History UsefulNotes / AllHallowsEve

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church put forth the celebration of All Souls' Day (aka All Hallows' Day or Hallowmas), becoming "All Hallows' Evening", which was then contracted into "Hallowe'en". It was a day on which the living would pray for the souls of the dead who were still thought to be in Purgatory. Originally, in the seventh century, All Saints' Day was celebrated on May 13th, right after Easter. A few centuries later, it was shifted to November - there are multiple theories as to why. Some Orthodox churches continue to celebrate it in April, as did the Irish for a time. During the Reformation, Protestant monarchs tried to ban the practice (Protestantism largely rejecting the idea of Purgatory), but by then it had entered into too many folklore traditions, and was hard to stamp out, but the traditions were strongest in places where Catholicism remained - specifically, Ireland, parts of [[OopNorth Northern England]], and the Scottish Highlands. Over time, it had absorbed a number of other autumn traditions, including the practice of "souling", also known as "wassailing", in which people -- usually out-of-work plowmen -- would go door-to-door begging for food and drink. Those who were generous to the soulers would be rewarded with a song, a display of acrobatics, or a prayer for their recently departed, shortening their time in Purgatory, while stingier homeowners might be punished with retaliatory pranks from the rough-and-tumble plowmen. To avoid the shame of begging, and to avoid reprisals for their pranks, the soulers would often wear frightening disguises, hence the Scottish name for the practice: "guising". This tradition would obviously grow into the modern ritual of trick-or-treating, but was also the forerunner of Christmas caroling later in the year, and some older carols still have references to praying for the host's household, or veiled threats of mischief, in the lyrics.

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church put forth the celebration of All Souls' Day (aka All Hallows' Day or Hallowmas), becoming "All Hallows' Evening", which was then contracted into "Hallowe'en". It was a day on which the living would pray for the souls of the dead who were still thought to be in Purgatory. Originally, in the seventh century, All Saints' Day was celebrated on May 13th, right after Easter. A few centuries later, it was shifted to November - there are multiple theories as to why. Some Orthodox churches continue to celebrate it in April, as did the Irish for a time. During the Reformation, Protestant monarchs tried to ban the practice (Protestantism largely rejecting the idea of Purgatory), but by then it had entered into too many folklore traditions, and was hard to stamp out, but the traditions were strongest in places where Catholicism remained - specifically, Ireland, parts of [[OopNorth Northern England]], and the Scottish Highlands. Over time, it had absorbed a number of other autumn traditions, including the practice of "souling", also known as "wassailing", in which people - usually out-of-work plowmen - would go door-to-door begging for food and drink. Those who were generous to the soulers would be rewarded with a song, a display of acrobatics, or a prayer for their recently departed, shortening their time in Purgatory, while stingier homeowners might be punished with retaliatory pranks from the rough-and-tumble plowmen. To avoid the shame of begging, and to avoid reprisals for their pranks, the soulers would often wear frightening disguises, hence the Scottish name for the practice: "guising". This tradition would obviously grow into the modern ritual of trick-or-treating, but was also the forerunner of Christmas caroling later in the year, and some older carols still have references to praying for the host's household, or veiled threats of mischief, in the lyrics.

* '''Trick-or-treating:''' A practice that is mostly celebrated by children and their parents (although some will tell you that you're never too old to trick-or-treat), in which they go door-to-door asking for candy, saying "Trick or treat!" whenever the door is opened. The "trick" refers to the (mostly idle) threat of performing mischief against the homeowners or their property if no treats are given. No, most of us do not view this as extortion. A house is marked as "open" for trick-or-treaters by the presence of a lit jack-o'-lantern and porch lights. Trick-or-treating usually takes place at very specific hours of the evening (often 5-8 PM) so that kids won't stay out too late. The treats are almost always wrapped candies bought from a store, such as chocolate bars, lollipops, Twizzlers, and candy corn. Sometimes, people giving out candy, not wanting to be bothered to go to the door, choose to rely on the honor system, leaving a bowl of candy that kids are expected to only take small amounts of. Kids being kids, the bowl is usually empty, if not outright gone, halfway through the night. A similar, older tradition in Scotland and Wales is 'guising', where the children are expected to do a 'turn' (e.g. recite a poem or tell a few jokes) before they get any sweets. The first written record of the phrase "trick or treat" dates back to 1927, in the ''Blackie Herald'', a local newspaper from Blackie, Alberta, Canada.\\\

* '''Movies and television:''' While new {{horror}} flicks usually come into theaters at a steady clip year-round (about once a month), October is when the studios decide to stack their release schedule with these films, releasing a new one at least once a week. For instance, during the TurnOfTheMillennium the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise marketed itself as a modern Halloween tradition, with at least one entry bearing the {{tagline}} "if it's Halloween, it must be ''Saw''", and new installments coming out every October like clockwork... at least, until ''Film/ParanormalActivity'' blew it out of the water and took its place. Stores that sell or rent out movies will dramatically expand their horror sections around this time, and most customers will be more than happy to oblige. With the rise of home video, this has also been the reason why August has become such a popular time to release horror movies -- it provides ample time to get them onto home video and streaming in time for October without also running into SummerBlockbuster season.\\\

