What are the customs of Halloween?

Halloween, also known as Pumpkin Festival, is held on October 31st every year. It is a traditional festival in the English-speaking world, mainly popular in North America, the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand. That night, children will put on costumes and masks and go door to door to collect berries. In Chinese-speaking areas, Halloween is often mistakenly called Halloween.

Halloween is called "Halloween" in English, which is the abbreviation of "All Hallow Eve". It refers to the night before All Hallow's Day, similar to how Christmas Eve is called "Christmas Eve". "Hallow" comes from Middle English halwen, which is very close to the origin of holy. In some areas of Scotland and Canada, Halloween is still called "All Hallow Mas", which means that on the day to commemorate all saints (Hallow), Mass held.

Halloween is usually associated with supernatural things. Europe traditionally believes that Halloween is the time when the ghost world is closest to the human world. This legend is similar to the Chinese Bon Festival. Anoka, Minnesota, USA, is known as the "Halloween Capital of the World" and holds a large parade every year to celebrate.

[Edit this paragraph] The origin of Halloween

More than 2,000 years ago, the Catholic Church in Europe designated November 1 as the "Day of the All Saints" (ALL HALLOWS DAY). "HALLOW" means saint. Legend has it that since 500 BC, the Celts (CELTS) living in Ireland, Scotland and other places moved this festival forward by one day, to October 31st. They believe that this day is the official end of summer, the beginning of the new year and the beginning of the harsh winter. At that time, people believed that the souls of their deceased friends would return to their former homes on this day to look for souls in living people so as to be reborn. This was the only hope for rebirth after death. The living people are afraid that the dead souls will come to seize their lives, so people put out the furnace fires and candlelights on this day so that the dead souls cannot find the living people. They also dress up as monsters and monsters to scare away the souls of the dead. After that, they will light the fire candle again and start their life in the new year. Legend has it that the Celtic tribes at that time still had the custom of killing living people to pay homage to the dead on October 31st.

In the 1st century AD, the Romans who occupied the Celtic tribes gradually accepted the custom of Halloween, but since then abolished the barbaric practice of burning human beings as sacrifices to the dead. The Romans combined harvest festivals with Celtic rituals, wearing scary masks and dressing up as animals or ghosts in order to drive away the demons wandering around them. This is why most people around the world celebrate Halloween today by dressing up in weird and weird ways. As time goes by, the meaning of Halloween gradually changes, becoming positive and happy, and the festive meaning becomes mainstream. The idea that the dead soul finds a substitute to return to the world is gradually abandoned and forgotten. Today, images and pictures that symbolize Halloween, such as witches and black cats, mostly have friendly, cute and funny faces.

After the Roman Emperor Constantine believed in Christianity, he established Christianity as the state religion. Christianity at that time had actually evolved into Catholicism. Constantine ordered the entire country to convert to Christianity. As a result, unrepentant pagans joined the church and brought in various pagan practices, including the Feast of the Dead, which they wanted to maintain as part of their lives.

Since the church could not eliminate the pagan customs of the people, it could only sanctify some customs, especially the Day of the Dead on October 31. In the eighth century, the Pope designated November 1st as All Saints’ Day to commemorate all the martyred saints in the history of the church. In this way, October 31st is the eve of Halloween. The Catholic Church allows people to observe the festival on October 31st because November 1st is a holy day. Later, All Saint’s Day became All Hallows Day, and hallows means “holy”. October 31st is Halloween (All Hallows Evening). Evening was later shortened to eve and een. The former means "eve" and the latter is the abbreviation of evening, which means "night". It became today's Halloween, which means that the Day of the Dead is the eve of Halloween. The Chinese simply call October 31st Halloween, but it should actually be translated as "All Souls' Day".

Halloween Symbols

The theme of Jack-O-Lantern Halloween is ghosts, scares, and things related to death, magic, and monsters. Things usually associated with Halloween include ghosts, ghouls, witches, bats, black cats, owls, elves, zombies, skeletons and demons, as well as fictional characters such as vampires and Frankenstein.

Black and orange are the traditional colors of Halloween. Modern Halloween products also make heavy use of purple, green, and red. Autumn elements such as pumpkins and scarecrows have also become symbols of Halloween.

The Jack-O-Lantern is the most well-known symbol of Halloween. In Britain and Ireland, locals originally lit candles in hollowed turnips to create jack-o'-lanterns, but immigrants to the United States soon adopted pumpkins instead because pumpkins were larger and easier to carve patterns on.

