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Class Date: October 30th
Location: Your couch! See your weekly e-mail for Zoom link!
Grim Grinning Ghosts
Grim Grinning Ghosts
This week, we’re talking about the history of Halloween in the United States. Before we get there, we will briefly review, both in the reading this week and in class, the origins of the holiday and what else was going on at the time of our story!
50 BCE - 50 CE - Samhain
Thought it looks like “sam-hane”, it’s actually pronounced “saw-win”. This ancient Celtic celebration focused on the transition of the seasons and was meant to scare away spirits. As with most festivals at this time period, importance was placed on the harvest and celebrating before the long, dark winter.
43 - 84 CE - Romans merge traditions
As the Romans overtook the Celts in the British Isles, they merged holidays with Samhain. They incorporated Feralia, a late October festival honoring the dead, and an ode to Pomona, the goddess of fruit. Pomona’s symbol was the apple, so most theorize that this is where bobbing for apples came about.
609 CE - All Martyrs Day
Pope Boniface IV established a Catholic feast for All Martyrs on May 13. It later became known as All Saints’ Day or All Hallows’ Day
731 - 741 CE - All Saints’ Day moved
Though we don’t know the exact year, at some point during his reign, Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to honor the saints. When he did so, he moved All Saints’ Day from May to November 1st, and it began to blend with other harvest celebrations that honored the dead.
1000 CE - All Soul’s Day
As All Saints’ Day gained popularity, the Church continued to work on subsuming other festivals into religious celebrations. to that end, the Church then declared November 2nd to be All Souls’ Day to honor the dead.
1600s - Halloween comes to North America
All Hallows’ Day festivals had become popular in Europe and they moved across the Atlantic with settlers to North America.
1620 - The Mayflower arrives
A group of 120 English settlers arrive to establish another colony, which they name Plymouth, the name of their port of departure in England. To read more about the establishment of Plymouth, click here: https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/plymouth
1630 - John Winthrop sails for New England
Appointed governor by the Massachusetts Bay Company, John Winthrop sets sail with 700 settlers. They select Boston as the site of the first Massachusetts settlement. Winthrop begins a journal of his time in Massachusetts and it is eventually published as The History of New England.
1776 (January) - Common Sense is published
At the end of 1775, even with the introduction of the Hessian mercenaries, not everyone was clamoring to separate from the Crown. Then Thomas Paine published his pamphlet, arguing in clear, moral and political terms, that independence should be the goal. ‘Common Sense’ is widely considered to be one of the most influential publications in American history and certainly a major factor in the writing of the Declaration of Independence.
1883 - The Brooklyn Bridge opens
Officially opening on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was a marvel of the day. Sightseers rushed to the bridge to stroll hundreds of feet above the East River and take in the views of New York from the highest vantage point at the time. But less than a week after the bridge opening, tragedy struck in the form of a panicked stampede that ultimately killed 12 people and injured hundreds more. To read about the disaster, click here: https://www.thoughtco.com/brooklyn-bridge-disaster-1773696
1888 - George Eastman markets the Kodak camera
George Eastman has been working on the art of photography for much of his life, attempting to make the process simpler and more accessible for people. He trademarked the name ‘Kodak’ in 1888 and began selling a camera with paper film. Eastman created the first amateur photographers, revolutionizing the world and the way we capture memories. For a 2 ½ minute look at Eastman and his creation, check out this video here: https://youtu.be/cv2tOE4ioCI
March 5, 1891 - Carnegie Hall Opens
As New York began to rise as an international capital for industrialization and culture, Carnegie Hall opened its doors to become a stalwart of the stage. For a wonderful overview and pictures of this iconic space, scroll through a Google guide here: https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/the-birth-of-carnegie-hall-carnegie-hall/xwLSGVw2XO2JKQ?hl=en
1920 - 19th Amendment is passed
The 19th Amendment granted all female citizens the right to vote in U.S. elections. That same year, the League of Women Voters was formed as a grand ‘experiment’ to help women be informed voters.