* '''Movies and television:''' While new {{horror}} flicks usually come into theaters at a steady stream year-round (about once a month), October is when the studios decide to stack their release schedule with these films, releasing a new one at least once a week. For instance, during the TurnOfTheMillennium the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise marketed itself as a modern Halloween tradition, with at least one entry bearing the {{tagline}} "if it's Halloween, it must be ''Saw''", and new installments coming out every October like clockwork... at least, until ''Film/ParanormalActivity'' blew it out of the water and took its place. Stores that sell or rent out movies will dramatically expand their horror sections around this time, and most customers will be more than happy to oblige. With the rise of home video, this has also been the reason why August has become such a popular time to release horror movies -- it provides ample time to get them onto home video and streaming in time for October without also running into SummerBlockbuster season.\\\

Candy apples (apples coated with caramel or toffee) used to be a popular treat, but that ended due to [[MediaScaremongering a scare]] in TheEighties over people putting [[RazorApples razor blades, needles, or poison in the apples]]. [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer In reality]], the [[http://www.snopes.com/horrors/poison/halloween.asp only proven cases]] of people deliberately spiking kids' candy with poison or drugs were crazy parents who were trying to kill their own children (and one of the most famous cases involved Pixi-Stix, a "safe" wrapped candy), not strangers handing out poison at the door. Hiding pins or needles in Halloween candy [[http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/needles.asp has been known to happen several times,]] but usually as a prank by one's friends -- and it can just as easily be done with a wrapped Snickers bar as with an apple. There certainly wasn't any conspiracy by [[HollywoodSatanism Satanic cultists]] to murder children as sacrifices to the Dark Lord, as has been claimed.[[note]]Perhaps not coincidentally, the rise of this legend came at the same time as the SatanicPanic of TheEighties, when so-called [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories "Satanic ritual abuse"]] (now believed by most serious investigators to be an {{urban legend|s}}) was being hyped up by churches and even law enforcement as the latest threat ''du jour''.[[/note]] So basically, nice job ruining our fun, [[MoralGuardians assholes]].

Today, Halloween is considered a major holiday in the US, Canada, Mexico (where it retains more of a Catholic bent, as it falls right before the Día de los Muertos celebrations), and the British Isles (where it tends to be more strongly influenced by the older traditions). It's also caught on in mainland Europe (especially in those regions with a strong Celtic influence, such as northernmost Spain, where it is often also closer to the older traditions), Australia and New Zealand, India, the Philippines, and Japan, largely through exposure to American media. It's that part about American media, however, that tends to provoke the most criticism of Halloween outside of North America and the British Isles. France, for instance, has long been resistant to celebrating the holiday, seeing it as a form of American cultural imperialism, and celebrations are largely limited to the expat communities. The Australians are more accepting, especially in recent years (it helps that many Australians claim Irish or Scottish ancestry), but Halloween is still fairly controversial there for the same reasons that it is in France; a typical sight in newspapers around October is one or more articles railing against the holiday and the "creeping Americanism" it is held to represent (especially given that, in Australia, October marks the beginning of ''spring''). Even in the UK, you can encounter quite a number of people who bemoan the degree to which Halloween has displaced the more traditional UsefulNotes/GuyFawkes Night or Bonfire Night observances of a few days later. Thus, a new myth is emerging about the origins of Hallowe'en: while Victorian mystics put forth the idea that Halloween was derived from ancient pagan Irish traditions, today we're seeing the idea that it is a purely modern American invention.

The roots of what we now know as Halloween are often thought to be descended from the Irish Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced "sah-win"), which is believed to mean means "summer's end". Very little is known about the original Samhain, but during the Celtic Revival movement of the 19th Century, a lot of speculation was put forth about the holiday which seems to have stuck in the public consciousness: supposedly, the ancient Celts believed that the "veil" between the worlds of the living and the dead was thin from the night of October 31st through to the night of November 1st; anybody who knows anything about Halloween knows where this is going. Of course, Halloween was already a popular holiday by the time these theories were put forth, so most serious historians agree that it was Halloween that shaped our perceptions of Samhain, rather than Samhain shaping Halloween itself. What we do know is that Samhain marked the last harvest, the end of foraging for livestock, and the beginning of winter. It may have been a religious holiday or a purely practical harvest festival; we're really not sure. It is also worth remembering that "the Celts" were not a single people with a single set of traditions, but a disparate group of many tribes stretching from Ireland all the way to the Adriatic Sea, so the traditions of one Celtic people would not have lined up with those another.

The roots of what we now know as Halloween are often thought to be descended from the Irish Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced "sah-win"), which is believed to mean means "summer's end", and was observed Very little is known about the original Samhain, but during the Celtic Revival movement of the 19th Century, a lot of speculation was put forth about the holiday which seems to have stuck in the public consciousness: supposedly, the ancient Celts believed that the "veil" between the worlds of the living and the dead was thin from the night of October 31st through to the night of November 1st; anybody who knows anything about Halloween knows where this is going. Of course, Halloween was already a popular holiday by the time these theories were put forth, so most serious historians agree that it was Halloween that shaped our perceptions of Samhain, rather than Samhain shaping Halloween itself. What we do know is that Samhain marked the last harvest, the end of foraging for livestock, and the beginning of winter. It may have been a religious holiday or a purely practical harvest festival; we're really not sure. It is also worth remembering that "the Celts" were not a single people with a single set of traditions, but a disparate group of many tribes stretching from Ireland all the way to the Adriatic Sea, so the traditions of one Celtic people would not have lined up with those another.

