Halloween, to many of us, is a time for parties, costumes, candy, and scary movies. However, the holiday hasn’t always been celebrated in the way it is today. It wasn’t until the 19th century that the United States officially recognized Halloween as a holiday. The transatlantic migration of about two million Irish following the Potato Famine brought the holiday to the United States. Halloweens of the past comprised of dinners and balls that celebrated Scottish-American and Irish-American heritage. Home parties centered around activities for children such as bobbing for apples. One thing that hasn’t changed is that pranks and mischief have always been present around Halloween.
The commercialization of Halloween didn’t occur in the United States until sometime in the 20th century. Companies manufactured Halloween postcards between 1905 and 1915. This opened up the commercial market to thousands of Halloween products we see today, from figurines to decorations to costumes. Mass production of Halloween costumes did not happen until the 1930s.
Halloween has become the sixth-most profitable holiday in the United States. It is also the second-most popular holiday for decorating, after Christmas. Before the 1990s, many decorations you found in people’s yards were homemade. Another interesting little Halloween tidbit: The most popular costumes sold in the United States are, in order, witch, pirate, vampire, cat, and clown.
The holiday has indeed become very ingrained in American culture. Many cities across the United States have events with parades or pumpkin-carving contests to celebrate Halloween. The tradition of trick-or-treating didn’t start until the 1950s, surprisingly. In 2005, it was reported by the National Confectioners Association that 93 percent of children planned to go trick-or-treating.
The jack-o’-lantern, Halloween’s most prominent symbol, can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack. He was a hard drinking old farmer who apparently tricked the devil into climbing up a tree. Jack trapped the devil by carving a cross into the trunk. To spite him, the devil placed a curse that doomed Jack to forever wander the earth at night. Interestingly enough, the carved pumpkin was associated with harvest time and was not associated with Halloween until the mid 19th century.
So for all of those who read this and knew all these interesting tidbits of information about Halloween, congrats; you have gotten an A+ in Halloween History 101. For those of you who didn’t, hopefully I have occupied enough time to get you through the rest of that boring lecture you’re in.