Many families carve scary faces on pumpkins and place them on the doorstep. Traditionally, this is done to scare away evil spirits or monsters.

Pumpkins are orange, so orange has become a traditional Halloween color. Carving jack-o'-lanterns out of pumpkins is a Halloween tradition that also dates back to Ireland. Legend has it that a man named Jack was so stingy that he could not enter heaven after death, and he could not enter hell because he made fun of the devil. Therefore, he could only wander around with a lantern until the Day of Judgment. As a result, Jack and the jack-o'-lantern became symbols of the cursed wandering soul. In order to scare away these wandering spirits on Halloween, people carved scary faces out of turnips, beets or potatoes to represent Jack with a lantern. This is the origin of Jack-o'-lantern. When the Irish moved to America, they began carving pumpkins because pumpkins were more plentiful than turnips in the fall. Now, if people hang jack-o'-lanterns in their windows on Halloween night, it's a sign that people dressed in Halloween costumes can knock on the door and trick-or-treat for candy.

Halloween Activities

Trick-or-treat

The main activity of Halloween is "Trick-or-treat" Trick-or-treating. Children dress up in various scary costumes, ring the neighbor's doorbell from door to door, and shout: "Trick or Treat!" (meaning to cause trouble without inviting guests), and the host (who may also be wearing a scary costume) will bring out some Candies, chocolates or small gifts. Some families even use sound effects and smoke machines to create a scary atmosphere. The candy a child gets in one night is often measured in bags, and the whole bag is carried home.

The game "Tricke or Treat" originated in Ireland. Ancient Irish pagans believed that ghosts would gather near homes on Halloween and receive feasts. Therefore, after the "banquet" is over, the villagers dress up as ghosts and elves and wander outside the village to guide the ghosts away and avoid evil spirits and disasters. At the same time, villagers will also place some fruits and other foods in the front and back of the house to feed the ghosts so that they will not harm humans and animals, or plunder other harvests. Later, this custom continued and became the "Trick or Treat" game for children to make fun of ungenerous businesses or families.

In Scotland, when children ask for candy, they say: "The sky is blue, the grass is green, may we have our Halloween." ), and then perform performances such as singing and dancing to win candies.

Traditional Halloween costumes include zombies, ghosts, witches, demons, etc. The typical costume is covered with a piece of cloth with two eye holes cut out to pretend to be a ghost. In Scotland and Ireland in the 19th century, people at that time believed that ghosts would come to the world on Halloween, so they would dress up like ghosts to make the ghosts think of themselves as the same kind. In recent years, Halloween costumes are no longer limited to scary ones, but can be dressed up as anything, such as TV or movie stars, as well as public figures, such as politicians. In 2004, which coincided with the US presidential election, George Bush and John Kerry became popular Halloween costumes in the United States. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, firefighters and police officers became the targets of children's role-playing. It is estimated that in 2004, approximately 2.15 million American children dressed up as Spider-Man, making it the most popular costume that year. Common in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The project was launched in 1950. Small fundraising boxes are distributed to children through schools so that children can collect donations smoothly while asking for candy. It is estimated that more than $119 million has been raised since launch.

The research organization BIGresearch once conducted a survey for the National Retail Federation and found that 53.3% of customers will shop for Halloween in 2005, with average consumption of US$38.11, US$10 higher than last year. Based on this calculation, the United States Consumers spent $3.3 billion on Halloween in 2005.

Bobbing for apples

Participants try to bite an apple floating in the water using only their mouths.

Other games

In Ireland, there is a traditional divination game. Participants are blindfolded and choose one of several small dishes on the table. If the dish is filled with soil, it means that someone related to the participant will pass away in the coming year. If it is filled with water, it means traveling far away, if it is filled with coins, it means getting rich, if it is filled with beans, it means being poor, etc. In Ireland in the 19th century, girls would put slugs on a plate sprinkled with flour, and the traces of the slugs would be the appearance of the girl's future husband.

In North America, it is said that if an unmarried woman sits in a dark room on Halloween, she can see the appearance of her future husband in the mirror. However, if they die before getting married, a skull will appear in the mirror. This custom has been very popular since the late 19th century, and related greeting cards are also sold.

Telling ghost stories and watching horror movies are common activities at Halloween parties. Halloween-themed television specials are usually broadcast on or before the Halloween holiday and are mostly aimed at children.

Different religious views

Most Christians believe that Halloween has no important religious significance and only regard this festival as an ordinary holiday.

However, some churches regard Halloween as a festival of Satan and strongly oppose believers participating in any Halloween activities