The roots of what we now know as Halloween are descended from the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced "sah-win"), which means "summers end." The ancient Celts believed that the "veil" between the worlds of the living and the dead was thin from the night of October 31st through to the night of November 1st; anybody who knows anything about Halloween knows where this is going. It was the Celtic new year, a time when spiritual power heightened, marking the last harvest, the end of foraging for livestock, and the beginning of winter. Samhain was then adapted into the night before the Catholic celebration of All Saints' Day (aka All Hallows' Day or Hallowmas), becoming "All Hallows' Evening", which was then contracted into "Hallowe'en". Originally, in the seventh century, All Saints' Day was celebrated on May 13th, right after Easter. A few centuries later, it was shifted to November, to incorporate Celtic Samhain traditions in an effort to convert pagans. Some Orthodox churches continue to celebrate it in April, as did the Irish for a time. The revival of Celtic culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries only deepened interest in Samhain, contributing to its transformation into the modern holiday of Halloween.

Halloween was imported to the US and Canada in the 19th century, a time that saw substantial [[UsefulNotes/TheIrishDiaspora Irish]] and Scottish migration to the New World. Back in this time, Halloween in North America was more of a celebration of Irish and Scottish heritage than anything else, much like Columbus Day is for Italian Americans. It was celebrated with large feasts, apple bobbing, and other divination games, as well as pranks and mischief. By the turn of the century, the "pranks and mischief" had become the defining feature of Halloween, turning it into a night of hooliganism and vandalism. As a result, the Boy Scouts and neighborhood groups started working to turn Halloween back into a safe celebration, organizing trick-or-treating events based around the old practice of "guising" to redirect the focus of the festivities away from violence. With Halloween now becoming a popular celebration outside of Welsh, Irish and Scottish neighborhoods, retailers jumped at the opportunity for a new holiday to commercialize. While this commercialization first began in the early decades of the 20th century (mass-produced costumes started appearing in [[TheGreatDepression the 1930s]]), it really took off after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and it hasn't stopped since.

Today, Halloween is considered a major holiday in the US, Canada, Mexico (where it retains more of a Catholic bent, as it falls right before the Día de los Muertos celebrations), and the British Isles (where it tends to be more strongly influenced by the older traditions). It's also caught on in mainland Europe (especially in those regions with a strong Celtic influence, such as northernmost Spain, where it is often also closer to the older traditions), Australia and New Zealand, India, the Philippines, and Japan, largely through exposure to American media. It's that part about American media, however, that tends to provoke the most criticism of Halloween outside of North America and the British Isles. France, for instance, has long been resistant to celebrating the holiday, seeing it as a form of American cultural imperialism, and celebrations are largely limited to the expat communities. The Australians are more accepting, especially in recent years (it helps that many Australians claim Irish or Scottish ancestry), but Halloween is still fairly controversial there for the same reasons that it is in France; a typical sight in newspapers around October is one or more articles railing against the holiday and the "creeping Americanism" it is held to represent (especially given that, in Australia, October marks the beginning of ''spring''). Even in the UK, you can encounter quite a number of people who bemoan the degree to which Halloween has displaced the more traditional UsefulNotes/GuyFawkes Night or Bonfire Night observances of a few days later.

* '''Trick-or-treating:''' A practice that is mostly celebrated by children and their parents (although some will tell you that you're never too old to trick-or-treat), in which they go door-to-door asking for candy, saying "Trick or treat!" whenever the door is opened. The "trick" refers to the (mostly idle) threat of performing mischief against the homeowners or their property if no treats are given. No, most of us do not view this as extortion. A house is marked as "open" for trick-or-treaters by the presence of a lit jack-o'-lantern and porch lights. Trick-or-treating usually takes place at very specific hours of the evening (often 5-8 PM) so that kids won't stay out too late. The treats are almost always wrapped candies bought from a store, such as chocolate bars, lollipops, Twizzlers, and candy corn. Sometimes, people giving out candy, not wanting to be bothered to go to the door, choose to rely on the honor system, leaving a bowl of candy that kids are expected to only take small amounts of. Kids being kids, the bowl is usually empty, if not outright gone, halfway through the night. A similar, older tradition in Scotland and Wales is 'guising', where the children are expected to do a 'turn' (e.g. recite a poem or tell a few jokes) before they get any sweets. \\\

For the most part, Catholics and mainline Protestants are tolerant of the holiday, regarding any ties to paganism as having long since been buried by centuries of Christian and secular tradition. (After all, does anybody, apart from Jehovah's Witnesses and [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]] churches, complain about the connections between [[UsefulNotes/ChristmasInAmerica modern Christmas celebrations]] and the pagan solstice holiday of Yule?) To them, Halloween is seen as a harmless, secular event built around imaginary monsters and handing out candy. Catholic schools often hold Halloween celebrations, and a Vatican exorcist has said that the day is harmless. True, the Catholic and Anglican Churches may emphasize All Saints' Day, the celebration that comes after Halloween, while Protestants may celebrate Reformation Day -- the day when in 1517, Martin Luther started UsefulNotes/TheProtestantReformation -- which falls on the same day. However, these celebrations are usually held simultaneously with Halloween, rather than in opposition to it. The laissez-faire attitude that Catholics hold to the holiday makes sense -- the Catholic Church was instrumental in Christianizing the holiday, and it was Irish Catholics who brought Halloween to America in the first place.

