Looking
for just the right Halloween mask?
LTM Party features a super selection
of Halloween masks. If you are looking for comical, super scary
halloween masks or authentic movie masks - we have a wide variety.
How about super realistic masks created from the original molds
of mask making legends? Take the Frankenstein mask up above. Pretty
realistic huh! But we also have intensely frightening masks. If
you are into Alien or Predator, you'll surely like our Alien 3,
and Predator masks. We also feature a limited edition Alien collector
mask, and a super creepy newborn alien.
If you are looking for sophisticated masks that resonate beauty
and great craftsmanship, try our venetian or Mardi Gras masks.
We have some very well designed pieces that are quite economical.
If celebrity masks are more what you are looking for we have Austin
Powers, Darth Vader, Beetle Juice, C3PO, Chucky, Darth Maul, deluxe
Klingon, the original Frankenstein, Shrek, and the Mask.
Do you like witches or wizards? We have some amazingly detailed
merlin masks, and witches that will sure to be a hit.
Super Hero masks range from Batman, Spiderman masks, and the Incredible
Hulk.
Comical masks include Barney Rubble, Spongebob, Bart Simpson,
Krusty the clown, and the Grinch.
Do
you like traditional masks? We have the ever favorite tin man,
comedy and tragedy drama masks, wolfman masks, and werewolves.
If your looking to impersonate your favorite political character
we have a wide range of popular political masks. We have George
W. Bush, the older Bush, Clinton, Laura Bush, John Kerry, Nixon,
and Schwarzennegger.
The Usborne Book of Masks (How to Make) (Paperback)
Making Masks (Kids Can Do It) (Paperback)
Mask Making: Get Started in a New Craft With Easy-To-Follow Projects
for Beginners (Start-a-Craft Series) (Hardcover)
Maskmaking (Hardcover)
Amazon.com
Masks offer an extraordinary opportunity for creative expression;
they can completely transform the human face into something evocative,
mysterious, terrifying, or humorous. Extensive instructions are
given here for masks of plaster, clay, laminated paper, papier-mâché,
buckram, wire, and celastic (a plastic-impregnated fabric), plus
directions for final embellishments, finishing techniques, and
maskmaking with children. Wonderfully diverse and marvelously
creative, most of these are unfortunately shown only in black
and white, though there is an eight-page color section. And there
are ideas for incorporating found objects, hardware store items,
and other flotsam for added interest. Theater designers, performance
artists, craftspeople, and teachers--as well as dedicated Halloween
revelers--will find inspiration aplenty in this useful and attractive
book. --Amy Handy
Book Description
From simple variations on brown paper bags to bal masqué
designs and plaster and plasticene molds—the whole range of maskmaking
is entertainingly explored.
Review: A great inspiration!
I initially bought this book to help me teach maskmaking at a
summer camp for children. Instead of sitting on the bookshelf
at school, however, this book has been living in my art studio!
Sivin's lovely book describes and illustrates maskmaking techniques
that involve plaster, clay, paper, papier-mache, wire, fabric
and many other materials. Her instructions are easy to follow,
and she suggests a range of materials that are quite available
and practical. Furthermore, the illustrations are very inspirational.
She has chosen pictures of masks made by children, adults and
professional artists. Some of them are funny, some are beautiful,
ethereal or cute, and many are downright creepy.
There is also a short history of world
masks in the first chapter. Although it is not terribly detailed
(and doesn't touch at all on the masks of Australia or Oceania),
it gives the reader a little background before jumping into instruction.
In the month that I have owned this
book, I have tried a number of Sivin's techniques--and have had
uncontrollable urges to be CONSTANTLY making masks.
Review: Maskmaking by Carole
Sevin
This is by far one of the best books available on the art of maskmaking.
It provides inspiration and clear instructions on technique for
the beginners, as well as very useful references for the professional
maskmaker. This book always accompanies me when I am given courses
on the subject of masks.
Review: Wonderful, book for
all ages & skill levels
This is a wonderful book that can teach anyone how to easily make
beautiful masks. It is especially nice for teachers & parents
for exploring maskmaking with children of all ages because of
sections featuring easily made masks.
The book starts out with a brief history of masks as art. A vast
array of techniques are shown using a variety of easily found
materials. These may include balloons, clay, plaster, papier-mâché,
wire, buckram, & celastic.
Each maskmaking method includes a
complete materials list & is demonstrated with b/w photos
and easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions. At the back there
is a great chapter on creatively fishing the masks & then
protecting them.
