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Halloween around the world

Ireland

Snap-Apple Night by Daniel Maclise portrays a Halloween party in Blarney, Ireland, in 1832. The young children on the right bob for apples. A couple in the center play “Snap-Apple,” which involves retrieving an apple hanging from a string. The couples at left play divination games.

Halloween is a significant cultural event in Ireland; it is widely celebrated. It is known in Irish as Oche Shamhna (Irish pronunciation: [ih haun] ee-hah how-nah), literally “Samhain Night.” In the Irish language, Samhain is the name for the month of November. Pre-Christian Celts had an autumn festival, Samhain (Irish pronunciation: [saun], from the Old Irish samain), “End of Summer,” a pastoral and agricultural “fire festival” or feast, when the dead revisited the mortal world and large communal bonfires would hence be lit to ward off evil spirits. Costumes and masks being worn at Halloween goes back to the Celtic traditions of attempting to copy the evil spirits or placate them. Samhnag Candle lanterns carved from turnips, were part of the traditional festival. Large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces and placed in windows, also used to ward off harmful spirits.

History

Pope Gregory IV standardized the date of All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows’ Day, on November 1 in the name of the entire Western Church in 837. As the Church day began at sunset, the holiday coincided exactly with Samhain. It is claimed that the choice of date was consistent with the common practice of leaving pagan festivals and buildings intact (e.g., the Pantheon) while overlaying a Christian meaning, however no reliable documentation indicates such a motivation in this case. While the Celts might have been content to move All Saints’ Day from their own previous date of April 20, the rest of the world celebrating it on May 13, it is speculated without evidence that they were unwilling to give up their preexisting autumn festival of the dead and continued to celebrate Samhain.

Traditions

On Halloween night, adults and children dress up as creatures from the underworld (e.g., ghosts, ghouls, zombies, witches, and goblins), light bonfires, and enjoy spectacular fireworks displays  in particular, the city of Derry is home to the largest organized Halloween celebration on the island, in the form of a street carnival and fireworks display. It is also common for fireworks to be set off for the entire month preceding Halloween as well as a few days after. Halloween was perceived as the night during which the division between the world of the living and the otherworld was blurred so that spirits of the dead and inhabitants from the underworld were able to walk free on the earth. It was believed necessary to dress as a spirit or otherworldly creature when venturing outdoors to blend in, and this is where dressing in such a manner for Halloween comes from. This gradually evolved into trick-or-treating, because children would knock on their neighbours’ doors in order to gather fruit, nuts, and sweets for the Halloween festival. Salt was once sprinkled in the hair of the children to protect against evil spirits.[citation needed]

Typical Halloween scene in Dublin, Ireland.

Houses are frequently adorned with pumpkins, or traditional turnip carved into scary faces; lights or candles are sometimes placed inside the carvings, resulting in an eerie effect. The traditional Halloween cake in Ireland is the barmbrack, which is a fruit bread. The Halloween Brack traditionally contained various objects baked into the bread and was used as a fortune-telling game. In the barmbrack were a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence), and a ring. Each item, when received in the slice, was supposed to carry a meaning to the person concerned: the pea, the person would not marry that year; the stick, “to beat one’s wife with,” would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be married within the year. Commercially produced barmbracks for the Halloween market still include a toy ring.[citation needed]

Games are often played, such as bobbing for apples, in which apples, peanuts, and other nuts and fruit and some small coins are placed in a basin of water. The apples and nuts float, but the coins, which sink, are harder to catch. Everyone takes turns catching as many items possible using only their mouths. In some households, the coins are embedded in the fruit for the children to “earn” as they catch each apple. Another common game involves the hands-free eating of an apple hung on a string attached to the ceiling. Games of divination are also played at Halloween, but are becoming less popular.

Lunchtime (the midday meal, sometimes called “dinner” in Ireland), on Halloween is called Colcannon.Babou

France

Halloween celebration in France began in 1997 on behalf of selling companies but hasn’t caught up. Popularity peaked in 2000, but declined after that. In 2006, many French newspapers wrote on the death of Halloween. It was purely commercial, and overlapped with the Toussaint day (Catholic festival) that takes place November 1st.

