When did Halloween get so popular?

Question

Honeslty Im 26 and growing up i dont remember it this popular, just something i did as a young child, then me and my friends really didnt care too much as, as teens..

i dont remember it being this celebrated and decorated in the 90s

Answer 1

it usually happens around the beginning of October..

i think since people started going half-naked and calling it a costume..

Answer 2

When did Halloween get so popular? Long before any of us were born.

Halloween dates back to non-Christian celebrations for things such as the harvest. The church used these celebrations as a way of helping to convert people to Christanity. Basically, it became all right to hold celebrations, but rather than honoring the old gods folks were then supposed to honor the saints. Halloween name was originally All Hallowsmas Eve, the next day being Hallowsmas Day. Hallows is another name for Saints and Hallowsmas is the Feast of the Saints. Today Hallowsmas Day is better known as All Saints Day. All Hallowsmas Eve became Halloweve or Halloweven, then Hallowe'en, and finally Halloween.

As time passed the Christian religous aspects have largely been forgotten. In the 19th century Halloween was largely an adult holiday. It was a time for parties rather than trick or treating.

Then in the late 19th century - early 20th century the holiday slowly became more of a children's holiday. Around the 1930s trick or treating was introduced as a way to cut down on destructive pranks and help bring communities closer. Actually, trick or treating has it's own roots in the earlier Halloween tradition of people going from door to door seeking soul cakes.

The baby boomers have done a lot to make Halloween a holiday for both children and adults. As baby boomers grew up many didn't want to have to give up celebrating Halloween. They and the generations that have followed have made Halloween once more big with adults.

Believe me, it was celebrated in the '90s. I grew up largely in the '80s and it was heavily celebrated then.

Answer 3

knight's answer (above) gives good info on the history of Halloween celebration, but I think you have a good observation. When I was a kid (60s-70s), it was pretty low-key, just mostly trick-or-treating; I was in high school before we heard much about haunted houses.

Until about 20 years ago, nearly all costume sales were for kids and hardly any for adults, now there are more for adults. Popularity of the holiday has boomed among 20- and 30-somethings, probably a combination of post-9/11 escapism, "times are tough, let's party," and recapturing a bit of childhood.

It was about the mid-90s that retailers really started pushing visibility of the holiday; before then it was mostly candy and costumes. Decorations used to be mostly homemade, scarecrows, carved pumpkins, construction paper bats, etc. Compare those days to now, with orange and purple twinkle lights, outdoor inflatables, fog machines, and a plethora of other stuff that we'd never even thought of in "the old days." Just in 2006, Halloween spending increased to over $5 billion from $3.28 billion in 2005. Although Halloween is only 6th in overall holiday spending in the US, it is No. 2 for decorating, lagging only after Christmas--this certainly adds to the perception of it's popularity (the reason other holidays rank higher for overall spending is because they are big gift-giving occasions).

Manufacturers are shamelessly opportunistic; why buy a messy real pumpkin when you can get a nice clean made-in-China foam one? Retailers have also capitalized on the convergence of other trends; for example, people spending big on their pets, so of course ya gotta have doggie Halloween costumes.

So here's your chance to indulge in a Toys-R-Us Kid moment ("I don't want to grow up...")

Answer 4

do you mean how Halloween was invented?

I think it was around the late 1650

Answer 5

when the mexicans dropped by permanently in the US