UGH! .. the three look very hollow on that score, repugnant for such a "All Hallows' Evening" .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween .. more thunking than weening .. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ween .. by them .. the one below is much more becoming for any number of good, healthily-minded funnin' citizens ..
Halloween 2013: Top Costumes, History, Myths, More [ tweaked just because today's GOP came to mind while reading .. lolol .. ]
Here's everything you need to know about one of our favorite holidays.
A coven of costumed "witches" line up for a Halloween portrait around 1910.
[ Trivial trivia: 2 years before Fenway Park opened .. heh ]
Photograph by Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images
Despite the storm, 2012 featured record participation and spending that, even with a small 2013 downturn, show Halloween's steady growth as a prominent date on the American social calendar.
"I think it's interesting how even with changes to the economy, Halloween has become that much more important to consumers over the past decade," said Pam Goodfellow of Prosper Technologies .. http://prosperdiscovery.com/ , which conducts the long-running National Retail Federation's Halloween Top Costumes Survey .. http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=1676 .
Today's mix of parties, pranks, and profit is a far cry from Halloween's ancient origins. Over the centuries the celebration has seen a lot of changes, and we've summed them up here for you—along with the latest facts and figures for 2013, including most popular costumes, record-breaking pumpkins, and more.
Pagan Progenitor
Halloween's origins date back more than 2,000 years. On what we consider November 1, Europe's Celtic peoples celebrated their New Year's Day, called Samhain (SAH-win).
In addition to sacrificing animals to the gods and gathering around bonfires, Celts often wore costumes—probably animal skins—to confuse spirits, perhaps to avoid being possessed, according to the American Folklife Center .. http://www.loc.gov/folklife/ .. at the U.S. Library of Congress.
By wearing masks or blackening their faces, Celts are also thought to have impersonated dead ancestors.
Young men may have dressed as women and vice versa, marking a temporary breakdown of normal social divisions.
In an early form of trick-or-treating, Celts costumed as spirits are believed to have gone from house to house engaging in silly acts in exchange for food and drink—a practice inspired perhaps by an earlier custom of leaving food and drink outdoors as offerings to supernatural beings. (Beyond Halloween 2013: more on the first Halloween costumes .. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091029-halloween-costumes.html .)
Christian Influence on Halloween
Samhain was later transformed as Christian leaders co-opted pagan holidays. In the seventh century Pope Boniface IV decreed November 1 All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day.
The night before Samhain continued to be observed with bonfires, costumes, and parades, though under a new name: All Hallows' Eve—later "Halloween."
Halloween Arrives in America
European immigrants brought Halloween to the United States, and the celebration really gathered steam in the 1800s, when Irish-American immigration exploded.
Anoka historians say townsfolk wanted to curb Halloween pranks that loosed cows on Main Street and upended outhouses.
Business of Halloween 2013
Halloween is always big business, but according to the National Retail Federation's (NRF) long-running consumer survey of American Halloween habits .. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/united-states/minnesota-guide/ , cooler fall weather and a tepid economy may put a slight chill on this year's celebrations. Almost 158 million consumers will take part in Halloween activities this year, down a bit from 2012's 170 million people, which was the high mark in the decade since the survey began.
The average person will spend a bit less this year too, the survey found: a total of $75.03 on decorations, costumes, and candy, down from $79.82 last year. Total expenditures for the holiday should reach $6.9 billion, similar to the 2011 levels but down from a spike to some $8 billion last year.
One in four Americans surveyed said the state of the economy had an impact on their Halloween plans, but NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement that sluggish financials won't stop the season's spooky fun. "Still one of the most beloved and anticipated consumer holidays, Halloween will be far from a bust this year," he noted.
Costumes consume the biggest part of the United States' Halloween dollars ($28.65 per person), followed closely by candy and decorations. Nearly $2 billion worth of fake cobwebs, plastic bats, lights, and other purchases make Halloween second only to Christmas in terms of how much Americans spend to decorate their homes.
How an Average American Will Spend $75 on Halloween in 2013
• Halloween costumes: $27.85
• Halloween candy: $22.37
• Decorations: $20.99
• Greeting cards: $3.82
When it comes to costumes, the NRF survey found that about 44 percent of Americans will be dressing up. This year about one-third of all costumed celebrants will find inspiration for their alter egos online, while another third will visit retail costume shops.
Fueled by the presidential election, last year's holiday saw a bit of a spike in current events-related costumes. This year traditional costumes will rule the day. More than five million U.S. adults plan to masquerade as that most traditional Halloween character—the witch.
"It's the kind of basic costumes you'd tend to think of—the witch for adults, the princess for kids," said Pam Goodfellow, who helped to conduct the NRF survey.
"We did see a bit of a surge in superheroes this year, and zombies continue to be strong as more of a pop culture reference to what's on TV right now."