Scotland

Scotland, having a shared Gaelic culture with Ireland, has celebrated the festival of Samhain (pronounced Sow-win) robustly for many centuries. The autumn festival is pre-Christian Celtic in origin, and is known in Scottish Gaelic as Oidhche Shamhna, the “Summer’s night.” During the fire festival, souls of the dead wander the Earth and are free to return to the mortal world until dawn. Traditionally, bonfires and lanterns (samhnag in Scottish Gaelic) would be lit to ward off the phantoms and evil spirits that emerge at midnight. The term Samhainn or Samhuinn is used for the harvest feast, and an t-Samhain is used for the entire month of November.

History

As in Ireland, the exact customs involved with celebrating Halloween from ancient times to pre-industrialised Scotland are lost and lack primary documentation to distinguish the ancient customs from the modern counterpart. The Witchcraft Act of 1735 was repealed in the 1950s. The name Halloween is first attested in the 16th century as a Scottish shortening of the fuller All-Hallows-Even, that is, the night before All Hallows Day. Scotland’s National Bard, Robert Burns, portrayed some of the customs in his poem “Hallowe’en” (1785).

Halloween was seen as the time when the division between the world of the living and the otherworld was blurred. Many of the traditional customs derive from ancient divination practices and ways of trying to predict the future. By the 18th century, most of the customs were methods for young people to search for their future husbands or wives. As Samhainn was originally a harvest festival, many of these practices are connected with food or the harvest and fertility. One old custom associated with the Western Isles was to put two large nuts in the hearth of a peat fire to represent the person and his or her intended spouse. If the nuts curled together when they warmed up, it was deemed to be a good omen; but if they jumped apart, then it was time to look for another sweetheart.[citation needed] Islanders from Lewis traditionally poured ale into the sea as a libation to a marine God called “Seonaidh,” or “Shoney,” on Celtic Samhain or Halloween so that he would send seaweed to the shore to fertilise the fields for the coming year. Seonadh in Scottish Gaelic means sorcery, augury, or Druidism, and it is possible that the custom of Shonaidh is the direct link to an ancient form of Celtic god worship that has been Christianised.[citation needed] As “Seonaidh,” which is Gaelic “Johnny,” it may also be a reference to one of St. John and an invocation of him.

Fire rituals were also important. Great bonfires were lit in villages or by individual families, with the resultant ashes being used to form a circle. One stone for each member of the household was kept inside this circle near the circumference. If any stone were displaced or seemed broken by next morning, the person to whom that stone belonged was believed to be destined to die within a year.[citation needed] A similar rite in northern Wales includes a great bonfire called Coel Coeth, built for each family on Halloween; later, the members of the household threw a white stone marked in their name into the ashes. Upon the next morning, all the stones were searched for, and if any stone was missing, the person who threw that stone was believed to be destined to die before next Halloween.[citation needed] In particular, the village of Fortingall, in Perthshire, held festivities on Crn na Marbh, “Mound of the Dead.” This was the focal point of a Samhain festival. A great fire, or “Samhnag,” was lit atop it each year. The whole community took hands when it was blazing and danced around the mound, both sunwise and antisunwise. As the fire began to wane, some of the younger boys took burning embers from the flames and ran throughout the field with them, finally throwing them into the air and dancing over them as they lay glowing on the ground. When the last embers were showing, the boys would have a leaping competition across the remains of the fire, reminiscent of the Beltane festival. When it was finished, the young people went home to duck for apples and practise divination. There was no Scottish tradition of “guising” here, the bonfire being the absolute centre of attention until it was consumed. The Samhain celebrations here apparently came to an end relatively early, in 1925.

Traditions

In Scotland, folklore, including that of Halloween, revolves around the ancient Celtic belief in faeries (Sidhe, or Sith, in modern Gaelic). Children who ventured out carried a traditional lantern (samhnag) with a devil face carved into it to frighten away the evil spirits. Such Halloween lanterns were made from a turnip, or “Neep” in Lowland Scots, with a candle lit in the hollow inside. In modern times, however, such lanterns use pumpkins, as in North American traditions, possibly because it is easier to carve a face into a pumpkin than into a turnip. Due to this, the practice of hollowing out pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns may have its roots in this practice.

