第九週Halloween

1. Although Halloween is often claimed to be a cultural descendant of the Celtic festival of Samhain, such claims are generally not considered either historically accurate or scholarly.[4] In particular, the custom of dressing up in costumes and going "guising" or trick-or-treating at Halloween developed from Christian customs created in Western Europe around the 15th century.[5] Guising at Halloween in Scotland is recorded in 1895, where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit and money.[2] The practice of Guising at Halloween in North America is first recorded in 1911, where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario reported children going "guising" around the neighborhood.[6]The holidays of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day were often celebrated with costume parades, wild parties, and licentiousness of all sorts.[7] In the 18th century in the United Kingdom, Halloween was celebrated in rural areas by farmers as a fertility rite, while in cities it had a Carnival-like atmosphere.[7] But as Halloween was transported to the United States by waves of European immigrants,[8] the licentious and rowdy elements of Halloween were domesticated to conform with the emerging Victorian era morality. Halloween was made into a private rather than public holiday, celebrations involving liquor and sensuality de-emphasized, and only children were expected to celebrate the festival.[9]