Mayfield Electric & Water Systems

For centuries Halloween has captured the hearts of children and adults alike.  It was a different Halloween when the Celts occupied Europe, long before the birth of Christ.  It was the time for all who lived good lives to feast, a kind of Thanksgiving.  This All Hallow's Eve was also the night when ghosts and goblins walked the earth.   People lit candles and masqueraded in frightening costumes made of animal skins to ward off the spirits of the dead, who they believed returned to earth as wandering cats, witches, and ghosts.  The people in costumes began to visit homes, asking for treats--those who gave them would be assured of having a good year; those who did not were warned to watch out for evil spirits.

Thus this "Halloween," with its customs of offering thanksgiving for the harvest, wearing costumes to ward off evil spirits, and begging for food to ensure safe souls, soon spread.  The Romans, after conquering England and France, introduced their own touches:  they bobbed for apples and gave nuts to their neighbors.  The Italians left bread and water, and lit lamps before going to bed to appease visiting ghosts.  Other Europeans put out doughnuts and milk for each member of the family and one for an expected ghost.

In the nineteenth century, Irish immigrants brought the holiday to the United States, where it has evolved to become in the last two decades, a national celebration.

Today's Halloween:  A Family Holiday

Halloween has traditionally been a holiday for children.  It was the children who dressed in imaginative costumes and paraded door to door, begging for treats.  And it was the children who played mischievous tricks when they were not treated.

Today, Halloween has become our nation's Mardi Gras -- a wonderful national family holiday.  It is a celebration that enables parents and children to spend time together creating costumes, carving pumpkins, planning trick or treat activities, and participating in family parties.  

For children, Halloween is an especially exciting time.  It appeals to their imaginations, stimulating  inner urges to be something or someone else, to dress up as images they fantasize about or fear.  Halloween is the one time of year when it is acceptable to act out many of these fantasies.  On Halloween we can be scary or scared; we can look gruesome and ugly or ostentatiously beautiful.  We can have fangs or smiles on our pumpkins and faces.  We can be vampires or supermen or fairy princesses or bees or televisions -- we can be anything.    

For More Information Contact:

Mayfield Electric & Water Systems
301 East Broadway, Mayfield, KY 42066
Tel: 270-247-4661
FAX: 270-247-0550
Internet: jcre@mayfieldews.com

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Last modified: April 18, 2008
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