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Directions: Cut these pictures out and
neatly glue them onto your 1/2 page
poster paper. Create labels and
descriptions of them using human
geography concepts and facts from the
Human Geography of Halloween
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Reading.The
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Human
Geography of Halloween
Halloween originated from the Celtic
feast of Samhain. Samhain, which
happened on November first every
year, marked the movement of the
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culture from the light half of the year to the dark half. It was also the night that
the Celt’s believed there was less seperating the dead and the living than any
other day of the year. The term Samhain comes from an Old Irish term meaning
“end of summer”. In the cultural hearth of Halloween (Ireland and Scotland), the
wearing of costumes to scare away evil spirits was encouraged. This eventually
led to the wearing of costumes that is celebrated by many cultures across the
world during Halloween.
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Pumpkin Carving is a tradition that developed from Samhain. Samhain was a
Gaelic Celtic harvest festival held on October 31–November 1. It was linked to
festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and was popularised
as the "Celtic New Year" from the late 19th century, following Sir John Rhys and
Sir James Frazer. The date of Samhain was associated with the Catholic All Saints'
Day (and later All Souls' Day) from at least the 8th century, and both the secular
Gaelic and the Catholic liturgical festival have influenced the secular customs now
connected with Halloween.
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The Holiday changed the name to All Hallows Day in the 16th century. All Hallows
Day means feast of the saints (from the term hallowed). The Night before All
Hallows Day was known as All Hallows Evening (the night before All Hallows Day),
shortened to All Hallows E’en or All Hallows Eve, and finally condensed into what
most call the holiday now, Halloween. During the potato famine in Ireland (18501900), many Irish moved to the United States of America. These immigrants had
previously celebrated Halloween in Ireland and through relocation diffusion they
established the holiday in America. Although much of the holiday was altered by
the cultures that it was eventually spread to, many traditions come from
Samhain’s early beginnings. For example the hollowing of turnips to form art was
common in the original Irish holiday but due to availability, pumpkins have since
replaced turnips in America. Pope Gregory IV actually standardized All Saints Day.
At first the holiday wasn’t accepted by most Americans Catholics not of Irish
descent due to it’s roots in paganism. However with the Roman Catholic churches
support, Halloween soon gained widespread acceptance throughout the states.
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Halloween originated in Celtic Ireland
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Meanwhile many countries from all corners of the earth had celebrations that
were similar to that of Halloween. These celebrations were to celebrate those
who had passed away. An example of this would be Dias de los Muertos in
Mexico. Most of these native celebrations were never completely replaced by
Halloween but adapted to Halloween. In fact in Mexico, Dias de los Muertos is
started of by a day called All Saints Day. In these countries many traits of
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Halloween, such as trick or treating and costumes, have been adapted by the
culture. In Mexico this evolution of the holiday happened around 1960. America
was perhaps the biggest stepping stone in the spread of Halloween. Due to
hierarchical diffusion, American corporations have been able to spread the
celebration of Halloween to many other countries. American’s influence in media
and merchandising lead youth in many countries to follow Halloween, which is
greatly perceived as American popular culture. These influences were not
contiguous and affected countries based upon influence and not geographic
location. In countries such as India and Finland the celebration of Halloween is
generally split based upon generational gaps, with only younger people
celebrating Halloween.
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Halloween has come a long way from its early roots in Celtic Ireland and Scotland.
Now Halloween has a new name and is celebrated by many religions rather than
just pagans or Irish Catholics. The holiday was stable and showed very little
cultural diffusion for hundreds of years. The potato famine lead to the holiday’s
spread from Ireland to America. From there Americans spread the holiday
through hierarchical diffusion across the world in a relatively quick amount of
time. Cultural diffusion has allowed Halloween to go from a small Celtic holiday to
an industry worth billions of dollars all over the world.
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Map Key
Red: Celebrate Halloween in some form
Green: Only celebrated by the youth in the nation
Black: Halloween is looked down upon and is believed to be a ploy by American
companies to make money
Brown: Cultural Hearth
White: Information is unavailable