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How Has Halloween Changed Over Time

Decent Essays

Halloween as we know it now has to do with children, and even sometimes adults, that go around house to house in all sorts of costumes, ranging from pretty princesses to the devil, asking for candy by saying “Trick or Treat”. Throughout time, Halloween has changed from a religious holiday to a secular holiday that doesn’t have to do with religion at all, ultimately leading up to the holiday that we know Halloween to be today. The very beginning of Halloween is nothing similar to the Halloween that we know in America today, dating all the way back to the Celts more than 2000 years ago in Ireland. To the Celtics, the believed that November 1st was when the summer ended and the winter began. This was the time that the Celtics believed that the …show more content…

They called the night before this All-Hallows Eve (History). On All Soul’s Day, children would dress up in costumes of saints, angels, and demons. The costumes of Saints were used to commemorate those saints throughout history who have died while the costumes of angels and demons were used to keep a balance of light and dark to where the balance wouldn’t be tipped (Norton). Throughout the night of before All Saints Day the poor would go door to door asking for food in exchange for praying for the souls of dead relatives to go to heaven. These poor people were often given soul cakes that were little cakes filled with spices and topped with a drawn cross for their prayers or even for their songs or dances. Children would go door to door as well performing in exchange for food, ale, or money. This tradition continues through history until it spread all the way to America (History). Due to a lot of unyielding Protestant beliefs in America, Halloween was mainly only common in the lower states in America along with Maryland. With the European and Indian culture meshing together, a complexly distinct tradition was

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