Halloween past present and future 3
During the 1920s and 1930s, pranks were again prolific and disrupted the celebrations. This turned around again by the 1950s due to the community spirit of the ‘baby boomers.’ Door-to-door became popular again as a sense of community grew. Currently, billions are spend annually on Halloween, and it is without a doubt one of the largest commercial holidays.
Costume dressing is most associated in America with Halloween, although this has European and Celtic roots. These groups thought they could avoid being recognized by the ghosts on the night of ‘Samhain’ by wearing masks. Bowls of food were placed outside the home, to satisfy the ghosts, and prevent entry. Beggars were also a source of early trick or treating as they visited the homes of the rich, asking for money or food and threatening ‘ghostly actions’ if thwarted.
Jack-O-Lantern carving is Celtic in origin also, but they used turnips. The legend started with a man named Jack who was a drunk and joker. It was rumored that Jack tricked the devil himself into climbing a tree. An image of a cross carved into the tree by Jack prevented him from climbing back down and the devil was trapped. The devil made a deal to never tempt Jack again if he was let down and legend states that Jack was denied entrance into heaven because of his ‘devilish ways.’ Poor Jack was also supposedly denied entrance into hell because of his tricking of the devil. The devil also supposedly gave Jack a hallowed out turnip with a candle inside to light his way through the cold dark night and possibly eternity. The Irish that came to America simply used the more plentiful pumpkins for this tradition.
Black cats and witches are now also common denominators of Halloween. Folklore tells of witches on broomsticks twirling through the night air on Halloween. Superstitions also abound and in order to avoid mischief by witches it was believed that one needed to put their clothing on inside out and walk backwards on Halloween night.
Early settlers to America also believed in witches, and these beliefs were combined with the beliefs of Native Americans, who followed the beliefs of African slaves in evil spirits and black magic. The black cat is associated with witches because it was believed that witches could shift shape into black cats. This led to another superstition about bad luck when black cats cross your path.
