Halloween

Halloween, 31 October, is a day in which candy is traditionally handed out to children. Halloween in recent years has become more of an adult oriented, secular celebration, which has been extensively embraced by the gay community. In 2010, Americans spent an estimated $800 million on costumes for children and $1 billion on costumes for adults.

Halloween has never been particularly popular within the boylove community despite it's relationship to boys and the cultural crossover with the gay community. This is likely due to the myths that "pedophiles" kidnap and otherwise hurt children on Halloween, despite the fact that there is no documented proof of this ever occurring. Some states have used these myths to justify prohibiting those labeled as sex offenders, ranging from rapists of women to men caught urinating in an ally, from participating in Halloween related activities, including adding further restrictions on their freedoms and Human rights.

According to Emily Horowitz, Associate professor of sociology, St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY,

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In North Carolina, a sheriff tells parents to check the online sex offender registry before allowing children to trick-or-treat. In Montana, a town offers a "trunk-or-treat" event where kids can get Halloween candy from trunks of cars in a parking lot to avoid potential danger. In New York, "Operation Halloween: Zero Tolerance" prohibits sex offenders from wearing masks or costumes or answering their doors on Halloween, and, as a parole source says, "There is certainly nothing more frightening than the thought of one of these men opening their door to innocent children." In Oklahoma, a city council is considering an ordinance forbidding sex offenders from decorating their homes or passing out candy on Halloween. In Orange, California, sex offenders can't answer their door or have outside lighting on Halloween, but an additional ordinance requiring window signs saying, "No candy or treats at this residence" was recently revoked after attorneys argued it was a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Why worry about sex offenders on Halloween? Research shows no evidence of increased child sex abuse on Halloween and no evidence that a child was ever a victim of sexual abuse by a stranger while out trick-or-treating.

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History and traditions

Jack-o'-Lantern

Halloween or Hallowe'en a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening"), also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve, is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October.

According to many scholars, All Hallows' Eve is a Christianized feast initially influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, with possible pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic Samhain. Other scholars maintain that it originated independently of Samhain and has solely Christian roots.

Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related "guising"), attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories and watching horror films.

Trick-or-treating

In the Pre-Christian era in Europe, it was believed that during Samhain, the veil between our world and the spirit world was thinnest, and that the ghosts of the deceased could mingle with the living. The historian Jack Santino says, "It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living. On that day all manner of beings were abroad: ghosts, fairies, and demons--all part of the dark and dread." The superstition was that the visiting ghosts could disguise themselves in human form, such as a beggar, and knock on your door during Samhain asking for money or food. If you turned them away empty-handed, you risked receiving the wrath of the spirit and being cursed or haunted.

Another Celtic myth was that dressing up as a ghoul would fool the evil spirits into thinking that you were one of them so that they would not try to take your soul. In the U.S., trick-or-treating became a customary Halloween tradition around the late 1950s, after it was brought over by Irish immigrants in the early 1900s.

Jack-O'-Lantern

A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved pumpkin, or turnip, and named after the phenomenon of strange light flickering over peat bogs, called will-o'-the-wisp or jack-o'-lantern. In a jack-o'-lantern, the top is cut off to form a lid and the inside flesh then scooped out; an image, usually a monstrous or comical face, is carved out of the pumpkin's rind to expose the hollow interior. To create the lantern effect, a light source (such as a candle or tea light) is placed within before the lid is closed. This is traditionally a flame or electric candle, though pumpkin lights featuring various colors and flickering effects are also marketed specifically for this purpose. It is common to see jack-o'-lanterns on doorsteps and otherwise used as decorations prior to and during Halloween.

Jack's Lantern

One of the most familiar sights in the North American celebration of Halloween is the pumpkin carved with a scary face and a candle inside known as the Jack-O'-Lantern. This Halloween item comes from an Irish folk legend about a man named Jack who was known as a trickster. Legend states he managed to trick the devil so that he could not take his soul. Later, when he died, he was also denied access to Heaven and was stuck wandering the Earth. He carved out a turnip and stuck a burning ember inside to ward off evil spirits. This became known as Jack's Lantern.

When the Irish immigrants came to America in the mid-1800's, turnips were not commonly available and they turned, instead, to the use of the carved pumpkin.

See also

• The Walking Dead

External links

• Is Halloween Candy Tampering a Myth?