Some conservative Christians, however, maintain that Halloween trivializes (or outright celebrates) the occult and is therefore incompatible with the Christian faith. They will often bolster this stance by pointing to the holiday's pagan connections, which they maintain to be [[UsefulNotes/{{Satanism}} Satanic]] in nature. There have consequently been many religious challenges to and protests against the celebration of Halloween lodged over the years, particularly in the evangelical "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanChurches Bible Belt]]" regions of [[DeepSouth the South]] and [[DownOnTheFarm the rural Midwest]]. A more recent tradition among many conservative Christians has been to hold "Halloween alternative parties", in which people dress up as Biblical characters, and to stage [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_house "Hell houses"]] as TheMoralSubstitute to regular Halloween attractions. At Hell houses, attendees are shown scenes meant to portray the decadence of secular culture, finally ending up in a room that represents either {{heaven}}, which is the reward for not behaving in the manner just witnessed, or {{hell}}, which is occupied by {{Satan}}, who claims that all of the characters they have seen (who usually reappear here) are now firmly in his grasp. In order to get out afterwards, attendees must agree to be "saved" (become born-again Christians) or traverse the length of the building. In some cases a Hell house will be marketed as a normal haunted house attraction, making it a BaitAndSwitch for unwitting attendees who don't realize that they're going to a fire-and-brimstone sermon until they're already through the door.

And finally, with so much controversy over its pagan history, what do actual pagans think about it? Celtic pagans (of both the [[UsefulNotes/NeoPaganism neo-pagan]] and reconstructionist variety) consider the season to be a holy time of year, and make offerings to the gods and the ancestors. A fair number of UsefulNotes/{{Wicca}}ns, however, feel that the modern, Western incarnation of the holiday is offensive -- they see it as promoting old stereotypes and caricatures of "{{wicked witch}}es" that serve to make people suspicious and fearful of real-life pagans and witches. (One ''Series/BostonLegal'' episode, "Witches of Mass Destruction", featured conservative Christians and hardline Wiccans [[EnemyMine teaming up against Halloween]], which is sad.)

A recent trend has been for women's Halloween costumes to crank up the {{fanservice}} with plenty of cleavage, [[ShesGotLegs leg]], [[BareYourMidriff midriff]], and [[HellBentForLeather leather]]. In fact, as noted on the page for HotterAndSexier, the "[[{{Stripperiffic}} slutty]] [[SexyWhateverOutfit Halloween costume]]" is almost a trope in and of itself, with [[https://www.yandy.com/halloween-costumes entire companies]] specializing in making sexy costumes. Halloween has been described (most famously by [[Film/MeanGirls Cady Heron]]) as the one day when women are allowed to pretty much dress like strippers without any repercussions, no matter how strait-laced they are on the other 364 days of the year, while Creator/DanSavage has [[http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/happy-heteroween/Content?oid=2594616 called it]] the closest thing that straight people have to a gay PrideParade, or that Americans have to Carnival or Mardi Gras. That said, it does make a good target for snark, with lists of the most [[FetishRetardant laughable]] "sexy" Halloween costumes cropping up every October. And just in case you were wondering, while it is less common, guys get in on this too; the usual male variation of the above is either the WalkingShirtlessScene, or something that [[DoubleEntendre calls attention to the guy's junk]], like elephants, hot dogs, genie bottles, or "ball pits". The [[MemeticMutation meme]] [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/036/460/078.jpg "Is Halloween getting too sexy for kids?"]] parodies this by showing someone crawling in an Creator/{{Amazon}} box.

A recent trend has been for women's Halloween costumes to crank up the {{fanservice}} with plenty of [[AbsoluteCleavage cleavage]], [[ShesGotLegs leg]], [[BareYourMidriff midriff]], and [[HellBentForLeather leather]]. In fact, as noted on the page for HotterAndSexier, the "[[{{Stripperiffic}} slutty]] [[SexyWhateverOutfit Halloween costume]]" is almost a trope in and of itself, with [[https://www.yandy.com/halloween-costumes entire companies]] specializing in making sexy costumes. Halloween has been described (most famously by [[Film/MeanGirls Cady Heron]]) as the one day when women are allowed to pretty much dress like strippers without any repercussions, no matter how strait-laced they are on the other 364 days of the year, while Creator/DanSavage has [[http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/happy-heteroween/Content?oid=2594616 called it]] the closest thing that straight people have to a gay PrideParade, or that Americans have to Carnival or Mardi Gras. That said, it does make a good target for snark, with lists of the most [[FetishRetardant laughable]] "sexy" Halloween costumes cropping up every October. And just in case you were wondering, while it is less common, guys get in on this too; the usual male variation of the above is either the WalkingShirtlessScene, or something that [[DoubleEntendre calls attention to the guy's junk]], like elephants, hot dogs, genie bottles, or "ball pits". The [[MemeticMutation meme]] [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/036/460/078.jpg "Is Halloween getting too sexy for kids?"]] parodies this by showing someone crawling in an Creator/{{Amazon}} box.

* '''Parties:''' As noted under UsefulNotes/AmericanHolidays, Americans will never resist the temptation to go out and party. After trick-or-treating ends, kids and their parents usually go to their friends' houses to bob for apples, search for candy in the backyard, tell spooky stories, and compare their respective hauls for the night. Pumpkin pie may be served. Teenagers and young adults, meanwhile, often have parties of their own. Horror movies (or ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'') are played on the TV, the guys go to check out how sexy/slutty the women's costumes are, and HalloweenSongs like "[[Music/MichaelJacksonsThriller Thriller]]", "Somebody's Watching Me", "Monster Mash", and the ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' themes come on at least once during the night. These events may run the chance of turning into the WildTeenParty, although oftentimes, they are held at bars and similar establishments that can deal with rowdiness better than the parents of a teenager. In places with a lot of countryside, Halloween parties traditionally involve bonfires and activities like {{snipe hunt}}s.

