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Halloween Customs: North America
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Through the years Halloween customs have varied little, but recently children in the United States have given the holiday a new dimension. In 1950 a Sunday school class in Philadelphia found a way of sharing their "Trick or Treat" look with children around the world. They replaced their "Trick or Treat" bags with small cartoons marked "Trick or Treat for UNICEF," and instead of treats they asked for pennies which UNICEF would send to needy children in other countries. Their motto was, "Let's share instead of scare." Their first collection which netted only $17 has turned into a million-dollar idea. In 1966 some 3.5 million American children, enabling UNICEF to help children in 120 countries. In recognition of UNICEF's great humanitarian program, it was awarded the 1965 Nobel Peace Prize.
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With the arrival of European immigrants to the United States of America, came the varied Halloween customs indiginous to their former homelands. However, due to the rigid Protestant beliefs which characterized early New England, celebration of Halloween in colonial times was extremely limited in that particular area of the country. Halloween festivities were much more common in Maryland and the colonies located in the South. As the customs practiced by these varied European ethnic groups meshed with traditions employed by the native American Indians, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge.
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Halloween first was celebrated in the United States in the 1840s, when Irish Catholics, fleeing from the potato famine, brought Halloween customs with them to America. The tradition of carving jack-o'-lanterns originated with Irish children who first carved out the centers of rutabagas, turnips and potatoes and placed candles inside. This symbolized a mythical ghost doomed to walk the earth forever because he had angered both God and the devil. The new Americans found that pumpkins made even better jack-o'-lanterns than the other items they had used in Ireland.
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As European immigrants came to America, they brought their varied Halloween customs with them. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups, as well as the American Indians, meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland's potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today's "trick-or-treat" tradition.
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Other customs associated with Halloween that can be traced back in time include the Jack-O-Lantern. Irish children used to carve out potatoes or turnips and light them for their Halloween gatherings. The commemorated Jack was an wicked Irish villain unwanted by either heaven or hell. Jack wondered the world endlessly looking for a place to rest. Once in America, the Irish began to use pumpkins to celebrate Halloween with a Jack-O-Lantern because pumpkins were easier to carve and could be found in abundance.
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By the end of the 1800's, the United States had developed a variety of regional Halloween customs. In rural New Hampshire, for example, barn dances were a Halloween tradition. In New York City, Halloween parades and firecrackers were common aspects of the celebration. In the mountain regions of North Carolina, it was said that Halloween was a time when people could hear the future whispered in the wind. In Louisiana, it was time to cook a midnight dumb supper (a meal eaten without speaking) and watch for a ghost to join the table.
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