Ten Most Popular Adults' Halloween 2013 Costumes [ add a few GOP figures where appropriate ]
1. Witch [ Bachmann ]
2. Batman character [ Ryan was the thought .. lol .. then got this ..
10. Scary costume/mask [ off the top Louie Gohmert, just because he is ]
Ten Most Popular Children's Halloween 2013 Costumes
1. Princess [ Palin thinks she is ]
2. Animal [ Boehner definitely fits ]
3. Batman character [ covered that above ]
4. Action/super hero [ Gingrich thought he was ]
5. Spider-Man [ hmm, the roll is finished gotta ween again .. lol .. who could that be? .. ok .. GOP runner Jon Huntsman Totally Looks Like Spiderman bummer Green Goblin .. http://cheezburger.com/4880240896
Bill Maher Introduces The 2012 GOP Bizarro Superman Kareb Amabo
Mar 26 2011 Published by Guest Contributor under Uncategorized
On his HBO program Real Time Bill Maher introduced America to the Republicans dream 2012 candidate, Karab Amaobo. Maher said, “Amabo would be our first homeschooled president, and the first in his family to ever not graduate high school. After flunking out of bartending school, he spent years disorganizing communities, and wrote two books. A memoir Dreams From My Food Court, and a policy book Thinking Is For Dummies.” .. http://archives.politicususa.com/2011/03/26/bill-maher-karab-amaobo.html ]
Halloween costumes aren't just for people—many U.S. pets get into the act as well. Twenty-two million people also plan to dress their furry best friends as pumpkins, devils, hot dogs, witches, superheroes, and in either cat or dog costumes—presumably for the opposite species. The total bill for these pampered pet costumes comes to $330 million. (See pictures of spooky species discovered in 2011 .. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/pictures/111027-spooky-new-species-halloween-animals/ .)
[ too bad the TeaParty are older .. omg! ]
"I think it's become part of the experience of going out and celebrating Halloween," Goodfellow said.
"When we were doing research, we were visiting Halloween stores and websites and seeing pet costumes sold out. With more people dressing up in costumes, maybe the dog or the cat can also be a kind of accessory, so if you're Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, the dog can be Toto."
Hallmark Halloween
Americans give about 20 million Halloween greeting cards a year, according to Hallmark's website.
"The first Halloween cards that we can detect in the U.S. were produced in 1908," Deidre Parks, a spokesperson for Hallmark, told National Geographic News in 2008.
Halloween Sugar Rush
There are some 41 million potential trick-or-treaters (children aged 5 to 14) in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In 2009 the average American consumed 24.3 pounds (11 kilograms) of candy, much of it during the Halloween season, according to census data.
Great Pumpkins
Far from the pumpkin's native Central America, chilly Illinois produces most of the United States' pumpkins.
Illinois produced some 556 million pounds (252 million kilograms) of pumpkins in 2012, while California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania each produced at least a hundred million pounds (45 million kilograms), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Together the nation's major pumpkin-producing states harvested almost 48,000 acres of pumpkins in 2012, worth about $149 million.
In October 2012, the world's heaviest pumpkin was crowned at the Topsfield Fair in Massachusetts. Ron Wallace of Greene, Rhode Island, presented the judges with a 2,009-pound (911-kilogram) behemoth, which now holds the Guinness World Record .. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-1/heaviest-pumpkin/ .
About 90 percent of a pumpkin's weight is from water. While growing, a champion pumpkin can add 40 pounds (18 kilograms) a day and reach the approximate size of a Volkswagen Beetle.
Do You Believe in Magic?
More than a third of Americans say they believe in ghosts, according to an AP-Ipsos poll conducted before Halloween 2007. Twenty-three percent claimed to have seen a ghost or sensed one's presence.
Halloween Urban Legends [ many conservative posters live on urban legends ]
Some Halloween spook stories just won't die—even if there's little substance behind the scare.
For example, satanic cults—far more common in fiction than in fact—have been said to sacrifice black cats on Halloween.
But experts say that there is little evidence for such fears .. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/10/071026-halloween-cat.html , [ gee, sooo many conservatives today live in any old off fear ] and that the few isolated incidents involving abused black cats were the work of disturbed—often adolescent—loners.
Candy tainted by poisons, needles, or razor blades is another Halloween hobgoblin.
But sociologist Joel Best .. http://www.udel.edu/soc/faculty/best/best.htm .. said in 2010 that dangerous-candy rumors might be manifestations of fears and anxieties about the future. In a world where so many threats—terrorism, crashing stock markets—seem uncontrollable, it may be comforting for parents to focus on preventable calamities, such as a child biting into a spiked apple, said Best, of the University of Delaware.
Best conducted a study of alleged tainted Halloween candy incidents.
"I have been unable to find a substantiated report of a child being killed or seriously injured by a contaminated treat picked up in the course of trick-or-treating," he wrote.
lol .. hadn't read "fears and anxieties about the future" until the end .. the article really does fit so many of the conservatively inclined many GOP-type people ..
Deepest apologies to Brian Handwerk for mutilating his article .. didn't expect sooo much .. oh well, it is close to Halloween .. :)
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