Please...tell me what started Holloween?

Answer 1

Halloween originated in Ireland as the pagan Celtic harvest festival, Samhain. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions of the tradition to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late 20th century.

The term Halloween, and its older spelling Hallowe'en, is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the evening before "All Hallows Day".[1] In Ireland, the name was All Hallows Eve and this name is still used by some older people. Halloween was also sometimes called All Saints' Eve. The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various northern European pagan traditions, until it was appropriated by Christian missionaries and given a Christian interpretation. In Mexico November 1st and 2nd are celebrated as the "Dia de Los Muertos" Day of the Dead. Halloween is also called Pooky Night in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the púca, a mischievous spirit. In Australia it is sometimes referred to as "mischief night", by locals.

Answer 2

This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

Answer 3

via the 800s, the impression of Christianity had unfold into Celtic lands. contained in the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV specific November a million All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. it extremely is notably believed at present that the pope substitute into attempting to interchange the Celtic competition of the ineffective with a appropriate, yet church-sanctioned trip. The social gathering substitute into called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from center English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night till now it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, at last, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, an afternoon to honor the ineffective. It substitute into celebrated besides Samhain, with huge bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. mutually, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', have been called Hallowmas.

Answer 4

The Christians. They were forced to celebrate holidays with pagans out of fear of percecution. Halloween comes from All Hallow's Eve, which is the day before All Soul's (Saint's) Day, which is November 1. Witches have been Celebrating Samhain for a very long time before the Christians came along, though.

Answer 5

The modern form of Halloween comes more or less directly from Ireland, one of the last refuges of the Celtic people. Samhain, however, was once observed from Switzerland to Spain to Ireland when the Celts roamed these areas nearly 3,000 years ago.

Samhain was the time of the harvest and the beginning of the new year for the Celts. It was the end of the old year and the beginning of winter when the nights started to grow longer. At this time, the crops were harvested and stored, the cattle not needed for milking or breeding were slaughtered, and the apprentices, travelers, warriors, and bards either returned home or took lodgings to sit out the winter.

The long nights were spent recounting tales of heroes, lovers, ghosts and fairies. Outside it was believed that the "fairy folk" whom once driven into underground exile by the Celts went abroad again as did other less savory beings.

As one of the in-between days that was neither part of the old or new year, Samhain was seen as one of those especially powerful times when the boundaries of this world and the otherworld were weakened allowing the fairy folk and the spirits of the departed easier passage to this one.

Frightening masks were worn to either scare off harmful spirits or confuse them into mistaking the wearer for a fellow spirit. In staying with the theme of light keeping the forces of darkness at bay, the Celts would carry hollowed-out turnips carved into fearful shapes lit with a candle or coal.

This was the origin of the Jack-o-Lantern. The pumpkin, a plucky native plant of North America, was found to be a perfect Jack-o-Lantern by Irish immigrants in the 19th century.

Samhain was also a time for reflection and remembrance of the dead (these being the dead of departed loved ones not the restless undead or living dead who had to be dealt with in a more harsher way). This tradition continued in Spain and subsequently Mexico and Latin America known as the El Dia de los Muertos: the Day of the Dead (which sounds like a George Romero zombie movie).

The name "Halloween" comes from a corruption of the word "All Hallow's Eve." Nov. 1 was the Catholic feast day All Saints Day. The word "hallow" means something that is sacred. The early Catholic Church used to placate pagan converts by allowing them to observe their ancient holidays but in a Christian setting (Christmas and Easter are examples of this).

Halloween came to America and Canada in the 19th century from Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine. There were earlier elements of Halloween already there from Guy Fawkes and earlier Irish immigrants but now the holiday took off in earnest becoming much as it is today.

In the early 20th century, soulless U.S. corporations filled with zombified employees realized the moneymaking potential in Halloween. They worked to gear it more for the youngsters and -- voila! -- suddenly you had an authentic American tradition (and a profitable one at that).

With the explosion of suburbs in the 50s, trick-or-treating really took off. Houses could individually decorate their yards and children could easily walk from house to house raking in hoards of candy. As a result of the proliferation of trick-or-treating, no doubt dentists hold Halloween near and dear to their pocketbooks.