Houses were also protected with the same candle lanterns. If the spirits got past the protection of the lanterns, the Scottish custom was to offer the spirits parcels of food to leave and spare the house another year. Children, too, were given the added protection by disguising them as such creatures in order to blend in with the spirits. If children approached the door of a house, they were also given offerings of food (Halloween being a harvest festival), which served to ward off the potential spirits that may lurk among them. This is where the origin of the practice of Scottish “guising” (a word that comes from “disguising”), arose, with the tradition of children going from door to door in costume. It is now a key feature of the tradition of trick-or-treating practised in North America.

In modern-day Scotland, this old tradition survives, chiefly in the form of children going door to door “guising” in this manner; that is, dressed in a disguise (often as a witch, ghost, monster, or another supernatural being) and offering entertainment of various sorts. If the entertainment is enjoyed, the children are rewarded with gifts of sweets, fruits, or money., There is no Scottish trick-or-treat tradition as in North America; on the contrary, trick or treating is an outgrowth of these Scottish guising customs.[citation needed]

Popular games played on the holiday include “dunking” for apples (i.e., retrieving an apple from a bucket of water using only one’s mouth). In some places, the game has been replaced (because of fears of contracting saliva-borne illnesses in the water) by standing over the bowl holding a fork in one’s mouth and releasing it in an attempt to skewer an apple using only gravity. Another popular game is attempting to eat, while blindfolded, a treacle- or jam-coated scone on a piece of string hanging from the ceiling. Sometimes the blindfold is left out, because it is already difficult to eat the scone. In all versions, however, the participants cannot use their hands.

In 2007, Halloween festival organisers in Perthshire said they wanted to move away from U.S.-style celebrations in favour of more culturally accurate traditions. Plans include abandoning the use of pumpkins and reinstating traditional activities, such as a turnip lantern competition and dooking (ducking) for apples.

Isle of Man

The Manx traditionally celebrate Hop-tu-Naa on October 31; this ancient Celtic tradition has parallels in Irish and Scottish traditions.

England

History

All Saints’ Day (All Hallows Day) became fixed on 1 November in 835, and All Souls’ Day on 2 November, circa 998. On All Souls’ Eve, families stayed up late, and little “soul cakes” were eaten by everyone. At the stroke of midnight, there was solemn silence among households, which had candles burning in every room to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes and a glass of wine on the table to refresh them. The tradition of giving soul cakes that originated in Britain and Ireland was known as souling, often seen as the origin of modern Trick or Treating in North America, and souling continued in areas of northern England as late as the 1930s, with children going from door to door singing songs and saying prayers for the dead in return for cakes or money. The English Reformation in the 16th century de-emphasised holidays like All Hallows Day or All Souls Day and their associated eves.

Traditions

A Halloween party in The United Kingdom

In parts of northern England, there is a traditional festival called Mischief Night, which falls on the 30th of October. During the celebration, children play a range of “tricks” (ranging from minor to more serious) on adults. One of the more serious tricks might include the unhinging of garden gates (which were often thrown into ponds or moved far away). In recent years, such acts have occasionally escalated to extreme vandalism, sometimes involving street fires.

Bobbing for apples is a well-established association with Halloween. In the game, attempts are made (using only one’s mouth) to catch an apple placed in a water-filled barrel. Once an apple is caught, it is sometimes peeled and tossed over the shoulder in the hope that the strips would fall into the shape of a letter, which would be the first initial of the participant’s true love.[citation needed]

Other traditions include making toffee apples and apple tarts. Apple tarts may be baked with a coin hidden inside, and nuts of all types are traditional Halloween fare.

There has been increasing concern about the potential for antisocial behaviour, particularly among older teenagers, on Halloween. Cases of houses being “egg-bombed” or having lit fireworks posted through the letterbox (especially when the occupants do not give money or gifts) have been reported, and the BBC reported that for Halloween 2006, police forces stepped up patrols to respond to such mischief.