Example masks in b/w & a small
color gallery in the middle are nice bonuses. This is great book
for anyone wanting to create unique masks.
Review: Hands on approaches
to a variety of Maskmaking techniques.
I consider this one of the better books on Maskmaking techniques.
It has easy to follow directions in a variety of modeling methods.
Well illustrated, it makes what could have been a dry lifeless
book into something that is accessable to all levels of Maskmaking
experience.
The Prop Builder's Mask-Making Handbook (Paperback)
From School Library Journal
YA-- Well illustrated and clearly written, this handbook offers
invaluable information for those getting started in this venerated
art form. James gives a brief contextual history of masks, and
then organizes the informational sections by type. The last and
longest section describes masks made in the tradition of the commedia
dell'arte. Ample black-and-white photographs accompany step-by-step
directions, written in a nontechnical and informal style. The
appendix contains a list of sources for supplies.
- Sheri Maeda, Jefferson Sci-Tech, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Sound but slightly dated, July 13, 2005
Reviewer: L. Rubin "Historical Costumer" (Santa Cruz,
CA) - See all my reviews
I purchased this book as a text for a maskmaking class
for my theater degree. I'll repeat the instructor's gist, if not
her words: This is a great book on the basic technical aspects
of maskmaking. However, there are a lot of other materials that
are now available if you have the budget that aren't covered in
this book. The photos are good but not always clear, and I agree
with some other reviewers that there is a definite lack of practical
information such as where to buy maskmaking supplies.
Worth a read, particularly if you're into Commedia masks or working
in community theater on a small budget.
Review: a good idea
I am confused...I look at the star ratings and read the reviews...but
they don't even come close to my thoughts. This book was an interesting
read. They do show a huge variety of techniques that are used
for the stage... but they only give you a small taste of the process...Vacuum
forming for example, a wonderful process, but zippo info on whereto/howto/whoto
contact to buy or to make one. Read this book to get an overview
of some ideas...but know that the technology shown is old and
past its prime. I know stagework is seen at a distance..but you
will not be impressed with the craftsmanship of the projects.
Heads up on some safety issues..they skip right over that. oh
my.
Review: Comprehensive and user friendly!
This is a great book about making masks. It covers the making
of molds, including using alginate for a life-casting. He talks
about making masks of different materials -- from hex-a-cel to
paper mache to neoprene to leather! There's a really *nice* section
on leather masks, and he also talks a little bit about the history
of the leather masks and how they were used in Renaissance Italy
by the Commedia. This book is filled with plenty of black and
white photos illustrating the various steps in each mask-making
or mold-making process, and the instructions are very clear. Highly
recommended for those with an interest in making their own masks.
Masks (Design & Make S.) (Hardcover)
Mask of Reality: An Approach to Design for Theatre (Hardcover)
Book Excerpt
Primitive masks have been a source of curiosity, inspiration
and wonder since their discovery by contemporary man. What gives
them their sense of acute vitality? What spirit pervades them
that refuses to die, even before the skeptical gaze of an analyitical
Scary Masks : 6 Punch-Out Designs (Punch-Out Masks) (Paperback)
Book Description
No cutting out necessary with delightfully
demented disguises that include a wart-faced witch with bloodshot
eyes; a drooling, scar-faced monster; a fiendish pumpkin with
a sinister stare and 3 other funny freaks. All accompanied by
assorted creepy-crawling things peering out of eye sockets or
sit poised on headtops. Excellent cover-ups for Halloween and
other fun-time occasions.
Cut and Make Indonesian Masks (Cut-Out Masks)
Watch Me Make a Mask (Welcome Books: Making Things (Paperback))
(Paperback)
Hey want to know more
about masks?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
All about masks:
A mask is a piece of material or kit worn on the face. Masks have
been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes.
The
word "mask" came via French masque and either Italian
maschera or Spanish másquera. Possible ancestors are Latin
(not classical) mascus, masca = "ghost", and Arabic
maskharah = "jester", "man in masquerade".
1 Ceremonial uses
2 Entertainment
3 To stop the wearer from being recognized
4 Protective
5 Punitive
6 Other types
7 External links
8 See also
Ceremonial uses
In ritual, social and religious functions, where participants
wear them to represent spiritual or legendary figures. In some
cultures it is also believed that the wearing of a mask will allow
the wearer to take on the attributes of that mask's representation;
i.e., a leopard-mask will induce the wearer to become leopard-like.