* '''Parties:''' As noted under UsefulNotes/AmericanHolidays, Americans will never resist the temptation to go out and party. After trick-or-treating ends, kids and their parents usually go to their friends' houses to bob for apples, search for candy in the backyard, tell spooky stories, and compare their respective hauls for the night. Pumpkin pie may be served. Teenagers and young adults, meanwhile, often have parties of their own. Horror movies (or ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'') are played on the TV, the guys go to check out how sexy/slutty the women's costumes are, and songs like "[[Music/MichaelJacksonsThriller Thriller]]", "Somebody's Watching Me", "Monster Mash", and the ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' themes come on at least once during the night. These events may run the chance of turning into the WildTeenParty, although oftentimes, they are held at bars and similar establishments that can deal with rowdiness better than the parents of a teenager. In places with a lot of countryside, Halloween parties traditionally involve bonfires and activities like {{snipe hunt}}s.

TV channels, particularly cable channels, will run marathons of horror films for weeks, from [[Franchise/UniversalHorror the old]] [[Film/HammerHorror classics]] (''Film/{{Dracula|1931}}'', ''Film/{{Frankenstein|1931}}'', ''Film/{{The Wolf Man|1941}}'') to modern ones (''Franchise/FridayThe13th'', ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'', ''Film/TheExorcist'', ''Film/DawnOfTheDead'', ''Film/{{Scream}}'', and of course, ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}''), as well as shows like ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'', ''Series/TheMunsters'', and ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}''. For kids and those not in the mood to be scared, ''WesternAnimation/ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown'' is usually on the air somewhere, as are other {{Halloween special}}s both classic and modern. And most [[LongRunners long-running]] TV shows will do at least one HalloweenEpisode during their run; among the most famous of these are ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''[='=] annual "WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror" anthology episodes.

TV channels, particularly cable channels, will run marathons of horror films for weeks, from [[Franchise/UniversalHorror the old]] [[Film/HammerHorror classics]] (''Film/{{Dracula|1931}}'', ''Film/{{Frankenstein|1931}}'', ''Film/{{The Wolf Man|1941}}'') to modern ones (''Franchise/FridayThe13th'', ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'', ''Film/TheExorcist'', ''Film/DawnOfTheDead'', ''Film/{{Scream}}'', and of course, ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}''), as well as shows like ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' and ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}''. For kids and those not in the mood to be scared, ''WesternAnimation/ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown'' is usually on the air somewhere, as are other {{Halloween special}}s both classic and modern. And most [[LongRunners long-running]] TV shows will do at least one HalloweenEpisode during their run; among the most famous of these are ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''[='=] annual "WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror" anthology episodes.

Some conservative Christians, however, maintain that Halloween trivializes (or outright celebrates) the occult and is therefore incompatible with the Christian faith. To bolster this stance they point to the holiday's Celtic pagan connections, which they feel to be [[UsefulNotes/{{Satanism}} Satanic]] in nature. There have consequently been many religious challenges to and protests against the celebration of Halloween lodged over the years, particularly in the evangelical "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanChurches Bible Belt]]" regions of [[DeepSouth the South]] and [[DownOnTheFarm the rural Midwest]]. A recent tradition among many conservative Christians has been to hold "Halloween alternative parties", in which people dress up as Biblical characters, and to stage [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_house "Hell houses"]] as TheMoralSubstitute to regular Halloween attractions. At Hell houses, the attendees are shown scenes meant to portray the decadence of secular culture, finally ending up in a room that represents either {{heaven}}, which is the reward for not behaving in the manner just witnessed, or {{hell}}, which is occupied by {{Satan}}, who claims that all of the characters they have seen (who usually reappear here) are now firmly in his grasp. In order to get out afterwards, attendees must agree to be "saved" (become born-again Christians) or traverse the length of the building. In some cases, the Hell house is marketed as a normal haunted house attraction, making it a BaitAndSwitch in which unwitting attendees don't realize that they're going to a fire-and-brimstone sermon until they're already through the door.

And finally, with so much controversy over its pagan history, what do actual pagans think about it? Celtic pagans (of both the [[UsefulNotes/NeoPaganism neo-pagan]] and reconstructionist variety) consider the season to be a holy time of year, and make offerings to the gods and the ancestors. A fair number of UsefulNotes/{{Wicca}}ns, however, feel that the modern, Western incarnation of the holiday is offensive -- they see it as promoting old stereotypes and caricatures of "{{wicked witch}}es" that serve to make people suspicious and fearful of real-life pagans and witches. (The ''Series/BostonLegal'' episode "Witches of Mass Destruction" featured conservative Christians and hardline Wiccans [[EnemyMine teaming up against Halloween]], which is sad.)

