Dracula Has Risen From The Grave Internet Archive
Graziana Getz
The main thing I like about Halloween is dressing up and the Horror theme to it. I have never celebrated Halloween in my life in the past because, since I was a kid, I have loved horror. Every day is Halloween for me, ha ha.
These Swedes, as well as other believers, have also lit votive candles and hung wreaths near the crucifix by which they are solemnly praying. This photograph was taken in the Solna Municipality of Stockholm, Sweden.
Samhain is one of the quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and has been celebrated from October 31st to November 1st in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. A kindred festival has been held by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall and Kalan Goav in Brittany. this is a name meaning the first day of winter. For the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset, thus the festival begins the evening before the 1st of November by modern reckoning. Samhain is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature. The names have been used by historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century, and are still the Gaelic and Welsh names for Halloween.
From at least the 16th century, the festival included mumming and guising in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales. This involved people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the Aos S, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf, similar to souling. Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also believed to protect oneself from them. In parts of southern Ireland, the guisers included a hobby horse. A man dressed as a Lir Bhn (white mare) led youths house-to-house reciting verses (some of which had pagan overtones) in exchange for food. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the Muck Olla and not doing so would bring misfortune. In Scotland, youths went house-to-house with masked, painted or blackened faces, often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed. F. Marian McNeill suggests the ancient festival included people in costume representing the spirits, and that faces were marked or blackened with ashes from the sacred bonfire. In parts of Wales, men went about dressed as fearsome beings called gwrachod. In the late 19th and early 20th century, young people in Glamorgan and Orkney cross-dressed.
It was not until after mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century that Halloween became a major holiday in America. Most American Halloween traditions were inherited from the Irish and Scots, though in Cajun areas, a nocturnal Mass was said in cemeteries on Halloween night. Candles that had been blessed were placed on graves, and families sometimes spent the entire night at the graveside. Originally confined to these immigrant communities, it was gradually assimilated into mainstream society and was celebrated coast to coast by people of all social, racial, and religious backgrounds by the early 20th century. Then, through American influence, these Halloween traditions spread to many other countries by the late 20th and early 21st century, including to mainland Europe and some parts of the Far East.
In Ireland and Scotland, the turnip has traditionally been carved during Halloween, but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which is both much softer and much larger, making it easier to carve than a turnip. The American tradition of carving pumpkins was recorded in 1837 and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.
While the first reference to guising in North America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920. The earliest known use in print of the term trick or treat appears in 1927, in the Blackie Herald, of Alberta, Canada.
Halloween costumes were traditionally modelled after figures such as vampires, ghosts, skeletons, scary-looking witches, and devils. Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses.
This is a very cool Universal Classic Monsters mask I purchased for Halloween 2023. It is officially licenced by Universal Studios and made for Trick Or Treat Studios. It is, to date, the favourite mask I have in my mask collection and what I have worn for Halloween parties. To see me in this and many more masks click here.
According to a 2018 report from the National Retail Federation, 30 million Americans will spend an estimated $480 million on Halloween costumes for their pets in 2018. This is up from an estimated $200 million in 2010. The most popular costumes for pets are the pumpkin, followed by the hot dog, and the bumblebee in third place.
Another popular Irish game was known as picn (blindfolds). This involves a person being blindfolded and then they would choose between several saucers. The item in the saucer would provide a hint as to their future. A ring would mean that they would marry soon, clay meant that they would die soon (perhaps within the year), water meant that they would emigrate, rosary beads meant that that they would take Holy Orders (become a nun, priest, monk, etc.), a coin meant that they would become rich and a bean meant that they would be poor. The game features prominently in the James Joyce short story Clay (1914).
Up until the 19th century, the Halloween bonfires were also used for divination in parts of Scotland, Wales and Brittany. When the fire died down, a ring of stones would be laid in the ashes, one for each person. In the morning, if any stone was mislaid it was said that the person it represented would not live out the year.
Telling ghost stories, listening to Halloween-themed songs and watching horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of television series and Halloween-themed specials (with the specials usually aimed at children) are commonly aired on or before Halloween, while new horror films are often released before Halloween to take advantage of the holiday.
Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare their customers. Most attractions are seasonal Halloween businesses that may include haunted houses etc. and the level of sophistication of the effects has risen as the industry has grown.
The first recorded purpose-built haunted attraction was the Orton and Spooner Ghost House, which opened in 1915 in Liphook, England. This attraction actually most closely resembles a carnival fun house, powered by steam. The House still exists, in the Hollycombe Steam Collection.
On the evening of May 11th, 1984, in Jackson Township, New Jersey, the Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure caught fire. As a result of the fire, eight teenagers perished. The backlash to the tragedy was a tightening of regulations relating to safety, building codes and the frequency of inspections of attractions nationwide. The smaller venues, especially the nonprofit attractions, were unable to compete financially, and the better-funded commercial enterprises filled the vacuum. Facilities that were once able to avoid regulation because they were considered to be temporary installations now had to adhere to the stricter codes required of permanent attractions.
Because in the Northern Hemisphere Halloween comes in the wake of the yearly apple harvest, toffee apples (known as candy apples or taffy apples in the U.S.A.) and caramel apples are Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, or caramel, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts or other small savouries or confections and allowing them to cool.
One custom that persists in modern-day Ireland is the baking (or more often nowadays, the purchase) of a barmbrack (birn breac), which is a light fruitcake, into which a plain ring, a coin, and other charms are placed before baking. It is considered fortunate to be the lucky one who finds it. It has also been said that those who get a ring will find their true love in the ensuing year. This is similar to the tradition of king cake at the festival of Epiphany.
The image above of a Bangladeshi girl lighting grave candles on the headstone of a deceased relative in the city of Chittagong for the observance of Allhallowtide via Wikipedia is copyright unknown and is in the public domain.
The image shown above of the Greenwich Village Halloween parade is the copyright of Wikipedia user InSapphoWeTrust (Scarlet Sappho). It comes with a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-SA 3.0). You can find more great work from her by clicking here.
I happily had it to add to my mask collection as Yvonne was just going to throw it away! It is another mask that is not full over the head so my glasses can be worn underneath it if I decide to wear it again which I doubt but I am always happy to receive anything free regarding horror, masks and Halloween costumes. They are all appreciated.
Picture this scene. I had recently been attacked and bitten by a werewolf but I managed to get away somehow. The next night there was a full moon and I changed into a wolf man. I run around outside to find someone to kill. A bloke sees me, panics and runs into some nearby muddy woods. I attack him and he falls to the ground. I grab his legs and drag him. Screaming, he grabs any fallen trees and branches he can to stop himself from going any further. Desperately clawing the ground, his dirty hands could not save him now). I pounce on him, bite his throat and chew on it, causing blood to soak my shirt. I bite one of his dirty hands off before running off with it in my hand to find my next victim. This was the inspiration for the look I wanted to achieve for this Halloween party. I have always had a great imagination since I was little!
c80f0f1006