In Mexico and Central America, most towns have both a Christian
name and an indigenous name, for example, Santiago Tianguistenco,
or Santa Maria Axixitla. All Christian saints have a specific
day in the year dedicated to them, and each town typically has
a festival on that day, involving a combination of Christian and
indigenous tradition. These festivals frequently include parades
and street theatre that act out a story. The masks and costumes
from these festivals have become collectors items. A mask used
in such a festival is known as having been "danzada"
or "danced." These hand-made, painted masks are typically
made from wood and may use rope, animal horns or teeth, or rubber
from tire inner tubes.
In Africa, especially West Africa, masks also play an important
role in traditional ceremonies and theatrical dances. All African
masks fall into one of four categories: the ancestor spirit, the
mythological hero, the combination of ancestor and hero, and the
animal spirit.
Entertainment
In theatre plays. Use of masks in the dramatic plays in Ancient
Greece evolved from the ceremonial purpose. Masks are also a defining
characteristic of the Noh theatre of Japan. The English word "person"
came from a Latin word for a theatrical mask: per-sona = "through-sound"
= "what the actor's voice comes through". The Ancient
Greek word prosopon = "face" originally meant "in
front of the face", i.e. "theatrical mask".
To provide an aura of mystery with professional wrestlers, particularly
in Mexico, as well as entertainers like the Unknown Comic, who
always wore a paper bag over his head.
As a part of carnival celebrations in some parts of the world;
Venice is most famous for this.
As part of the costume of a particular personage like Harlequin
or a modern comic book superhero.
Latex masks are used in cinema as part of elaborate character
makeup.
Here also may be included masks worn at masquerade balls.
To stop the wearer from being recognized
Criminals often use masks to avoid identification when they commit
crimes. In many jurisidictions, it is an additional criminal offense
to wear a mask while committing a crime; it is also often a crime
to wear a mask at public assemblies and demonstrations.
Occasionally a witness for the prosecution appears in court in
a mask to avoid being recognized by associates of the accused.
Protective
Protective masks have these functions:
Providing a supply of breathable air
or other oxygen-containing gas.
Protecting the face against flying objects or dangerous environments,
while allowing vision.
Many masks have both functions.
This category merges into the categories of goggles and protective
helmets and visors.
Here are included:
A cloth tied over the mouth and nose
as a dust filter.
Filter masks.
Bondage Masks.
Surgical masks.
Gas masks.
The familiar eyes-and-nose diving mask.
Breathing masks connected to some industrial breathing sets. These
are usually fullface.
Breathing masks connected to some underwater breathing sets. These
are usually fullface. See this link and this link for examples.
Oxygen masks worn by high-altitude pilots.
Oxygen masks used as part of medical oxygen resuscitation kit.
Anaesthetic masks used in surgery in hospitals.
CPR masks used in Cardiopulminary Resuscitation
Sport masks such as fencing masks or ice hockey and American football
goalkeeper's masks.
Ski masks.
Welder's masks.
The faceplates of spacesuit helmets.
Of masks that supply breathable air, some also cover the eyes
(full-face); and some only cover the mouth and nose, and the wearer
must also wear goggles.
Punitive
a 'shameful' mask (Schandenmaske in German) is devised for public
humiliation; a popular reduced form are donkey ears for a bad
('dumb') pupil or student
particularly uncomfortable types, such as an iron mask, are fit
as devices for torture or corporal punishment
Other types
A "life mask" is a plaster cast of a face, used as a
model for making a painting or sculpture.
A "death mask" is the same but taken from the face of
a recently dead model. Death masks were very popular in the Western
World during the 18th and 19th century.
Both methods can preserve a realistic three-dimensional portrait.
A facial mask (or facial in short)
is a temporary mask, not solid, used in cosmetics or therapy for
skin treatment.
Want
to know more about Halloween?
Halloween
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Halloween (disambiguation).
Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31,
usually by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door
collecting candy. It is celebrated in much of the Western world,
though most commonly in the United States, the United Kingdom,
the Republic of Ireland, Canada and sometimes in Australia and
New Zealand. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions
of the tradition to North America in the 19th century. Most other
Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American
pop culture in the late 20th century.
