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OCTOBER 2012 -
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parties for both children and
adults became the most common
way to celebrate the day. Parties
focused on games, foods of the
season and festive costumes. Par-
ents were encouraged by news-
papers and community leaders
to take anything “frightening”
or “grotesque” out of Halloween
celebrations. Because of these
efforts, Halloween lost most of
its superstitious and religious
overtones by the begin-
ning of the twen-
tieth
cen-
tury.
By the 1920s and
1930s, Halloween
had become a secular, but
community-centered holiday,
with parades and town-wide
parties as the featured entertain-
ment. Despite the best efforts
of many schools and communi-
ties, vandalism began to plague
Halloween celebrations in many
communities during this time.
By the 1950s, town leaders had
successfully limited vandalism
and Halloween had evolved into
a holiday directed mainly at the
young. Due to the high numbers
of young children during the
fifties baby boom, parties moved
from town civic centers into
the classroom or home, where
they could be more easily
accommodated.
Between 1920
and 1950, the
centuries-old practice
of trick-or-treating
was
also revived. Trick-or-treating
was a relatively inexpensive
way for an entire community to
share the Halloween celebration.
In theory, families could also
prevent tricks being played on
them by providing the neighbor-
hood children with small treats.
A new American tradition was
born, and it has continued
to grow. Today, Americans
spend an estimated $6 bil-
lion annually on Halloween,
making it the country’s second
largest commercial holiday.
Today’s Halloween
Traditions
The American Halloween tradi-
tion of “trick-or-treating”
probably dates back to
the early All Souls’ Day
parades in England.
During the festivities,
poor citizens would
beg for food and
families would give
them pastries called
“soul cakes” in return
for their promise to pray
for the family’s dead
relatives. The distribu-
tion of soul cakes was
encouraged by the
church as a way to replace
the ancient practice of leav-
ing food and wine for roaming
spirits. The practice, which was
referred to as “going a-souling”
was eventually taken up by chil-
dren who would visit the houses
in their neighborhood and be
given ale, food, and money.
The tradition of dressing in
costume for Halloween has both
European and Celtic roots. Hun-
dreds of years ago, winter
was an uncertain and
frightening time. Food
supplies often ran low
and, for the many peo-
ple afraid of the
dark, the
short
days
of
win-
ter
were
full
of
constant
worry.
On
Halloween, when it was believed
that ghosts came back to the
earthly world, people thought
that they would encounter ghosts
if they left their homes. To avoid
being recognized by these ghosts,
people would wear masks when
they left their homes after dark