Some conservative Christians, however, maintain that Halloween trivializes (or outright celebrates) the occult and is therefore incompatible with the Christian faith. To bolster this stance they point to the holiday's Celtic pagan connections, which they feel to be [[UsefulNotes/Satanism Satanic]] in nature. There have consequently been many religious challenges to and protests against the celebration of Halloween lodged over the years, particularly in the evangelical "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanChurches Bible Belt]]" regions of [[DeepSouth the South]] and [[DownOnTheFarm the rural Midwest]]. A recent tradition among many conservative Christians has been to hold "Halloween alternative parties", in which people dress up as Biblical characters, and to stage [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_house "Hell houses"]] as TheMoralSubstitute to regular Halloween attractions. At Hell houses, the attendees are shown scenes meant to portray the decadence of secular culture, finally ending up in a room that represents either {{heaven}}, which is the reward for not behaving in the manner just witnessed, or {{hell}}, which is occupied by {{Satan}}, who claims that all of the characters they have seen (who usually reappear here) are now firmly in his grasp. In order to get out afterwards, attendees must agree to be "saved" (become born-again Christians) or traverse the length of the building. In some cases, the Hell house is marketed as a normal haunted house attraction, making it a BaitAndSwitch in which unwitting attendees don't realize that they're going to a fire-and-brimstone sermon until they're already through the door.

Some conservative Christians, however, maintain that Halloween trivializes (or outright celebrates) the occult and is therefore incompatible with the Christian faith. To bolster this stance they point to the holiday's Celtic pagan connections, [[UsefulNotes/{{Wicca}} which they feel to be Satanic]] in nature. There have consequently been many religious challenges to and protests against the celebration of Halloween lodged over the years, particularly in the evangelical "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanChurches Bible Belt]]" regions of [[DeepSouth the South]] and [[DownOnTheFarm the rural Midwest]]. A recent tradition among many conservative Christians has been to hold "Halloween alternative parties", in which people dress up as Biblical characters, and to stage [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_house "Hell houses"]] as TheMoralSubstitute to regular Halloween attractions. At Hell houses, the attendees are shown scenes meant to portray the decadence of secular culture, finally ending up in a room that represents either {{heaven}}, which is the reward for not behaving in the manner just witnessed, or {{hell}}, which is occupied by {{Satan}}, who claims that all of the characters they have seen (who usually reappear here) are now firmly in his grasp. In order to get out afterwards, attendees must agree to be "saved" (become born-again Christians) or traverse the length of the building. In some cases, the Hell house is marketed as a normal haunted house attraction, making it a BaitAndSwitch in which unwitting attendees don't realize that they're going to a fire-and-brimstone sermon until they're already through the door.

Some conservative Christians, however, maintain that Halloween trivializes (or outright celebrates) the occult and is therefore incompatible with the Christian faith. To bolster this stance they point to the holiday's Celtic pagan connections, [[UsefulNotes/{{Wicca}} which they feel to be Satanic]]. There have consequently been many religious challenges to and protests against the celebration of Halloween lodged over the years, particularly in the "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanChurches Bible Belt]]" regions of [[DeepSouth the South]] and [[DownOnTheFarm the rural Midwest]]. A recent tradition among many conservative Christians has been to hold "Halloween alternative parties" in which people dress up as Biblical characters, and to stage [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_house "Hell houses"]] as TheMoralSubstitute to regular Halloween attractions. At Hell houses, the attendees are shown scenes meant to portray the decadence of secular culture, finally ending in a room that represents either {{heaven}}, which is the reward for not behaving in the manner just witnessed, or {{hell}}, which is occupied by {{Satan}}, who claims that all of the characters they have seen (who usually reappear here) are now firmly in his grasp. Afterwards, in order to get out, the attendees must agree to be "saved" (become born-again Christians) or traverse the length of the building. In some cases, the Hell house is marketed as a normal haunted house, thus making it a BaitAndSwitch in which unwitting attendees don't realize that they're going to a fire-and-brimstone sermon until they're already through the door.

The same dichotomy exists within Judaism and Islam. The Orthodox Jewish and conservative Muslim views on the holiday are similar to the conservative Christian one -- it has deep pagan roots, and is therefore incompatible with observance of Judaism or Islam. It is for this reason that celebrations of Halloween have failed to gain traction in the conservative Middle East--''including'' Israel.[[note]]Although to be fair, Jews already have [[UsefulNotes/JewishHolidays Purim]], which has become almost exactly the same thing, [[DisSimile except that Purim has no real "spooky/scary" elements to it, all adults--not just young'uns--are supposed to get drunk, and the people in costumes going door to door asking for free stuff are probably plastered young men, not adorable little kids.]][[/note]] On the other hand, Reform Jews and the more secular and liberal Muslims[[note]]They do exist, and there are in fact quite a lot of them[[/note]] in the US and Canada tend to follow the more "who cares" view of their liberal Christian counterparts, holding it to be harmless fun that lost any semblance of being ''any'' religion's holiday once the marketers got a hold of it. Meanwhile, the Conservative Jews (as usual) stand half-here, half-there on the subject.

Today, Halloween is considered a major holiday in the US, Canada, Mexico (where it retains more of a Catholic bent, as it falls right before the Día de los Muertos celebrations), and the British Isles (where it tends to be more strongly influenced by the older traditions). It has also caught on in mainland Europe (especially in those regions with a strong Celtic influence, such as northernmost Spain, where it is often also closer to the older traditions), India, the Philippines, and Japan through exposure to American media. It's that part about American media, however, that often creates the most criticism of Halloween outside North America and the British Isles. France, for instance, has long been resistant to celebrating the holiday, seeing it as a form of American cultural imperialism, and celebrations are largely limited to the expat communities. The Australians are more accepting, especially in recent years (it helps that many Australians claim Irish or Scottish ancestry), but it is still fairly controversial for the same reasons that it is in France; a typical sight in newspapers around October is articles railing against the holiday and the "creeping Americanism" it is held to represent (especially given that, in Australia, October marks the beginning of ''spring''). Even in the UK, you can encounter quite a number of people who bemoan the degree to which Halloween has displaced the more traditional UsefulNotes/GuyFawkes Night or Bonfire Night observances of a few days later.