The form "Halloween" derives
from Hallowe'en, an old contraction, still retained in Scotland,
of "All Hallow's Eve," so called as it is the day before
the Catholic All Saints holy day, which used to be called "All
Hallows," derived from All Hallowed Souls. In Ireland, the
name was Hallow Eve and this name is still used by some older
people. Halloween was formerly also sometimes called All Saints'
Eve. The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various
northern European pagan traditions, until it was appropriated
by Christian missionaries (along with Christmas and Easter, two
other traditional northern European pagan holidays) and given
a Christian reinterpretation. Halloween is also known as the Day
of the Dead, and it is a day of celebration for Wiccans and other
modern pagan traditions, though the holiday has lost its religious
connotations among the populace at large.
Halloween is also called Pooky Night
in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the pookah, a
mischievous spirit.
In the United Kingdom in particular,
the pagan Celts celebrated the Day of the Dead on Halloween. The
spirits supposedly rose from the dead and, in order to attract
them, food was left on the doors. To scare off the evil spirits,
the Celts wore masks. When the Romans invaded Britain, they embellished
the tradition with their own, which is the celebration of the
harvest and honoring the dead. These traditions were then passed
on to the United States.
Halloween is sometimes associated
with the occult. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween
is one of the "liminal" times of the year when the spirit
world can make contact with the natural world and when magic is
most potent (see, for example, Catalan mythology about witches).
Anoka, Minnesota, USA, the self-proclaimed
"Halloween Capital of the World," celebrates with a
large civic parade.
Contents
1 Symbols
2 Trick-or-treating
3 Games
4 Foods
5 Cultural history
5.1 Celtic observation of Samhain
5.2 Norse Elven Blót
5.3 Halloween customs
5.4 "Punkie Night"
5.5 "Mischief Night"
6 Religious viewpoints
7 See also
8 External links
9 Further reading
Symbols
Jack-o'-lanterns may be carved with a funny face.Halloween's theme
is spooky or scary things particularly involving death, black
magic, or mythical monsters. Commonly-associated Halloween characters
include ghosts, witches, bats, black cats, owls, goblins, zombies
and demons, as well as certain fictional figures like Dracula
and Frankenstein's monster. Homes are often decorated with these
symbols around Halloween.
Black and orange are the traditional
colors of Halloween. In modern Halloween images and products,
purple, green, and red are also prominent.
Elements of the autumn season, such
as pumpkins and scarecrows, are also reflected in symbols of Halloween.
The jack-o'-lantern, a carved vegetable
lit by a candle inside, is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols.
In Britain and Ireland, a turnip was and sometimes still is used,
but immigrants to America quickly adopted the pumpkin because
it is much larger and easier to carve. Many families that celebrate
Halloween will carve a pumpkin into a scary or comical face and
place it on the home's doorstep on Halloween night for fun. Traditionally,
something like this was done in order to scare evil spirits away.
Trick-or-treating
The main event of Halloween is trick-or-treating, also known as
guising in Scotland, in which children dress up in costume disguises
and go door-to-door in their neighborhood, ringing the bell and
yelling "trick or treat!" The occupants of the house
(who might themselves dress in a scary costume) will then hand
out small candies, miniature chocolate bars or other treats. Homes
sometimes use sound effects and fog machines to help set a spooky
mood. Other house decoration themes (that are less scary) are
used to entertain younger visitors. Children can often accumulate
many treats on Halloween night, filling up entire pillow cases
or shopping bags.
In Scotland, children or guisers are
likely to recite "The sky is blue, the grass is green, may
we have our Halloween" instead of "trick or treat!",
they will then have to impress the members of the houses they
visit with a song, trick, joke or dance in order to earn their
treats.
Tricks play less of a role in modern
Halloween, though the night before Halloween is often marked by
pranks such as soaping windows, egging houses or stringing toilet
paper through trees. Before indoor plumbing was so widespread,
tipping over or displacing outhouses was a popular form of trick.
Typical Halloween costumes have traditionally
been monsters such as vampires, ghosts, witches, and devils. The
stereotypical Halloween costume is a sheet with eyeholes cut in
it as a ghost costume. In 19th-century Scotland and Ireland the
reason for wearing such fearsome (and non-fearsome) costumes was
the belief that since the spirits that were abroad that night
were essentially intent on doing harm, the best way to avoid this
was to fool the spirits into believing that you were one of them.
In recent years, it has become common for costumes to be based
on themes other than traditional horror, such as dressing up as
a character from a TV show or movie. In 2001, after the September
11 attacks, for example, costumes of firefighters, police officers,
and United States military personnel became popular among children.
