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Children look forward to Halloween holiday traditions with great enthusiasm in the US. Halloween is celebrated on October 31 and children just love to dress up in costumes - as pirates, as ghosts,... |
Children look forward to Halloween holiday traditions with great enthusiasm in the US. Halloween is celebrated on October 31 and children just love to dress up in costumes – as pirates, as ghosts, princesses and famous characters -and go around the neighborhood or to Halloween parties. According to this holiday tradition, children go around knocking on doors in the neighborhood, shouting “Trick or Treat” and revel in the admiration of their costumes when they receive their treats.
Where It All Started
Halloween has its origins in both Christian and pagan traditions. November 1st is celebrated as All Saints’ Day. The eve, that is October 31 was called All Hakkiw e’en or, as we know it, Halloween. October 31st was considered the eve of the Celtic New Year and legend has it that ghosts roamed amongst the living. According to the pagan holiday tradition, the Celts would cook all day and as the day drew to an end, dressed like the ghosts and left the food at the end of the town for the ghosts in the hope that they would exit calmly. Centuries later, as Christianity became widespread, and the Gregorian calendar was adopted, October 31 was not the eve of the New Year any more and Halloween became a fun holiday for kids.
Halloween came to the US with the migration of the Irish around the 1840s bringing this holiday tradition with them. Adults also enjoy Halloween these days and dress like well-known characters and attend masquerade balls. Some children in costume get together with others, accompanied by their parents at the local shopping mall where parties are organized. Even offices arrange Halloween parties and so do schools where everyone enjoys getting into bizarre costumes.
Children get to play games in the holiday tradition of which pinning the tail on the donkey is a very popular one. The child is blindfolded and twirled around to confuse him or her, and then asked to pin a tail on to the picture of a donkey. There are plenty of games like this one where children have a lot of fun.
The traditional Halloween color is black, possibly as the celebrations begin in the night. According to the holiday tradition, people also decorate their homes with the Halloween symbols – witches on broomsticks, black cats, skeletons etc. Another symbol is the pumpkin and these are carved into lanterns and placed by the windows to let children know they can expect yummy things to eat. Interesting Halloween treats are dried pumpkin seeds, caramel apples, popcorn balls and many others. Another must-have holiday tradition is scary stories at Halloween parties. With a holiday as interesting as Halloween, mischief is inevitable and many people play tricks on others.