Halloween Is an Annual Traditional (Not Official) Holiday in the United States Observed

Halloween

Halloween is an annual traditional (not official) holiday in the United States observed on October 31.

Common Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, committing pranks, telling ghost stories or other frightening tales, and watching horror films.

The word Halloween comes from All-Hallows-Even ("evening"), that is, the night before Christian holiday All Hallows Day, better known as All Saints' Day (which is followed by All Souls' Day on November 2) It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and All Saints' Day, but is today largely a secular celebration.

Symbols

The imagery of Halloween is derived from many sources, including national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature (such as the novels Frankenstein and Dracula), and classic horror films (such as Frankenstein and The Mummy). Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween.

The carving of pumpkins is associated with Halloween in North America. Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their doorstep after dark.

Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, the occult, magic, or mythical monsters. Traditional characters include ghosts, witches, skeletons, vampires, werewolves, demons, bats, and black cats. The colors black and orange are associated with the celebrations, perhaps because of the darkness of night and the color of fire, autumn leaves or pumpkins.

Costumes

Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses.

Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 20th century, as often for adults as for children. The first mass-produced Halloween costumes appeared in stores in the 1930s when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in the United States.

What sets Halloween costumes apart from costumes for other celebrations or days of dressing up is that they are often designed to imitate supernatural and scary beings. Costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as vampires, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils, or in more recent years such science fiction-inspired characters as aliens and superheroes. There are also costumes of pop culture figures like presidents, athletes, celebrities, or film, television, and cartoon characters. Another popular trend is for women (and in some cases, men) to use Halloween as an excuse to wear sexy or revealing costumes, showing off more skin than would be socially acceptable otherwise.

Trick-or-treating

Trick-or-treating is a custom for children on Halloween. Children proceed in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candywith the question, "trick or treat?" (The "trick" is a [usually idle] threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.) The person who opens the door gives the children candy and the children say "thank you."

In the United States and Canada, trick-or-treating is now one of the main traditions of Halloween and it has become socially expected that if one lives in a neighborhood with children one should purchase treats in preparation for trick-or-treaters.