However, in some places (most infamously UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}} and [[OopNorth the north of England]]), the night is associated with far worse cases of vandalism, including [[PyroManiac arson]], putting fireworks in mailboxes, breaking windows, and setting fires in the street. As a result, the police tend to step up their patrols on October 30 to deter vandals. In addition, some parts of the UK put age restrictions on buying items like eggs, flour, and toilet paper around Halloween, in order to prevent under-16s from buying such items for vandalism.

* '''Movies and television:''' While new {{horror}} flicks usually come into theaters at a steady stream year-round (about once a month), October is when the studios decide to stack their release schedule with these films, releasing a new one at least once a week. For instance, during the TurnOfTheMillennium the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise marketed itself as a modern Halloween tradition, with at least one entry bearing the {{tagline}} "if it's Halloween, it must be ''Saw''", and new installments coming out every October like clockwork... at least, until ''Film/ParanormalActivity'' blew it out of the water and took its place. Stores that sell or rent out movies will dramatically expand their horror sections, and customers are more than happy to oblige. With the rise of home video, this has also been the reason why August has become such a popular time to release horror movies -- it provides ample time to get them onto home video and streaming in time for October without running into SummerBlockbuster season.\\\

TV channels, particularly cable channels, will run marathons of horror films for weeks, from [[Franchise/UniversalHorror the old]] [[Film/HammerHorror classics]] (''Film/{{Dracula|1931}}'', ''Film/{{Frankenstein|1931}}'', ''Film/{{The Wolf Man|1941}}'') to modern ones (''Franchise/FridayThe13th'', ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'', ''Film/TheExorcist'', ''Film/DawnOfTheDead'', ''Film/{{Scream}}'', and of course, ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}''), as well as shows like ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' and ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}''. For kids and those not in the mood to be scared, ''WesternAnimation/ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown'' is usually on the air somewhere, as are other {{Halloween special}}s both classic and modern. Most [[LongRunners long-running]] TV shows will do at least one HalloweenEpisode during their run; among the most famous of these are ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''[='=] annual "WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror" anthology episodes.

TV channels, particularly cable channels, run marathons of horror films for weeks, from [[Franchise/UniversalHorror the old]] [[Film/HammerHorror classics]] (''Film/{{Dracula|1931}}'', ''Film/{{Frankenstein|1931}}'', ''Film/{{The Wolf Man|1941}}'') to modern ones (''Franchise/FridayThe13th'', ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'', ''Film/TheExorcist'', ''Film/DawnOfTheDead'', ''Film/{{Scream}}'', and of course, ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}''), as well as shows like ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' and ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}''. For kids and those not in the mood to be scared, ''WesternAnimation/ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown'' is usually on the air somewhere, as are other {{Halloween special}}s both classic and modern. Most [[LongRunners long-running]] TV shows do at least one HalloweenEpisode during their run; among the most famous Halloween episodes are ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''[='=] annual "WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror" anthology episodes.

For the most part, Catholics and mainline Protestants are tolerant of the holiday, seeing any ties to paganism as having long since been buried by centuries of Christian and secular tradition. (After all, does anybody, apart from Jehovah's Witnesses and [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]] churches, complain about the connections between [[UsefulNotes/ChristmasInAmerica modern Christmas celebrations]] and the pagan solstice holiday of Yule?) To them, Halloween is seen as a harmless, secular event built around imaginary monsters and handing out candy. Catholic schools often hold Halloween celebrations, and a Vatican exorcist has said that the day is harmless. True, the Catholic and Anglican Churches may emphasize All Saints' Day, the celebration that comes after Halloween, while Protestants may celebrate Reformation Day -- the day when in 1517, Martin Luther started UsefulNotes/TheProtestantReformation -- which falls on the same day. However, these celebrations are usually held simultaneously with Halloween, rather than in opposition to it. The laissez-faire attitude that Catholics hold to the holiday makes sense -- the Catholic Church was instrumental in Christianizing the holiday, and it was Irish Catholics who brought Halloween to America in the first place.

Some conservative Christians, however, feel that Halloween trivializes (or outright celebrates) the occult and is therefore incompatible with the Christian faith. To bolster this stance they point to the holiday's Celtic pagan connections, [[UsefulNotes/{{Wicca}} which they feel to be Satanic]]. There have been many religious challenges to and protests against the celebration of Halloween over the years, particularly in the "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanChurches Bible Belt]]" region of [[DeepSouth the South]] and [[DownOnTheFarm the rural Midwest]]. A recent tradition among many conservative Christians has been to hold "Halloween alternative parties" in which people dress up as Biblical characters, and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_house "Hell houses"]] as TheMoralSubstitute to regular Halloween attractions. At Hell houses, the attendees are shown scenes meant to portray the decadence of secular culture, finally ending in a room that represents either {{heaven}}, which is the reward for not behaving in the manner just witnessed, or {{hell}}, occupied by {{Satan}}, who claims that all of the characters they had seen (who usually reappear here) are now firmly in his grasp. Afterwards, in order to get out, the attendees must agree to be "saved" (become born-again Christians) or traverse the length of the building. In some cases, the Hell house is marketed as a normal haunted house, thus making it a BaitAndSwitch in which unwitting attendees don't realize that they're going to a fire-and-brimstone sermon until they're already through the door.