Answer 6

Danzarth has Halloween pretty much nailed but Holloween has me stumped - - - Modern American Style is maybe what you are curious about and since I barely can scribble my name I will defer to wikipedia for the following
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
"United States
Halloween did not become a holiday in America until the 19th century, where lingering Puritan tradition meant even Christmas was scarcely observed before the 1800s. North American almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th centuries make no mention of Halloween in their lists of holidays.[4] The transatlantic migration of nearly two million Irish following the Irish Potato Famine (1845–1849) brought the holiday and its customs to America. Scottish emigration from the British Isles, primarily to Canada before 1870 and to the United States thereafter, brought that country's own version of the holiday to North America.


Preschoolers in Halloween costumesWhen the holiday was observed in 19th-century America, it was generally in three ways. Scottish-American and Irish-American societies held dinners and balls that celebrated their heritages, with perhaps a recitation of Robert Burns' poem "Hallowe'en" or a telling of Irish legends, much as Columbus Day celebrations were more about Italian-American heritage than Columbus. Home parties would center around children's activities, such as bobbing for apples and various divination games, particularly about future romance. And finally, pranks and mischief were common on Halloween.

Commercial exploitation of Halloween in America did not begin until the 20th century. The earliest were perhaps Halloween postcards, which were most popular between 1905 and 1915, and featured hundreds of different designs.[5] Dennison Manufacturing Company, which published its first Halloween catalog in 1909, and the Beistle Company were pioneers in commercially made Halloween decorations, particularly die-cut paper items.[6] German manufacturers specialized in Halloween figurines that were exported to America in the period between the two world wars.

There is little primary documentation of masking or costuming on Halloween in America, or elsewhere, before 1900.[7] Mass-produced Halloween costumes did not appear in stores until the 1950s, when trick-or-treating became a fixture of the holiday, although commercially made masks were available earlier.

In the United States, Halloween has become one of the most profitable holidays, next to Christmas, for retailers[8]. In the 1990s many manufactures began producing a larger variety of Halloween yard decorations; prior to this a majority of decorations were homemade. Some of the most popular yard decorations are jack-o'-lanterns, scarecrows, witches, orange and purple string lights, inflatable decorations such as spiders, pumpkins, mummies, Draculas and Frankensteins, and animatronic window and door decorations. Other popular decoration are foam tombstones and gargoyles.

The National Confectioners Association reported in 2005 that 80 percent of adults planned to give out candy to trick-or-treaters,[9] and that 93 percent of children planned to go trick-or-treating.[10]

Anoka, Minnesota, USA, the self-proclaimed "Halloween Capital of the World," celebrates with a large civic parade. Salem, Massachusetts, also has laid claim to the title, though Salem has tried to separate itself from its history of prosecuting witchcraft. Despite that, the city does see a great deal of tourism surrounding the Salem witch trials, especially around Halloween.

New York City hosts the United States' largest Halloween celebration, The Village Halloween Parade. Started by a Greenwich Village mask maker in 1973, the parade now attracts over two million spectators and participants as well as roughly four million television viewers each year. It is the largest participatory parade in the country if not the world, encouraging spectators to march in the parade as well. It is also the largest annual parade held at night.

In the United States trick-or-treaters are welcomed by lighted porch lights.

In Detroit, Michigan. October 30 is known as Devil's Night and in the past has been plagued by vandalism and arson.

The War of the Worlds, a radio adaptation by Orson Welles based upon H. G. Wells' classic novel of the same name, was performed by Mercury Theatre on the Air as a Halloween special on October 30, 1938 and the live broadcast reportedly frightened many listeners into believing that an actual Martian invasion was in progress."

Have A Spooktacular Halloween.. Or a Hallow Weenie.

Answer 7

I am not sure but I do know that was a pagan holiday

Answer 8

just the supposed witches of the world. its when they gathered and did spells isnt it? lol

Answer 9

read this

http://www.benjerry.com/fun_stuff/holidays/halloween/history/index.cfm

Answer 10

i don't know wat started it