A Halloween Mystery
Halloween, an observance that stretches from a pre-Christian past to a day-glo orange present, is one hard holiday to pin down.
The customs that are observed every Oct. 31 include pumpkin carving, trick-or-treating, corn mazes, costumes for both children and adults, bad horror movies both on the TV and at the movie theaters and ever-present candy.
To someone not brought up in this country on reruns of “It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” the holiday must seem really strange.
But Daniel Kozari, 23, of Hungary, a sports management major at Slippery Rock University, is looking forward to his first Halloween. There is no similar holiday in Hungary, he said.
“We can only see it in films and movies because we don't celebrate it in Hungary,” said Kozari, who comes from Szekesfehervar, a city of 100,000 in central Hungary.
“Every Hungarian kid is into it. There is a desire to celebrate it (the American holiday). Hungarian kids are big fans of Halloween,” said Kozari.
“They get their parents to buy pumpkins and they carve them, but it has nothing to do with Halloween, it's just the effect,” Kozari said.
“I am planning to carve pumpkins and buy a costume, probably go to a party or something. If I was younger I would probably do trick-or-treating as well, but I'm not 10 years old,” Kozari said.
Halloween is very much the same in Colombia as it is here, said Andres Rincon, 22, a fine arts major at Slippery Rock.
“To be honest, it (Halloween) seems like a huge party opportunity for college students, pretty much,” said Rincon.
In Colombia, he said, “You still get to trick or treat no matter how old you are. You get drinks and go around the neighborhood.”
“There's a tradition called 'Burning the Witch.' We build a huge witch and burn it down, and there's fireworks and stuff,” he said.
“You gather around and burn it, but I don't really know the meaning behind it. It's really fun, then fireworks and head onto the party,” said Rincon, a native of Bogota, the capital city of 8 million.“Everyone likes to dress up,” said Rincon. “It's pretty similar to the (United) States. There's pumpkin carving as well.”“To me, it seems pretty similar. It's a party opportunity for people my age. They give prizes for the best costume and stuff. People buy tickets months ahead of time.”“I do think America is a big influence in South America and even though other countries have different traditions, like Mexico and visiting the graves,” said Rincon, “Colombia and the U.S. have an important connection.”The American version of Halloween isn't that prevalent in Kenya, said Nayan Joyappa, 20, a Kenyan with Indian parents who has been studying finance and accounting at Slippery Rock.He said the only holiday resembling Halloween in Kenya is the May 1st Farmers Day where farmers dress up in corn costumes and march in large processions. And, he added, Aug. 15 is Independence Day (for India) a day when Kenya's sizable Indian population gets dressed up.“Since I was brought up in Africa, Halloween is not as elaborate. I've taken it as a fun time when you can dress up as who you want to be,” said Joyappa.“I always go. There's tons of parties in Slippery Rock. One time I wore Indian clothes and a scarf and people asked me if I was a terrorist,” said Joyappa.Yin Li of Sarver, a Butler County Community College business administration major who grew up in China, had even less knowledge of the holiday.“In China, we saw some TV show about Halloween,” Li said.“The first thing that surprised me was trick or treat,” she added. “We used to live in downtown Freeport. On Halloween night, the children would dress up and go from door to door and ask for the candies. It was so cute.”
But for some, Halloween's focus on witches and the dead isn't kid stuff.Cindy Li, 20, (no relation to Yin Li) from Qing Dao in China, has been at Slippery Rock for a month studying accounting.The only thing she knows about Halloween, she said, is that “People wear makeup like a ghost and scare others, and the children can ask for candy.”“We have the Ghost Festival,” said Cindy Li of a similar Chinese holiday. “It is not a happy festival. It is for people who have died. We fire (burn) paper money for people who have already died.”Yin Li also mentioned the ghost festival.“We go out to the graves, sit around and eat something and drink something,” said Yin Li. “In China, they believe the ghosts will go out during that day, too. That day, my parents and grandparents tell me to go home early at night.”Ghosts or not, Cindy Li will take part in this year's Halloween festivities.“I will join (in) and even in China, the young people will celebrate it,” said Cindy Li. “It might not be the American version. People will gather at midnight and scare others.”For Olive Myamahunge, 20, a Slippery Rock University sophomore with a public relations major and a nonprofit leadership minor, Halloween is not popular outside of westernized urban areas in her homeland of Uganda.“In my country, celebrating the ghosts and the dead are like evil. In my dorm, they've hung up scary things, but we don't do that,” said Myamahunge.“We don't have such a holiday. Some people celebrate Halloween, they dress up in costumes, scary things like vampires,” she said. “That might be offensive to the Ugandan people.”
Halloween, which dates back to Celtic rituals thousands of years ago, has long been associated with images of witches, ghosts and vampires. Over the years, Halloween customs have changed dramatically. Today, Halloween is celebrated by wearing costumes, trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins, and going to haunted houses and parties.<b>Trick or Treat! </b>• 41 millionThe estimated number of potential trick-or-treaters in 2011 — children age 5 to 14 — across the United States. Of course, many other children — older than 14 and younger than 5 — also go trick-or-treating.• 115 millionNumber of occupied housing units across the nation in 2011 — all potential stops for trick-or-treaters.<b>Jack-o'-Lanterns & Pumpkin Pies </B>• $113 millionValue of pumpkins harvested from the top six pumpkin-producing states, Illinois, California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan in 2011.<b>Where to spend Halloween? </b>Some places around the country that may put you in the Halloween mood are:• Transylvania County, N.C. (population 32,820)• Tombstone, Ariz. (population 1,396)• Pumpkin Center, N.C. (population 2,222); and Pumpkin Bend, Ark. (population 276)• Cape Fear in New Hanover County, N.C. (population 18,388); and Cape Fear in Chatham County, N.C. (population 1,323).• Skull Creek, Neb. (population 268)<b>Candy & Costumes </b>• 1,155Number of U.S. manufacturing establishments that produced chocolate and cocoa products in 2010, employing 35,074 people. Pennsylvania led the nation in the number of chocolate and cocoa manufacturing establishments, with 102, followed by California, with 100.• 1,155Number of U.S. establishments that manufactured nonchocolate confectionary products in 2010. These establishments employed 17,526 people. California led the nation in this category, with 49 establishments.• 1,634Number of costume rental and formal wear establishments across the nation in 2010.<i>Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Agricultural Marketing Resource Center</i>