In 2004, an estimated 2.15 million children in the United States
were expected to dress up as Spider Man, the year's most popular
costume. [1]
A program started by UNICEF involves
the distribution of small boxes by schools to trick-or-treaters,
in which they can collect small change from the houses they visit
for donation to the charity.
A child usually "grows out of"
trick-or-treating by his or her teenage years. Teenagers and adults
instead often celebrate Halloween with costume parties or other
social get-togethers.
Games
There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween
parties. The most common is bobbing for apples, in which apples
float in a tub or a large basin of water; the participants must
use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. Another common
game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings;
these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached
to the string, an activity which inevitably leads to a very sticky
face.
Some games traditionally played at
Halloween are forms of divination. In Púicíní
(pronounced "pook-eeny"), a game played in Ireland,
a blindfolded person is seated in front of a table on which are
placed several saucers. The saucers are shuffled and the seated
person then chooses one by touch. The contents of the saucer determine
the person's life for the following year. A saucer containing
earth means someone known to the player will die during the next
year, a saucer containing water foretells travel, a coin means
new wealth, a bean means poverty, etc. In 19th-century Ireland,
young women placed slugs in saucers sprinkled with flour. The
wriggling of the slugs and the patterns subsequently left behind
on the saucers were believed to portray the faces of the women's
future spouses.
In North America, unmarried women
were frequently told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed
into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband
would appear in the mirror. However, if they were destined to
die before they married, a skull would appear. The custom was
widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards from the
late nineteenth century.
Foods
Candy applesBecause the holiday comes in the wake of the annual
apple harvest, candy apples (also known as toffee apples) are
a common treat at Halloween. They are made by rolling whole apples
in a sticky sugar syrup, and sometimes then rolling them in nuts.
At one time candy apples were a common treat given to children,
but this practice rapidly waned after widespread rumors that some
individuals were embedding items like pins and razor blades in
the apples that they would pass out to children. The vast majority
of the reported cases turned out to be hoaxes, and the few that
were real caused only minor injuries, but many parents were under
the assumption that the practice was common. At the peak of this
hysteria, some hospitals were offering to x-ray children's Halloween
haul at no cost in order to look for such items.
A Halloween custom which has survived
unchanged to this day in Ireland is the baking (or more often
nowadays the purchase) of a barmbrack (Irish "báirín
breac"). This is a light fruit cake into which a plain ring
is placed before baking. It is said that whoever finds this ring
will find his or her true love during the following year.
Other foods associated with the holiday:
candy corn
hot apple cider
roasted pumpkin seeds
Cultural history
Celtic observation of Samhain
In the Druidic religion of the ancient Celts, the new year began
with the winter season of Samhain on November 1. Just as shorter
days signified the start of the new year, sundown also meant the
start of a new day; therefore the harvest festival began every
year on the night of October 31. Druids in the British Isles would
light fires and offer sacrifices of crops. and as they danced
around the fires, the season of the sun would pass and the season
of beltaine would begin.
When the morning of November 1 arrived,
the Druids would give an ember from their fires to each family
who would then take it home to start a new cooking fire. These
fires were intended to keep the homes warm and free from evil
spirits such as "Sidhe" (pronounced "shee,"
most notable of which are the beán sidhe or banshees),
because at this time of year it was believed that the invisible
"gates" between this world and the spirit world were
opened and free movement between both worlds was possible.
Bonfires played a large part in the
festivities. Villagers cast the bones of the slaughtered cattle
upon the flames; the word "bonfire" is thought to derive
from these "bone fires." With the bonfire ablaze, the
villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly
lit their hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families
of the village together. Hundreds of fires are still lit each
year in Ireland on Halloween night.
Neopagans still celebrate the sabbat
of Samhain on Halloween, as well as also taking part in secular
Halloween activities.
Norse Elven Blót
In the old Norse religion and its modern revival, Ásatrú,
the day now known as Halloween was a blót which involved
sacrifices to the elves and the blessing of food.
A poem from around 1020, the Austrfaravísur
('Eastern-journey verses') of Sigvatr Þorðarson, mentions
that, as a Christian, he was refused board in a heathen household,
in Sweden, because an álfablót ("elves' sacrifice")
being conducted there. However, we have no further reliable information
as to what an álfablót involved, but like other
blóts it probably included the offering of foods, and later
Scandinavian folklore retained a tradition of sacrificing treats
to the elves. From the time of year (close to the autumnal equinox)
and the elves' association with fertility and the ancestors, we
might assume that it had to do with the ancestor cult and the
life force of the family.
