Alexplorer's Halloween page: Halloween Traditions

Halloween traditions
My Halloween site started as a showcase for our costumes, but as it began to grow into other areas, I realized how many disparate traditions comprise this thing we collectively refer to as Halloween. I realize other countries have their own traditions, but here are the elements that are prominent here in the States.

Trick or Treating - This is the first Halloween tradition we are exposed to as kids, and it's probably the one we all still think of first when someone mentions Halloween. However, it's composed of several elements, so it is important to dissect this tradition to see how these factor into this and translate into other Halloween traditions.

Costumes - Dressing up as someone else is at the heart of Halloween, and (other than all the princesses and super heroes) costumes usually draw upon supernatural elements and scary characters, which is an important element of the occasion as well.
Candy - There's no better way to reinforce a tradition than with a reward like this for showing up and following through.
"Trick or Treat" - Although this is just a short script kids recite without really appreciating its meaning, it gets at the dark side of the holiday, that there's a consequence in store for those who don't participate. Pranks and scares are built into the very fabric of Halloween even if it's an empty threat by children who aren't even aware of the origin of the phrase.

Decorating the house - This is such a huge deal for us. It was literally one of the reasons why we bought a house in the first place: simply to decorate it. While this isn't as wide-spread a tradition as decorating the house at xmas, I feel like it's the one with the greatest opportunity for originality. Whereas xmas decorations are centered around how many lights you can put on the edges of your house, Halloween requires more imagination (to do it right, anyway) and there's no upper limit or required theme(s) to stick to. Decorations can range from Jack-o-lanterns on the front porch all the way up to a full conversion to a dilapidated haunted house or a crashed flying saucer.

Costume parties - This is an obvious combination of the above: decorating the house and dressing up. Of course, you also get to decorate the inside of the house, and that's become as much fun for us as decorating the outside and the yard.

Visiting haunted houses - These were always a big deal to me as a kid because they were like walking through a movie instead of watching it. The local Boy Scouts put on one in our neighborhood when I was growing up, and they always did an impressive job of incorporating humor and so many facets of Halloween. We try to visit a haunted house attraction (or two) just about every year. Haunted houses are a tradition unto themselves and a big draw. It's funny how even evangelicals (read: Jesus freaks), the most anti-Halloween demographic in this country, try to co-opt the tradition and use scare tactics to enforce behavior that conforms to their dogmatic readings of the Buy-Bull.

Seasonal media focus - TV, movies, music, etc. all touch upon Halloween.

Cinema - Horror movies are released in last-September/early October in order to cash in on the build leading up to Halloween.

TV programming - Everything from local UHF stations to the SyFy channel traditionally holds horror movie marathons. Network television has produced countless Halloween specials and has re-run many of the same for decades (the most famous being "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"). Additionally, Halloween-themed episodes of regular tv series are to be expected.
Rocky Horror Picture Show - This is replayed pretty much every year on one tv station or another, but it's also a big draw in theaters around Halloween, with many theaters only bringing it out around the holiday whereas they wouldn't otherwise show it on a weekly basis.
Novelty songs - Parody and Halloween-themed songs are frequently dusted off around this time of year. No Halloween compilation disc is complete without "The Monster Mash," for example. Playlists almost inevitably include the Ghostbusters theme song and "This Is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
News - The news, especially the local news, always has a Halloween-themed focus around this time of year, usually visiting a supposedly haunted house or some such.

Halloween-themed events - I'm sure every community sees their own variation of these, but here are a few that spring to mind that we have done in the past.

Pug-o-ween - Our local pug rescue puts on what is essentially a costume contest for dogs, pugs being the one breed who will without exception tolerate being dressed up any way you care to.
Boo at the Zoo - The Fort Worth Zoo has at least a couple of Halloween-themed weekends for kids to go Trick or Treating on the premises.
Theme parks - For example, Six Flags has a "Fright Fest" every year around Halloween. Movie-themed parks do similar, usually drawing from movies for material, of course.
Costume contests - These usually get rolled into other events like costume parties or the aforementioned Pug-o-ween. There was even one at a haunted house we visited a couple years ago.

Minor traditions - These are usually rolled into other traditional happenings such as parties or other festivities

Apple bobbing - This quaint tradition goes a long way back, and it seems almost out-dated now, but it is almost invariably mentioned in connection with Halloween parties.
Pumpkin carving - It just makes sense to have a group do all their carvings at the same time.
Pranks and practical jokes - It's the "trick" in "Trick or Treat?" YouTube is full of hilarious videos of people scaring their friends either in costume or with props and animatronics.
Indigenous foods - Things like caramel corn or candied apples are synonymous with Halloween. Additionally, there are a lot of artistic presentations such as cakes that look like spiders, and so on.

Emerging aesthetics and associations - While I cover more concrete things above, Halloween also has its own atmosphere. There are certain looks and styles that are expected and are even exclusive to the holiday in ways even xmas lacks.

Fonts - Classics like blood dripping or slime oozing, and gothic fonts that are all appropriate for horror movie posters or Halloween party invitations.
Musical styles - While I can't claim any particular music genre or styling is indigenous to Halloween, there are many that derive from the same DNA. Heavy metal and psychobilly, for example, draw upon many of the themes (both lyrically and musically) as other Halloween-specific media.
Imagery - Ghosts, spiders, blood, skeletons, monsters, low-lying fog, etc. It's hard for me to see a pumpkin without thinking that's it's an uncarved jack o'lantern.

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