Symbolism In Halloween

The Nightmare Before Christmas originated in a poem written by Tim Burton in 1982 that was later published October 13, 1993 as a film with his original hopes of  making “The Nightmare Before Christmas” a short film turned out to be a smashing hit out of his many films. Tim Burton's films often show mysterious worlds filled with wonder and horror that bring us to see the world in new ways that we never knew. In this film just like many other of Burton’s films the character is searching to find a new meaning to their life, or even going out of the way to make their life better by filling the empty void by finding a certain something or someone. What begins to puzzle the reader or viewer is when confusion comes up on who the bad guy or monster is in reality.

The Nightmare Before Christmas starts off in a town that the movie revolves around the whole movie, which is Halloweentown. In this town, they have a “Pumpkin King,” who is the ruler of the town, and his name is Jack Skellington. Jack begins to feel bored of the same old holiday they have every year, Halloween, and he soon stumbles upon trees that are decorated with symbols for each holiday. Jack is intrigued by the door that has a bright green christmas tree on it decorated with little painted-on ornaments. He opens the door and falls into the tree and gets transported into Christmasland. He explores the small land that he was pulled into, and then he returns home to tell his town about the place that he has just discovered. He tells them that they are going to make their own Christmas. The town teamed up and worked on making terrifying toys to bring “joy” to the children and to give Santa a year off. Jack sent 3 kids, Shock, Lock, and Barrel, to kidnap Santa and keep him safe while they were delivering presents to the kids of the world. Sally, who has always secretly admired Jack, told him she had a bad vision that stealing Christmas was a terrible idea, but Jack didn't listen. Jack finally got on his sleigh with his skeletal reindeer and rode off into the night delivering presents. Every house he went to called the police because the toys were trying to kill them and eventually the military was trying to shoot him out of the sky. When he was shot down, he realized Sally

Halloween: the holiday where as kids we couldn’t wait to go door to door to achieve the golden goal of a full bag of candy. Halloween soon turns into a question mark for teens; in an instant, there is a change of when it is ‘appropriate’ to go trick-or-treating and when you should just move on. Are you the one who thinks Trick-or-treating is lame or the one who still walks around your neighborhood every year -- no matter how many dirty looks you may get. What teenagers decide to do on Halloween varies: going to a party, passing out candy, staying home are a few popular options. Throughout my highschool experience I have been able to witness and experience all different types of halloteens, each with their own traits.

First is the history of Halloween all according to a 2017 article from LiveScience by Benjamin Radford. Around 2,000 years ago in the United Kingdom Ireland, and the northern part of France the people called the Celts started this holiday. They called it Samhain back then instead of Halloween. November 1st marked their new year which resulted in them celebrating on October 31st. The New Year brought wintertime which to them meant death. On the night before winter which was October 31st, they believe that the spirits of the Dead came back. They wore costumes, put on bonfires, burned crops and sacrificed animals. When the Romans

Introduction: Patrons of the season of Halloween spend over $2.5 billion dollars every year on candy, costumes, and decorations. Every year millions of kids get dressed up, knock on doors, and beg for candy. Have you ever wondered where this strange tradition originated? The three most important points of Halloween can be summed up by looking at its origins, how it came to include jack-o-lanterns and bobbing for apples, and how it is celebrated today with trick-or-treating and haunted houses.

Halloween is the point at which you cut Jack o' Lanterns out of pumpkins, design the house with a ghoulish topic, parties, and go trap or treating way to entryway wearing ensembles. Halloween is praised by both kids and grown-ups. Kids spruce up in

Transition: With all holidays come celebrations, let’s talk about the festivities that helped shape Halloween today.

When I was a child my friends and I had Halloween parties where we would share candy and play board games like Monopoly and Sorry. Eventually, after I had eaten all of my favorite candy, I would be exhausted and head home. Now as an adult, I attend parties where the only games that people are playing involve ping-pong balls and red solo cups. Occasionally there is an enormous campfire that reaches towards the moon and stars. The crackling sound of burning oak wood completes a night full of long-lasting memories. The parties are different from when I was younger, but celebrating Halloween is still cherished by

In many different cultures, people celebrate holidays differently. I’ll be comparing La dia de los Muertos (Day of the dead) and Halloween. I will be comparing what they do, why they do it, and they food they eat on these holidays.

These traditions were connected with the lower class at the time and so they were also connected with crime, rowdy behavior and other stereotypes the upper class believed about the poor. Of course people who were part of the upper class did not like this and by the 1870s they had turned Halloween into a holiday to make children into “good American citizens.” Halloween was now targeted towards children and because of that families were encouraged to celebrate it at home where food, games and other entertainment would have adult supervision. By doing this children were expected to understand the values society holds, while also learning about their proper gender roles. At this point we are able to start to see how Halloween became so heavily influenced by gender roles/stereotypes and how that led to the over-sexualized holiday it is now. Trick or treating and wearing Halloween costumes became popular in America around the 1920s and by the 1950s children’s costumes were extremely reflective of their sex. (Bannatyne.) Girls were dressed as princesses and angels while boys were army men, hobos and so on. However, as cute and adorable as this is or may have been, this creates a very thick line between genders. When that line is present it is alluding to children that

C. Thesis Statement: Going from what the meaning of Halloween is in America today and looking back at it’s roots, it has evolved dramatically. And just recently we have been seeing a comeback from one of those roots, but do we know it’s real cultural significance?

Halloween, a holiday many of us know and love. A day when we celebrate together with our friends, family, neighbors and community. We go from door to door collecting candy, sweets and much more, racing on who can approach the most houses or who can collect the most candy in the group. It is all fun and games when trick or treating, and it has evolved into so much more than from the past. As years pass by, we celebrate this holiday annually, but of everything we’ve taken in from being children through our teen and adult years, do we truly know the background of Halloween Day?

“In 1921, Minnesota became the first state to celebrate Halloween.[...] One by one, other states began to celebrate Halloween until it had spread nationwide.” said Kristen W. while putting up the argument that Halloween should not be celebrating because of the dangers that could lie beneath it. The argument in this article is that Halloween was started with the thought of kids being able to get some candy and dress up for fun, maybe even get a little scared, but as the world population grows so does crime rates which are supposedly worst on the night of October 31st. Kristen goes on to say “This year an estimated 23,000 children will have their candy scanned at a local hospital before they are allowed to eat it. If parents are worried, why

Halloween is frightening, Maybe it’s just the lightning. The clowns with their painted faces, Gone without traces. Halloween is scary,

Borrowing from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money. Over time this tradition turned in to today modern “trick or treating”. In the late 1800s, America turned Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, and witchcraft. As the centuries changed Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century (Kammen).