Halloween Informative Speech
Halloween is celebrated on October 31. On this day, Americans wear special costumes to celebrate and partake in festivities. It is celebrated by the young and old without generation gaps. As seen from this general image of Halloween, it is very easy to tell that Halloween is loved here in USA.
In the USA, Halloween was a lot of fun and exciting, and Americans looked well-prepared for it far in advance. However, it was not as huge as what I expected before I came here because (1) Halloween is a general and causal holiday in the USA, (2) Americans seemed to be familiar with it because they have enjoyed the day since they were children and they did not focus on the day and (3) it has more hype than what I was expecting to experience.
The purpose …show more content…
of this essay is to look at American Halloween. This essay documents what my expectations were about Halloween and what I experienced at a Halloween party put on by the Japanese Club at Cantre College. In this first section, I give a background of Halloween and a description of a Halloween party I attended. In the second section, analysis and discussion of American Halloween are mentioned.
In this section, history of Halloween and a description of the Halloween party I attend at Centre Collage.
Halloween is a popular holiday in North America.
Many people dress up or wear Halloween costumes, and little children go to trick-or-treating at their neighbors’ houses, but its origins are not as well-known. According to a website by the Halloween Industry Association (HIA) which is located in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, “Halloween has been around for some time, and origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, so it is said that Ireland is where it all began. The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1, which marked for them the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the long hard winter ahead. Back then, winter was often associated with both plant and human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became hazy, so on the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.” In addition, HIS continued that “now in modern-day Ireland, where Halloween originated, they celebrate much like we do in the United …show more content…
States”.
Luckily, I had an opportunity to attend the Halloween party at Centre College on Saturday, October 29.
The party was hosted by Centre Japanese Club which I belong to. There were eight attendees, three Japanese students including me from Yamaguchi Prefectural University (YPU) and five American students. The purpose of the party was to introduce and let Japanese students experience American Halloween. The party was held at a normal classroom on campus, and there was no special decoration in the classroom. Instead, the light was turned off and what I found Halloween-related things were words of “Happy Halloween” and a symbol of Halloween, Jack-o'-Lantern on the front screen and many candies and chocolates distributed to attendees of the party. Additionally, the party had a dress code; all attendees were required to dress up for the party. Three Japanese students did not bring any Halloween costumes from Japan, so we somehow tried small makeup or wore a wig. In this situation, I was looking forward to seeing how American attendees dressed up. In fact, three out of five dressed up but their dress up looked so ordinary, easy, and simple. There was a slide presentation about American Halloween, and it showed that elaborate and sophisticated decoration and dress up which were prototypical of an American Halloween. We saw houses around campus and some dorm rooms that were decorated for Halloween; Americans looked well-prepared and well-organized for it a few weeks in advance but I
did not see people who dressed up magnificently at the party and on October 31.
In this section, analysis and discussion of American Halloween are indicated. Though I went to Halloween party, Halloween was not as huge as I expected before I came to the USA.
First, Halloween is a very general and causal holiday in the USA. “Ralph Linton (1950) has provided a general history of Halloween, but it does not include consideration of the holiday as it is practiced in modern America. The better studies are not concerned with the holiday as it is practiced in America today, while those that are very often present us with collectanea of beliefs, customs, and pranks.” Therefore, it can be said that Halloween has not already been considered as a holiday, and it is a usual day. Especially, Halloween of this year was Monday. Naturally, it is not normal to have a party at the start of week.
Second, Americans have enjoyed Halloween since childhood, so that they did not seem to focus on the day in particular. It is possible to say that Halloween is more of a children’s holiday. According to Santino(1983), “Despite the obvious wealth of symbolic and traditional activity attendant to Halloween and, indeed, the entire season of the year in which it occurs, Halloween has been studied by folklorists only sporadically but most books on Halloween seem to be children's holiday.” Also, in terms of trick-or-treating, it is Halloween tradition and ritual for children. “Children gain ascendancy through costume trick-or-treating (Clark, 2005).” Therefore, children can learn how to involve community by visiting neighbors and giving candies from them. Also, children’s minds are very controllable and impressionable; Halloween, especially trick-or-treating, can influence young minds in many ways.
Finally, Halloween had more hype. According to Levy, and four authors (2010), “Holiday season is a major sales period for us retailers. As a result, the holiday-period opportunity cost of price adjustment may increase dramatically for retail stores, which should lead to greater price rigidity during holidays. We find that the probability of a price change increases with the size of the cost change, during both the holiday as well as non-holiday periods.” For this reason, advertisement tend to tend to glorify Halloween it more. The use of holiday image in advertising to people would appear to offer differential advantages to marketers. For example, Halloween-related characters such as Jack-o'-Lantern, witch, ghost, etc can serve to create an aura of trust among customers. They have been effectively utilized to present public service announcements concerning health and safety. Furthermore, holiday advertisements are used as a marketing strategy and are manipulated to capture costumers’ interests.”
In this essay, American Halloween was featured and discussed. It is well- known that Halloween is one of the most popular holidays celebrated in the USA. However, it was celebrated differently, and I found that there was a gap between what I was imaging and what I experienced at Halloween Party with Centre Japanese Club. This is because Halloween was not celebrated grandly as I thought it would be. For Americans, Halloween is an ordinal holiday, and they tend to believe that it is for children with a child-related tradition, trick-or-treating. Also, Halloween has greatly influenced in marketing, so it is easy to fall prey to company strategies.
