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I will not vouch for any part of this; but I received it in my e-mail today and will pass it along:
The History of Halloween in America
The Irish brought the holiday to the United States in the 1840's. Americans adopted the Jack-o'-lantern, a tradition started in Ireland as a result of folklore. The folk legend goes that Jack, a troublemaking old miser, trapped Satan in a tree and forced him to promise he'd never tempt Jack again. But upon his death, Jack found he couldn't get into heaven because of his earlier sins, or the underworld because of the trick he had played on Satan. So Jack was forced to walk the earth for eternity with only a coal in a hollowed-out turnip to light his way. Thus was born "Jack of the lantern," or the jack-o'-lantern.
Special decorations went up using colors that reflect the ancient origins: orange signifying harvest and black signifying death. Skeletons were added from the Day of the Dead festival celebrated in Mexico. Candy was chosen over soul cakes, costumes became funny as well as scary,
The first card made its appearance in 1920. In 1950, a group of Sunday school children decided to trick-or-treat for money for needy children rather than candy. They raised and donated $17.00 and started the tradition of trick-or-treating for UNICEF.
Halloween appears to be here to stay, so let the haunting begin
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well it's 10:17 and Halloween is finished! Not enough kiddies came to the house this year. Well, let me rephrase that...not enough kiddies came to finish off all the candy we got. My Hubby very kindly offered to polish of the mini chocolate bars. Ain't he a peach 
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Halloween (and t-o-t) is slowly gaining acceptance here, but faces both its lack of traditional significance, and a backlash against what is seen as US cultural imperialism. Last year, I saw maybe three groups of kids out, this year maybe five. None came here, which was disappointing as I had determined to give the requested treats conditionally, to any who could spell and say the original Celtic name of the festival. Sadly, I never got the chance.
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Max! I love that and am sorry you didn't have your chance. As we Cubs fans say, wait till next year. And JohnH, sounds about right to me.
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ARRRGGGHHHH Noooooooooooooooooooo !!!!!
Max, you can't become one of those neighbours that humiliate the kiddies by making them jump through hoops to get the candy.
"Tu'm chante tu une tit chanson" (will you sing me a little song) was the phrase all kiddies dreaded to hear when they rang a doorbell.
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Hi JH; yes, that fits with what we saw on the History Channel last night. It talked about how it originated with the Celts. They showed a modern-day pagan ritual that made me laugh out loud; then they showed a fundamentalist Christian saying why his church was against the holiday, which also made me laugh out loud, until they showed the "haunted house" the church had: full of scenarios of people suffering for eternity due to various sins--then I stopped laughing abruptly. (NOTE: I am not inviting a religious debate, here. If anyone wants to know why I laughed, or has any comment, please PM me.)
The show went on to say that the Puritans in what was to become the U.S. were dead-set against it, because they associated it with Catholicism and the Church of England. But some of the southern states, primarily Virginia, had been settled by people of these 2 faiths, and so Halloween was kept alive here, and had some of the same things we have today, such as costumes and bobbing for apples. Oh, that reminds me: I was grateful to the pagan guy for explaining that the apple was the ancient sacred symbol of the harvest; the link I put above left me in the dark, on that. Then the show went on to where your message started, John, with the influx of Irish bringing the celebration and fun with them. They had been carving turnips, but found pumpkins much easier.
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And we talked about carving turnips here last Halloween, wasn't it? Or Halloween before last? Pumpkins might be easier, but, heavens, a carved turnip, no matter how large, just wouldn't be as pretty.
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What follows is from OneLook's word of the day (most requested on the site today):
Samhain is the winter season of the ancient Celts. The Celts divided the year into four quarters: Samhain (winter), Imbolc (spring), Beltane (summer), and Lughnasadh (autumn). The Celtic year began in November, with Samhain.
Interesting to think about the beginning of the year being a fallow, cold time--a darker time of year. Kind of like the embryo or fetus in darkness.
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>Interesting to think about the beginning of the year being a fallow, cold time...
yeah, nothing at all like beginning the year in January.
-joe f. tundra
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