Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Halloween – American style
Happy Halloween! Last Friday I shared the traditions of Samhain, today it’s a little more history on how the American tradition of Halloween started and how it’s evolved.
When early settlers arrived on our Eastern Seaboard they brought with them certain traditions. All Hallows Eve was one of them. People originally carved out turnips and placed candles inside to ward off evil spirits, but Americans switched from turnips to pumpkins.
In 1820, Washington Irving’s short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, became one of the first distinctly American ghost stories centered around the holiday.
Halloween received its biggest transformation within the last 60 or so years, due in part to big candy corporations, and Hollywood. Think Halloween from 1978 and Halloween Ends 2022!
In fact, handing out candy on Halloween is THE biggest money maker for candymakers. Americans are expected to spend just over $3 BILLION on candy alone in 2022.
Trick or treating was “souling” and those dressed up would receive soul cakes. I found some Weird Facts about our Halloween evolution.
While the pandemic changed things significantly over the last 3 years with very few parties and door to door treats, this year is proving the holiday will continue as it used to!
When I was younger my dad LOVED Halloween. He would comment on each kids costume, handing out way more candy that most! And some he would ask if they had a trick too. I think he could see that glint in their eyes! One year a group of teenage boys showed up without costumes, my dad had a fart machine for them! They were mortified wondering which one of them did it!
And my Australia story: A LONG time ago I lived in a place called Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory. My brother and I decided to “scare” people in our small community on Oct. 31st. (they didn’t celebrate Halloween). It was a community of people from all over the world (a Bauxite mining project). Anyway, they knew our tradition and started giving us money! We had no candy (we were 400 miles from civilization at the time). My dad made use take all the money back. He said “Halloween isn’t their tradition, you need to give it back”. My brother and I had no idea who gave us what so we had to hold our hands out and have them take what they thought they gave us! A great lesson about living with other cultures. Gee, I miss that guy!