Halloween is probably
the fastest-growing holiday in America today. Particularly in
the twentieth century, the celebration of Halloween has evolved
so quick that it has become the second-largest commercial holiday
in America next to Christmas. What started as a mere Celtic celebration
of the New Year, the Halloween holiday as we know it has become
what it is now thanks to representations by the media as well
as products invented and created for this special event. To know
more about this surprising and often misleading evolution of the
Halloween, read on as we discuss some of the major events that
are crucial in molding Halloween in the twentieth century.
Halloween Capital of the World
To some extent, a town in Minnesota called Anoka, started it all.
In 1920, civic leaders suggested the idea of a town wide celebration
commemorating Halloween. Complete with a parade, games and dance
numbers, people of Anoka went to the streets and partied away.
Bags of candy, popcorn, peanuts and other treats were given away
to the kids and young teen-agers. Since then, the same Halloween
celebration has been held in that town every year. Finally, in
1937, Anoka proclaimed itself as the Halloween Capital of the
World.
America first learns about the vampire
A television program called Vampira was the first horror show
in American television. From 1954-1955, the show was broadcast
on the television station KABC-TV. Although the show featured
mostly low budget horror and suspense films, it set the stage
for even more horror movies. Apart from that, Vampira introduced
the horror and suspense genre to America, who quickly gave a positive
response. Since Vampira, numerous underground horror shows and
indie films have come out.
Charlie Brown
In 1966, the Halloween holiday caught the attention of children
all over America as they were thrilled by a 30-minute long animated
Halloween special based on the "Peanuts" comic strip
characters. Perhaps this show is responsible for getting all of
America into the Halloween spirit because a lot of today's Halloween
festivities can be traced on this show. Because of that, this
will definitely go down as one of the classics and shapers of
the American Halloween tradition.
Halloween the movie
Proof that America loved the horror genre surfaced in 1978 when
the classic horror movie Halloween was released into movie theaters.
It quickly became the highest-grossing independent movie at that
time. Even though it had a very low budget of $300,000, the movie
turned out golden as the prop crew did a wonderful job in creating
a monster that terrified all people across America. By finding
the cheapest scary looking mask available, spray-painting the
face white, teasing out the hair, and reshaping the eye holes,
the prop and design crew was able to make a character with a very
devilish appearance, which made the movie entirely believable.
"The Haunted History of Halloween"
In 1997, the History Channel aired a very detailed, well researched,
and unbiased Halloween documentary. It is essentially a must have
for all Halloween fans and for anyone who wants to learn more
about the ancient history of this popular American holiday. GP
-About the Author
Benedict Smythe is an article writer for Costume
Finder. Costume Finder is one of the UK's leading suppliers
of Fancy Dress Costumes such as Vampire and Skeleton Costumes
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