Some conservative Christians, however, feel that Halloween trivializes (or outright celebrates) the occult and is therefore incompatible with the Christian faith. To bolster this stance they point to the holiday's Celtic pagan connections, [[UsefulNotes/{{Wicca}} which they feel to be Satanic]]. There have been many religious challenges to and protests against the celebration of Halloween over the years, particularly in the "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanChurches Bible Belt]]" region of [[DeepSouth the South]] and [[DownOnTheFarm the rural Midwest]]. A recent tradition among conservative Christians has been to hold "Halloween alternative parties" in which people dress up as Biblical characters, and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_house "Hell houses"]] as TheMoralSubstitute to regular Halloween attractions. At Hell houses, the attendees are shown scenes meant to portray the decadence of secular culture, finally ending in a room that represents either {{heaven}}, which is the reward for not behaving in the manner just witnessed, or {{hell}}, occupied by {{Satan}}, who claims that all of the characters they had seen (who usually reappear here) are now firmly in his grasp. Afterwards, in order to get out, the attendees must agree to be "saved" (become born-again Christians) or traverse the length of the building. In some cases, the Hell house is marketed as a normal haunted house, thus making it a BaitAndSwitch in which unwitting attendees don't realize that they're going to a fire-and-brimstone sermon until they're already through the door.

For the most part, Catholics and mainline Protestants are tolerant of the holiday, seeing any ties to paganism as having long since been buried by centuries of Christian and secular tradition -- after all, does anybody, apart from Jehovah's Witnesses and [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]] churches, complain about the connections between [[UsefulNotes/ChristmasInAmerica modern Christmas celebrations]] and the pagan solstice holiday of Yule? To them, it is a harmless, secular holiday built around imaginary monsters and handing out candy. Catholic schools often hold Halloween celebrations, and a Vatican exorcist has said that the day is harmless. The Catholic and Anglican Churches may emphasize All Saints' Day, the celebration that comes after Halloween, while Protestants may celebrate Reformation Day -- the day when in 1517, Martin Luther started UsefulNotes/TheProtestantReformation -- which falls on the same day. However, these celebrations are usually held simultaneously with Halloween, rather than in opposition to it. The laissez-faire attitude that Catholics hold to the holiday makes sense -- the Catholic Church was instrumental in Christianizing the holiday, and it was Irish Catholics who brought Halloween to America in the first place.

A recent trend has been for women's Halloween costumes to crank up the {{fanservice}} with plenty of [[AbsoluteCleavage cleavage]], [[ShesGotLegs leg]], [[BareYourMidriff midriff]], and [[HellBentForLeather leather]]. In fact, as noted on the page for HotterAndSexier, the "[[{{Stripperiffic}} slutty]] [[SexyWhateverOutfit Halloween costume]]" is almost a trope in and of itself, with [[https://www.yandy.com/halloween-costumes entire companies]] specializing in making sexy costumes. Halloween has been described (most famously by [[Film/MeanGirls Cady Heron]]) as the one day when women are allowed to pretty much dress like strippers without any repercussions, no matter how strait-laced they are on the other 364 days of the year, while Creator/DanSavage has [[http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/happy-heteroween/Content?oid=2594616 called it]] the closest thing that straight people have to a gay PrideParade, or that Americans have to Carnival or Mardi Gras. That said, it does make a good target for snark, with lists of the most [[FetishRetardant laughable]] "sexy" Halloween costumes cropping up every October. And in case you were wondering, while it is less common, guys get in on this too; the usual male variation of the above is either the WalkingShirtlessScene, or something that [[DoubleEntendre calls attention to the guy's junk]], like elephants, hot dogs, genie bottles, or "ball pits". The [[MemeticMutation meme]] [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/036/460/078.jpg "Is Halloween getting too sexy for kids?"]] parodies this by showing someone crawling in an Creator/{{Amazon}} box.

Today, Halloween is considered a major holiday in the US, Canada, Mexico (where it retains more of a Catholic bent, as it falls right before the Día de los Muertos celebrations), and the British Isles (where it tends to be more strongly influenced by the older traditions). It has also caught on in mainland Europe (especially in those regions with a strong Celtic influence, such as northernmost Spain, where it is often also closer to the older traditions), India, the Philippines, and Japan through exposure to American media. It's that part about American media, however, that often creates the most criticism of Halloween outside North America and the British Isles. France, for instance, has long been resistant to celebrating the holiday, seeing it as a form of American cultural imperialism, and celebrations are largely limited to the expat communities. The Australians are more accepting, especially in recent years (it helps that many Australians claim Irish or Scottish ancestry), but it is still fairly controversial for the same reasons that it is in France; a typical sight in newspapers around October is articles railing against the holiday and the "creeping Americanism" it is held to represent (especially given that, in Australia, October marks the beginning of ''spring''). Even in the UK, you can encounter quite a great many people who bemoan the degree to which Halloween has displaced the more traditional UsefulNotes/GuyFawkes Night or Bonfire Night observances of a few days later.