In the USA, Halloween was a lot of fun and exciting, and Americans looked well-prepared for it far in advance. However, it was not as huge as what I expected before I came here because (1) Halloween is a general and causal holiday in the USA, (2) Americans seemed to be familiar with it because they have enjoyed the day since they were children and they did not focus on the day and (3) it has more hype than what I was expecting to experience.
The purpose …show more content…
of this essay is to look at American Halloween. This essay documents what my expectations were about Halloween and what I experienced at a Halloween party put on by the Japanese Club at Cantre College. In this first section, I give a background of Halloween and a description of a Halloween party I attended. In the second section, analysis and discussion of American Halloween are mentioned.
In this section, history of Halloween and a description of the Halloween party I attend at Centre Collage.
Halloween is a popular holiday in North America.
Many people dress up or wear Halloween costumes, and little children go to trick-or-treating at their neighbors’ houses, but its origins are not as well-known. According to a website by the Halloween Industry Association (HIA) which is located in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, “Halloween has been around for some time, and origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, so it is said that Ireland is where it all began. The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1, which marked for them the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the long hard winter ahead. Back then, winter was often associated with both plant and human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became hazy, so on the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.” In addition, HIS continued that “now in modern-day Ireland, where Halloween originated, they celebrate much like we do in the United …show more content…
States”.
Luckily, I had an opportunity to attend the Halloween party at Centre College on Saturday, October 29.
The party was hosted by Centre Japanese Club which I belong to. There were eight attendees, three Japanese students including me from Yamaguchi Prefectural University (YPU) and five American students. The purpose of the party was to introduce and let Japanese students experience American Halloween. The party was held at a normal classroom on campus, and there was no special decoration in the classroom. Instead, the light was turned off and what I found Halloween-related things were words of “Happy Halloween” and a symbol of Halloween, Jack-o'-Lantern on the front screen and many candies and chocolates distributed to attendees of the party. Additionally, the party had a dress code; all attendees were required to dress up for the party. Three Japanese students did not bring any Halloween costumes from Japan, so we somehow tried small makeup or wore a wig. In this situation, I was looking forward to seeing how American attendees dressed up. In fact, three out of five dressed up but their dress up looked so ordinary, easy, and simple. There was a slide presentation about American Halloween, and it showed that elaborate and sophisticated decoration and dress up which were prototypical of an American Halloween. We saw houses around campus and some dorm rooms that were decorated for Halloween; Americans looked well-prepared and well-organized for it a few weeks in advance but I
did not see people who dressed up magnificently at the party and on October 31.
In this section, analysis and discussion of American Halloween are indicated. Though I went to Halloween party, Halloween was not as huge as I expected before I came to the USA.
First, Halloween is a very general and causal holiday in the USA. “Ralph Linton (1950) has provided a general history of Halloween, but it does not include consideration of the holiday as it is practiced in modern America. The better studies are not concerned with the holiday as it is practiced in America today, while those that are very often present us with collectanea of beliefs, customs, and pranks.” Therefore, it can be said that Halloween has not already been considered as a holiday, and it is a usual day. Especially, Halloween of this year was Monday. Naturally, it is not normal to have a party at the start of week.
Second, Americans have enjoyed Halloween since childhood, so that they did not seem to focus on the day in particular. It is possible to say that Halloween is more of a children’s holiday. According to Santino(1983), “Despite the obvious wealth of symbolic and traditional activity attendant to Halloween and, indeed, the entire season of the year in which it occurs, Halloween has been studied by folklorists only sporadically but most books on Halloween seem to be children's holiday.” Also, in terms of trick-or-treating, it is Halloween tradition and ritual for children. “Children gain ascendancy through costume trick-or-treating (Clark, 2005).” Therefore, children can learn how to involve community by visiting neighbors and giving candies from them. Also, children’s minds are very controllable and impressionable; Halloween, especially trick-or-treating, can influence young minds in many ways.
Finally, Halloween had more hype. According to Levy, and four authors (2010), “Holiday season is a major sales period for us retailers. As a result, the holiday-period opportunity cost of price adjustment may increase dramatically for retail stores, which should lead to greater price rigidity during holidays. We find that the probability of a price change increases with the size of the cost change, during both the holiday as well as non-holiday periods.” For this reason, advertisement tend to tend to glorify Halloween it more. The use of holiday image in advertising to people would appear to offer differential advantages to marketers. For example, Halloween-related characters such as Jack-o'-Lantern, witch, ghost, etc can serve to create an aura of trust among customers. They have been effectively utilized to present public service announcements concerning health and safety. Furthermore, holiday advertisements are used as a marketing strategy and are manipulated to capture costumers’ interests.”
In this essay, American Halloween was featured and discussed. It is well- known that Halloween is one of the most popular holidays celebrated in the USA. However, it was celebrated differently, and I found that there was a gap between what I was imaging and what I experienced at Halloween Party with Centre Japanese Club. This is because Halloween was not celebrated grandly as I thought it would be. For Americans, Halloween is an ordinal holiday, and they tend to believe that it is for children with a child-related tradition, trick-or-treating. Also, Halloween has greatly influenced in marketing, so it is easy to fall prey to company strategies.