Halloween Traditions

As the summer season ends and each leaf transforms into gold and bronze, as the fall season arrives and shops and stores are displayed with witches, imps, and skulls, everyone knows that the Halloween season has arrived. The smiling pumpkins at every neighborhood's doorsteps and paper bats suspended from the ceilings remind everyone to prepare for the festivities of the spookiest day of the year. A traditional and mysterious holiday, Halloween is associated with several ancient rituals and religious celebrations. However, just a handful of the prehistoric traditions exist today, though most of them have taken a modern adaptation and variation, while keeping the traditions intact. Not just about scary and ghoulish activities and festivities, Halloween is also an infusion of fun-filled and humorous pranks, planned for this day exclusively. Peep into the lines below to know the popular traditions of modern day Halloween.

Popular Halloween Traditions

Jack-o'-Lanterns
The ghoulish festival of Halloween is synonymous with jack-o'-lanterns. Those scary yet funny faces carved on pumpkin and lit candles placed within them are spooctacular sights to capture on your lens. The popularity of jack-o'-lanterns was initiated with the abundance of pumpkins in America in the 18th century. But this is not the only reason. Old tradition is also associated with it-the story of crafty and unsavory man named Jack who tricked a devil up a tree and placed a cross mark before the devil could even think of coming down. On his death, Jack was refused entry to both heaven and hell, and hence, he was forced to come down to earth and wander with a hollowed-out turnip and a piece of burning coal to light his way.

Costumes
Derived from the Celtic tradition of dressing up in costumes for celebrations, Halloween is also renowned for wacky and weird costumes. Halloween costumes are presumed to be the best way to disguise while playing pranks on others. Right from caveman costumes to famous movie monsters and from spirited goblins to witches and ghosts, a wide range of costume options are available to dress up on Halloween. Kids, on the other hand, often prefer to step into their favorite cartoon characters, pop-culture characters, and superheroes. With the arrival of September, markets and stores are flooded with assorted outfits to let every individual pick up a dress to express his originality, creativity, and frugality. What's more, costumes add more fun to the Halloween parties, another popular tradition.

Trick-or-Treating
The traditional practice of trick-or-treating dates back to the primeval Celtic times, now Britain and Ireland. Initially, people followed the practice of dressing up in clothes and moving door to door begging for food. With time, this tradition was merged with Halloween holiday and got modified into the present trick-or-treating. In America and Canada, this tradition is common among kids and preteens who adorned in costumes go from house to house asking for treats and candies, in exchange of letting off the crazy Halloween tricks and japes. Today, trick-or-treating has become one of the most widely recognized traditions associated with Halloween.

Ghoulish Creatures
Halloween is often linked with different creatures, often segregated into three categories: mythical, fictional, and actual. Ghosts, though a mythical creature but considered real as well, are strongly connected with the pagan holiday of Samhain. Besides, ghouls, vampires, werewolves, witches, and warlocks are other mythical creatures associated with Halloween. Count Dracula is a popular fictional creature with its origin by author Bram Stoker. The Grim Reaper, or death, is another literature product that has come to be linked with Halloween. Some prominent real Halloween creatures include bats, black cats, skeletons, and spiders.