Halloween customs
Observance of Halloween faded in the South of England from the
17th century onwards, being replaced by the commemoration of the
Gunpowder Plot on November 5. However it remained popular in Scotland,
Ireland and the North of England. It is only in the last decade
that it has become popular in the South of England again, although
in an entirely Americanized version.
The custom survives most accurately
in Ireland, where the last Monday of October is a public holiday.
All schools close for the following week for mid-term, commonly
called the Halloween Break. As a result Ireland is the only country
where children never have school on Halloween and are therefore
free to celebrate it in the ancient and time-honored fashion.
The custom of trick-or-treating is
thought to have evolved from the European custom called souling,
similar to the wassailing customs associated with Yule. On November
2, All Souls' Day, beggars would walk from village to village
begging for "soul cakes" - square pieces of bread with
currants. Christians would promise to say prayers on behalf of
dead relatives helping the soul's passage to heaven. The distribution
of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace
the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits
at the Samhain. See Puck (mythology).
In Celtic parts of western Brittany.
Samhain is still heralded by the baking of kornigou. Kornigou
are cakes baked in the shape of antlers to commemorate the god
of winter shedding his "cuckold" horns as he returns
to his kingdom in the Otherworld.
"Punkie Night"
"Punkie Night" is observed on the last Thursday in October
in the village of Hinton St. George in the county of Somerset
in England. On this night, children carry lanterns made from hollowed-out
mangel-wurzels (a kind of beet; in modern days, pumpkins are used)
with faces carved into them. They bring these around the village,
collecting money and singing the punkie song. Punkie is derived
from pumpkin or punk, meaning tinder.
Though the custom is only attested
over the last century, and the mangel-wurzel itself was introduced
into English agriculture in the late 18th century, "Punkie
Night" appears to be much older even than the fable that
now accounts for it. The story goes that the wives of Hinton St.
George went looking for their wayward husbands at the fair held
nearby at Chiselborough, the last Thursday in October, but first
hollowed out mangel wurzels in order to make lanterns to light
their way. The drunken husbands saw the eerie lights, thought
they were "goolies" (the restless spirits of children
who had died before they were baptized), and fled in terror. Children
carry the punkies now. The event has spread since about 1960 to
the neighboring village of Chiselborough.
Sources: on-line report from the Western
Gazette and a National Geographic radio segment. Chiselborough
Fair is memorialized by Fair Place in the village. The National
Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) reported that there
was "a fair for horses and cattle on the last Thursday in
October."
"Mischief Night"
The night before Halloween, known in some areas as "Mischief
Night" or "Devil's Night," is often associated
with destructive activities performed by adolescents. Some of
the acts range from minor vandalism to theft, or even violence.
Many youths involved in mischief night would be considered too
old for traditional trick-or-treating. The most common wrong-doing
is trashing people's houses, lawns, and trees within property
with tons of toilet paper.
A dialect survey begun in 1999 by
Harvard University indicates that there are a number of terms
for this particular day of the year, but that the vast majority
(70.38%) have no special word for it.
Religious viewpoints
The majority of Christians ascribe no doctrinal significance to
Halloween, treating it as a purely secular entity devoted to celebrating
imaginary spooks and handing out candy. The secular celebration
of Halloween may loom larger in contemporary imagination than
does All Saints' Day.
The mingling of Christian and pagan
traditions in the early centuries following the founding of the
Christian Church have left many modern Christians uncertain of
how they should react towards this holiday. Some fundamentalist
Christian groups consider Halloween a Pagan holiday and may refer
to it as "the most evil day of the year," refusing to
allow their children to participate. Among these groups it is
believed to have developed Satanic influences. In some areas,
complaints from these fundamentalist Christians that the schools
were endorsing a Pagan religion have led the schools to stop distributing
UNICEF boxes.
Other Christians, however, continue
to connect this holiday with All Saints Day. Some modern Christian
churches commonly offer a "fall festival" or harvest-themed
alternative to Halloween celebrations. Still other Christians
hold the view that the holiday is not Satanic in origin or practice
and that it holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children
- being taught about death and mortality actually being a valuable
life lesson.
Ironically, considering that most
fundamentalist Christian groups are Protestant in nature, many
Protestant denominations celebrate October 31 as Reformation Day,
which commemorates the October 31, 1517 posting of Martin Luther's
Ninety-Five Theses. In particular, many Lutheran churches and
religious schools meld the two holidays without worrying about
'Satanic influences.'
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