why do we have halloween?

Question

i meen i know it is for the kids but why do we go ga ga over it

Answer 1

im2jaded04 and Wendy H give you decent histories. That tells you where Halloween got started, but it doesn't really answer your question, does it?

In truth, there are several reasons that Halloween has stayed a popular holiday:
1. We have difficult lives and need reasons to celebrate. Halloween is our big celebration in the month of October, our chance to cut loose and have a good time.
2. Kids like the candy and adults like to see kids happy.
3. There is an air of mystery and magic about Halloween that we can't completely deny, despite the fact that our modern "rational" lives deny the existence of magic. This day allows us to feel a little spooky, a little magic, and lets us believe in the weird.
4. Adults and kids both like to dress up, to be given the chance to be someone else for a day. Some people don't like themselves very much, others just want to change for the day, and others just want a buried facet of themselves to have a chance to come out to play (I'm in the last category), so Halloween is the day to dress up and be someone else.
5. Because most people fear death, they like "safe" ways to explore the conceptualizations of death and the macabre. Decorating their homes with "dismembered arms and legs", cobwebs, tomb-like false walls, and coffins full of skeletons allows them that safe exploration. Halloween allows them to decorate in said way without seeming insane.
6. The tricksters among us like to use it as an excuse to cause property damage and be disgusting. It is no excuse, but they like the day because they think it is.
7. Neopagans and wiccans exist and many of them still celebrate the day as a religious holiday.

I hope I have answered your question to your satisfaction. Happy New Year!

Answer 2

Halloween is the shortened form of 'All Hallows Eve' on the night before 'All Saints Day'. It is reputed to be the night that the veil between this world and the next is at it's finest, and the two worlds can communicate - the living with the dead. When Pagan civilisations were 'christianised', all of the great Pagan festivals were taken over by the 'christians' as a way of encouraging Pagans to become Christians; in this case Samhain. It is the way of commercialisation in this materialistic world to take these ancient festivals and to create something from them that was not the original meaning or intention. All Hallows Eve was originally the night that we remembered all of our beloved dead, with respect and dignity; now we see people dressed up trick or treating, Christians celebrating a Pagan festival without any knowledge of it's true meaning. And shops making great profit out of it.

Answer 3

Halloween originated under a different name as a Pagan festival among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain with Irish, Scots, Welsh and other immigrants transporting versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late twentieth century.
Halloween is celebrated in most parts of the Western world, most commonly in the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Peru, and with increasing popularity in Australia and New Zealand. In recent years, Halloween has also been celebrated in parts of Western Europe, such as Belgium, France and Spain.

Answer 4

Recycled holiday. It used to be the second harvest when it was time to settle in for the Winter, relax, and have fun. The church didn't like the distraction and converted it to an evil day and made the next day a holy day to pick up the holiday concept.

Answer 5

For most adults it is fun as well. The kids get candy and adults get drink, food, and have a good time overall.
Of course, there is something more to it for those who practise the craft, and similar, but with alll great public holidays, there is something for everyone.
---That Cheeky Lad

Answer 6

It technacilly celebrates the day of the dead. They also get candy and get to dress up in fun costumes.

Answer 7

Used to be a pagan festival when dead loved ones were said to visit and scarey masks kept the bad spirtis away.


Pagan wicca etc are actually very nice.


Much like heavey metallers.


Festivals like christmas and easter (which was origonally about a goddess of sex er spring duh whos symbol was a hare)
where origonally pagan.

Answer 8

To Celebrate The Mean Dead Peoples Death!! :-P

Answer 9

so the ugly people have a day they can go out feeling good !!

Answer 10

It is just a bit of fun.