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Halloween: North America
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Halloween looks to be a real treat for the Web this year, concludes a study by American Express Co. The study, 2000 American Express Retail Index on Halloween, said 6% of Americans are expected to browse or shop online this Halloween. That's up fivefold from the 1% who did so last year.
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The idea for Halloween came to Irwin Yablan while he was attending a film festival in Milan during 1977. He was impressed by the giallo films of Argento and Bava. Argento had his gloved killer, Carpenter had his masked maniac. A new wave of exploitational films were about to hit America and this time teenagers would feel the wrath.
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The modern observances of Halloween are more recent than one might expect. The holiday had a rebirth in North America between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, probably through an influx of Irish immigrants. They brought with them traditions that combined features of the Celtic and Christian holidays, and celebrated with feasting, divinations, and mischief making.
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When kids across America shout "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" this Halloween, they will be helping to end a disease that has crippled millions. This year, funds raised by "Trick-or-Treat" will support the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
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The term Halloween (and its alternative rendering Hallowe'en) is shortened from All-hallow-eve. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions,[4] until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st.
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On Halloween night, porches are lit with the orange glow of jack-o'-lanterns—carved pumpkins that grin, grimace, and scowl by the light of a flickering candle within their walls. The pumpkin is a versatile fruit commonly grown in North America, Great Britain, and Continental Europe for human food and livestock feed.
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