Happy Halloween!!

With Halloween coming up, I found myself thinking about the American tradition of trick-or-treating, and wondering why we are one of few countries with this custom.

To try to answer my question, I researched a bit about the history of Halloween. It turns out that it originated from an old Celtic festival called Samhain. November 1st first marked the end of summer for the Celts, and the beginning of the long dark winter, which was a time associated with death. To recognize this transition of seasons, people would have bonfires and make predictions about the future, usually wearing costumes made from animal skins during the process.

As for trick-or-treating: Hundreds of years ago in England, people believed that spirits would come back to earth on Halloween. In order to prevent them from entering their homes, people would put bowls of food outside their house. There were also festivals in the beginning of November called All Souls' Day parades. Poor people would ask for food, promising to pray for the dead relatives of whoever gave them some. Churches encouraged people to make this the new practice of Halloween, rather than trying to please ghosts with food outside your home. With the combination of the Celtic festival and England's customs, the American version  of celebrating this holiday emerged, consisting of costumes and trick-or-treating.

Other countries, such as Mexico use October 31st through November 2nd to decorate graves of family/friends who have passed away, calling it Day of the Dead. In parts of Italy, kids wake up on November 2nd to find candy and toys left for them by their dead relatives.

With other countries' versions of Halloween clearly focusing more on the death of loved-ones, America's version focuses on costumes and candy. This leads Americans to collectively spend about $6 billion a year for the holiday. Did America stray too much from the origin of this holiday? Have we gone too far in commercializing Halloween?