin. An important part of a family's Halloween became picking out a pumpkin.






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Created: 11:26 PM 10/30/2006
Last updated: 11:55 PM 3/10/2019