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Wales

In Welsh, Halloween is known as Nos Calan Gaeaf (the beginning of the new winter; see Calan Gaeaf). Spirits are said to walk around (as it is an Ysbrydnos, or “spirit night”), and a “white lady” ghost is sometimes said to appear. Bonfires are lit on hillsides to mark the night.

In many urban areas, principally South Wales, Welsh children Trick or Treat, as per the American custom. Halloween parties and events are common place.

Customs

Coelcerth: Families build a fire and place stones with their names on it. The person whose stone is missing the next morning would die within the year.

Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta: Legend has it that a fearsome spirit called Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta took the form of a tail-less black sow and roamed the countryside with a headless woman. Children would rush home early.

Eiddiorwg Dalen: A few leaves of ground ivy is thought to give you the power to see hags. For prophetic dreams a boy should cut ten ivy leaves, throw away one and put the rest under his head before he sleeps. A girl should take a wild rose grown into a hoop, creep through it three times, cut it in silence, and go to bed with it under her pillow.

Teiliwr: In Glamorgan tailors were associated with witchcraft. They supposedly possessed the power to ewitch anybody if they wished.

Canada and USA

History

Halloween is largely celebrated in the same manner between the two countries of Canada and the United States. In the United States, where lingering Puritan tradition restricted the observance of many holidays, Halloween did not become a holiday until the 19th century. American almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th centuries do not include Halloween in their lists of holidays. The transatlantic migration of nearly two million Irish following the Irish Potato Famine (18451849) finally brought the holiday to the United States. Scottish emigration, primarily to Canada before 1870 and to the United States thereafter, brought the Scottish version of the holiday to each country. At the time of substantial Irish and Scottish immigration to North America in the late 19th century, Halloween had a strong tradition of “guising” children in Ireland and Scotland disguised in costumes going from door to door requesting food or coins. The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in English speaking North America occurs in 1911, when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario reported that it was normal for the smaller children to go street “guising” on Halloween between 6 and 7 p.m., visiting shops and neighbors to be rewarded with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs.

American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts, wrote the first book length history of the holiday in the US; The Book of Hallowe’en (1919), and references souling in the chapter Hallowe’en in America; “All Hallowe’en customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries. The taste in Hallowe’en festivities now is to study old traditions, and hold a Scotch party, using Burn’s poem Hallowe’en as a guide; or to go a-souling as the English used. In short, no custom that was once honored at Hallowe’en is out of fashion now”. The main event for children of modern Halloween in the United States and Canada is trick-or-treating, in which children disguise themselves in costumes and go door to door in their neighborhoods, ringing each doorbell and yelling “Trick or treat!” to solicit a gift of candy or similar items.

Irish-American and Scottish-American societies held dinners and balls that celebrated their heritages, with perhaps a recitation of Robert Burns’ poem “Halloween” or a telling of Irish legends, much as Columbus Day celebrations were more about Italian-American heritage than Columbus per se. Home parties centred on children’s activities, such as apple bobbing, and various divination games often concerning future romance. Not surprisingly, pranks and mischief were common as well.

At the turn of the 20th century, Halloween had turned into a night of vandalism, with destruction of property and cruelty to animals and people. Around 1912, the Boy Scouts, Boys Clubs, and other neighborhood organizations came together to encourage a safe celebration that would end the destruction that had become so common on this night. School posters during this time called for a “Sane Halloween.” Children began to go door to door, receiving treats, rather than playing tricks on their neighbors. This helped to reduce the mischief, and by the 1930s, “beggar’s nights” had become very popular. Trick-or-treating became widespread by the end of the 1930s.

Traditions

The commercialization of Halloween in the United States did not start until the 20th century, beginning perhaps with Halloween postcards (featuring hundreds of designs), which were most popular between 1905 and 1915. Dennison Manufacturing Company (which published its first Halloween catalog in 1909) and the Beistle Company were pioneers in commercially made Halloween decorations, particularly die-cut paper items. German manufacturers specialised in Halloween figurines that were exported to the United States in the period between the two World Wars.

Community Halloween party in Frazier Park, California.

