the history of halloween presented by: matthew s. gardiner
TRANSCRIPT
The History of Halloween
Presented by:Matthew S. Gardiner
Table of Contents
• Introduction• History-
-originations -Through the
Centuries-Today
• Importance/ Teaching it• Conclusion/ Cool Pictures
- Sources/ Links
HistoryOriginations
• The Celts that lived
2,000 years ago celebrated this time of year which ended summer and the harvest. It began the time of winter, often associated with death.
Originations Cont’d
• On the 31st of October Druids(Priests) would light fires and people would wear animal skins and heads to scare off the evil spirits.
• The reason for scaring away the bad spirits because it was believed they damaged crops and prevented the Druids from foretelling a positive future in the spring.
• It was important for people who lived so close to the land.
Through the Centuries
• Traditions changed as groups/ societies of people adapted to new surroundings and cultures.
• As time passed so did traditions.
• It is very different in the United States, then when it started.
Halloween Today
• With the “mixing” of different cultures came different adoptions of the holiday.
• Focus eventually shifted to a communal, neighborly one.
• Trick or Treat originated from England…Soul cakes given out in exchange for prayers of dead souls.
• Food is left outside the house to prevent ghosts from entering.
• $ 6.9 billion spent annually
Importance/ Why teach it?
• The importance is that it is a way for us to teach how many cultures can come together to make something unique, its celebrates diversity.
• It’s fun
• It’s still history
• It’s different
Conclusions
• Halloween has an extensive history
• It has many different cultures
• The internet has many different pictures we can find on the computer (see next slide)
Cool Pictures
Spooky huh :-o Animated skeletal ghost
A few more…alright I am done
Links/ Sources
www.webweaver.nu/clipart/halloween/ - Good source for clipart
http://www.history.com/content/halloween - Good source for history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween - Good general source for students to learn about history