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Halloween: North America
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Halloween did not become a holiday in the United States until the 19th century, where lingering Puritan tradition restricted the observance of many holidays. American almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th centuries do not include Halloween in their lists of holidays.[32] The transatlantic migration of nearly two million Irish following the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849) finally brought the holiday to the United States. Scottish emigration from the British Isles, primarily to Canada before 1870 and to the United States thereafter, brought the Scottish version of the holiday to each country.
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Few holidays have a stranger or more paradoxical history than Halloween. Technically, it is the vigil of All Saints Day, observed by Roman Catholics . . . Halloween has clear connections with the rites of the druidic priests. . . (Douglas, George William, revised by Helene Douglas Compton, The American Book of Days, The H.W. Wilson Company, New York, 1948, p. 741)
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HERSHEY, Pa., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Halloween isn't just for kids. A recent survey showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans of all ages plan to take part in Halloween festivities this year. A whopping 87% of Americans plan to participate in activities surrounding the fall holiday, making Halloween one of the most significant cultural events of the year, according to a recent survey commissioned by Hershey Foods.
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Critics have suggested that Halloween and its slasher film successors may encourage sadism and misogyny. Others have suggested the film is a social critique of the immorality of young people in 1970s America, pointing out that many of Myers' victims are sexually promiscuous substance abusers, while the lone heroine is depicted as chaste and innocent. While Carpenter dismisses such analyses, the perceived parallel between the characters' moral strengths and their likelihood of surviving to the film's conclusion has ... become a standard slasher movie trope.
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As European immigrants came to America, they brought their varied Halloween customs with them. Because of the rigid Protestant belief systems that characterized early New England, celebration of Halloween in colonial times was extremely limited there.
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