Mass-produced Halloween costumes did not appear in stores until the 1930s, and trick-or-treating did not become a fixture of the holiday until the 1950s. In the 1990s, many manufacturers began producing a larger variety of Halloween yard decorations; before this, the majority of decorations were homemade. Some of the most popular yard decorations are jack-o’-lanterns, scarecrows, witches, orange string lights, inflatable decorations such as spiders, pumpkins, mummies and vampires, and animatronic window and door decorations. Other popular decorations are foam tombstones and gargoyles.

Halloween is now the United States’ second most popular holiday (after Christmas) for decorating; the sale of candy and costumes is also extremely common during the holiday, which is marketed to children and adults alike. According to the National Retail Federation, the most popular Halloween costume themes for adults are, in order: witch, pirate, vampire, cat, and clown. Each year, popular costumes are dictated by various current events and pop culture icons. On many college campuses, Halloween is a major celebration, with the Friday and Saturday nearest October 31 hosting many costume parties.

Four contestants in the Halloween Slick Chick beauty contest in Anaheim, California, 1947

The National Confectioners Association reported in 2005 that 80 percent of American adults planned to give out candy to trick-or-treaters, and that 93 percent of children planned to go trick-or-treating.

Madison, Wisconsin, home of the University of Wisconsinadison, hosts one of the more infamous annual Halloween celebrations. Due to the large influx of out-of-towners crowding the State Street area, riots have broken out in recent years, resulting in the use of mounted police and tear gas to disperse the crowds. Likewise, Chapel Hill, NC, site of the University of North Carolina, has a notorious downtown street party which in 2007 drew a crowd estimated at 80,000 on downtown Franklin Street, in a town with a population of just 54,000. In 2008, in an effort to curb the influx of out-of-towners, mayor Kevin Foy emplaced measures to make commuting downtown more difficult on Halloween.

Anoka, Minnesota, the self-proclaimed “Halloween Capital of the World”, celebrates the holiday with a large civic parade and several other city-wide events. Salem, Massachusetts, also has laid claim to the “Halloween Capital” title, while trying to dissociate itself from its history of persecuting witchcraft. At the same time, however, the city does see a great deal of tourism surrounding the Salem witch trials, especially around Halloween. In the 1990s, the city added an official “Haunted Happenings” celebration to the October tourist season. Nearby Keene, New Hampshire, hosts the annual Pumpkin Fest each October which previously held the record for having the greatest number of lit jack-o’-lanterns at once. (Boston, Massachusetts holds the record as of October 2006). In Atlanta, Georgia, the Little Five Points neighborhood hosts the Little Five Points Halloween Parade on the weekend before October 31 each year.

Rutland, Vermont has hosted the annual Rutland Halloween Parade since 1960. Tom Fagan, a local comic book fan, is credited with having a hand in the parade’s early development and superhero theme. In the early 1970s, the Rutland Halloween Parade achieved a degree of fame when it was used as the setting of a number of superhero comic books, including Batman #237, Justice League of America #103, Amazing Adventures #16 and The Mighty Thor #207.

New York City hosts the United States’ largest Halloween celebration, known as The Village Halloween Parade. Started by Greenwich Village mask maker Ralph Lee in 1973, the evening parade now attracts over two million spectators and participants, as well as roughly four million television viewers annually. It is the largest participatory parade in the country if not the world, encouraging spectators to march in the parade as well. Barbara Ehrenreich, in her book on collective joy mentions this as an example of how Halloween is transitioning from a children’s holiday to an adult holiday and compares it to Mardi Gras.

In Detroit, Michigan, the night before Halloween is referred to as Devil’s Night, and for many years involved petty vandalism by children and teens, such as rubbing soap or wax on car windows or throwing eggs at houses. This activity perhaps started in the 1930s. In the 1970s, the minor vandalism gave way to serious acts of arson, and the city today mounts volunteer neighborhood patrols to prevent violence.