1921 - Quota system curbs immigration
Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act, which curbs legal immigration. Fueled by fears of radicalism and drawing on eugenics research, the measure limited immigration “scientifically” based on immigrants’ country of birth. Immigration was capped at 3% of the total number of foreign-born immigrants from each country as recorded in the 1910 census. Confusion followed, as those seeking a new life were abruptly denied entry to the United States as quotas filled quickly.
1929 - Stock Market Crash
Known as ‘Black Tuesday’, on October 29, 1929, investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange and billions of dollars were lost. Thousands of investors were wiped out and the United States, as well as the rest of the industrialized world plunged toward the Great Depression, the longest-lasting economic downturn up to that point in the Western world. To read more about the crash, its causes, and the aftermath, click here: https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/1929-stock-market-crash
That is where our timeline leaves us for the week! Tune in to learn more about the time period and the people in it!
Recommended Reading
Recommended Reading
The Story of Halloween by Carol Green
Today, Halloween means ghosts and goblins and trick-or-treaters ringing the doorbell. But this holiday began more than 2,000 years ago, and back then Halloween meant something very different. In the beginning, it was a harvest festival during which the people of Great Britain, Ireland, and northern France gave thanks for their harvested crops. Over time, Halloween took on new meaning, and people believed that elves, spirits, and scary creatures roamed the earth.
Now Halloween is a time for children to dress in costumes and go door to door in search of treats, but some ancient traditions are still part of this festive night. Find out how this spooky celebration became a much anticipated holiday in this charming book by Carol Greene, with illustrations by Linda Bronson.
Why We Celebrate Halloween: A Short History by Home Hearth Press
here are so many interesting and unanswered questions about Halloween: Why do we celebrate Halloween? Why do we go trick or treating? Why do we dress up in scary costumes? Why do we get candy on Halloween?
Have you ever wondered how Halloween got started? Was it invented by candy sellers? It might seem strange to you now, but the celebration of Halloween goes back hundreds of years, to a time when people's lives were deeply connected to the land, the food it produced, and the changing of the seasons.
In essence, Halloween started as a celebration of the Earth's bounty, and as preparation for the coming dark days of winter. Read to see where all the modern traditions associated with Halloween came from and how they changed over the centuries to become the holiday we love and celebrate today.
For Adults:
Halloween: Romantic Art and Customs of Yesteryear Postcard book by Lesley Bannatyne
Halloween has evolved from the Celtic celebrations of 2,000 years ago to become today the fastest-growing holiday in the country. This, the only book to completely cover All Hallow's Eve, from its beginnings to the present, examines the ancient origins as well as its traditions and celebrations, from costuming to bobbing for apples. Jack-o-lanterns, black cats, and witches are explained. Ghosts, ghouls, and goblins lurk behind every page.
The book traces the contributions of America's immigrants to the holiday, documenting the beliefs each ethnic group has added to the mix. Related recipes, poems, songs, and photos perfectly complement the meticulously documented text. The result is the most educational and entertaining examination of Halloween, its myths, and its truths.
Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween by Lisa Morton
Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween by Lisa Morton
Trick or Treat provides a thorough history of this most misunderstood phenomenon. Offering a fascinating overview of how Halloween has spread around the globe, it asks how festivals as diverse as the Celtic Samhain, the British Guy Fawkes Day and the Catholic Holy Days of All Saints and All Souls could have blended to produce the modern Halloween. The holiday was reborn in the United States – where costuming and ‘trick or treat’ rituals became new customs – with parallels in the related, yet independent holidays of Central America, in particular Mexico’s Day of the Dead. The recent explosion in popularity of haunted attractions is discussed and we see also how Halloween’s popularity is rising in non-Western countries like Russia, Japan and China. Finally, Morton considers the impact of such events as 9/11 and the economic recession on the celebration as urban legends and costuming wax and wane.
Halloween’s influence on popular culture is examined via the literary works of Washington Irving and Ray Bradbury, films such as John Carpenter’s Halloween and Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, and television series including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Simpsons and True Blood.
Examining Halloween in the context of its increasing worldwide popularity, and illustrated with over 40 images, Trick or Treat leads us on a journey from the spectacular to the macabre, making it a must for anyone looking beyond the mask to the deepest roots of this modern holiday.
Works Cited
Works Cited
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