In many towns and cities, trick-or-treaters are welcomed by lit porch lights and jack-o’-lanterns. In some large and/or crime ridden areas, however, trick-or-treating is discouraged, or refocused to staged trick-or-treating events within nearby shopping malls, in order to prevent potential acts of violence against trick-or-treaters. Even where crime is not an issue, many American towns have designated specific hours for trick-or-treating, e.g., 57 pm or 58 pm, to discourage late-night trick-or-treating. After the September 11 terror attacks, trick-or-treating was discouraged in many areas. Some feared that terrorists would take the opportunity to attack trick-or-treaters, and others felt that celebrating Halloween so soon after the attacks seemed inappropriate. There were even fears of attacks on shopping malls after an anonymous email began circulating on the Internet that was allegedly written by a terrorist that alluded to planned attacks on shopping malls on October 31, 2001. This threat was revealed to be a hoax after an official FBI press release stating that the threat was deemed not credible.

Those living in the country may hold Halloween parties, often with bonfires, with the celebrants passing between them. The parties usually involve traditional games (like snipe hunting, bobbing for apples, or searching for candy in a similar manner to Easter egg hunting), haunted hayrides (often accompanied by scary stories, and costumed people hiding in the dark to jump out and scare the riders), and treats (usually a bag of candy and/or homemade treats). Scary movies may also be viewed. Normally, the children are picked up by their parents at predetermined times. However, it is not uncommon for such parties to include sleepovers.

Trick-or-treating may often end by early evening, but the nightlife thrives in many urban areas. Halloween costume parties provide an opportunity for adults to gather and socialize. Urban bars are frequented by people wearing Halloween masks and risqu costumes. Many bars and restaurants hold costume contests to attract customers to their establishments. Haunted houses are also popular in some areas.

In Western Canada, fireworks displays and a civic bonfire are part of the festivities. Fireworks are also held at Disneyland (as of 2009) and Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom during an event at that park called Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party titled HalloWishes.

Mexico

Halloween piatas and other decorations for sale at the Jamaica Market in Mexico City.

In Mexico, Halloween has been celebrated since roughly 1960. There, celebrations have been influenced by the American traditions, such as the costuming of children who visit the houses of their neighborhood in search of candy. Though the “trick-or-treat” motif is used, tricks are not generally played on residents not providing candy. Older crowds of preteens, teenagers and adults will sometimes organize Halloween-themed parties, which might be scheduled on the nearest available weekend. Usually kids stop by at peoples’ houses, knock on their door or the ring the bell and say “Noche de Brujas, Halloween!” (‘Witches’ Night, Halloween!’) or “Queremos Haloween!” (We want Halloween!). The second phrase is more commonly used among children, the affirmation of “We want Halloween” means “We want candy”, similarly “Me da mi calaverita” means “I want my little skull”.

Halloween in Mexico begins three days of consecutive holidays, as it is followed by All Saints’ Day, which also marks the beginning of the two day celebration of the Day of the Dead or the Da de los Muertos. This might account for the initial explanations of the holiday having a traditional Mexican-Catholic slant.

Australia

Despite many American media influences (including television sit-coms and The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror and its sequels), Halloween is frowned upon by some due to its having little relevance to Australian culture. It is also considered an unwanted American influence and an online poll conducted by News Limited has suggested that 84% of Australians are opposed to the event as “an event on the calendar”.. In 2006, costume shops reported a rise in sales on Halloween-themed costumes, on October 31, 2006 and have reported a steady increase on October 31, 2007. On Halloween night, horror films and horror-themed TV episodes are traditionally aired, and currently, Halloween private parties are more commonly held than actual “trick-or-treating”, however both are still observed. Trick or treating is generally only done in the trick-or-treater’s neighbourhood.

The children of the largest town in Bonaire gather together on Halloween day.

The Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, and Austria

Halloween has become increasingly popular in Belgium, Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany, and Austria since the early 1990s. From early October, stores are full of merchandise related to the popular Halloween themes. Students and little children dress up on Halloween for parties and small parades. Trick-or-treating is uncommon in these countries because children already engage in a similar practice to celebrate St. Martin’s Day, which takes place a few days after Halloween. On November 11, Dutch, Belgian, German, and Austrian children ring doorbells hoping to receive a small treat in return for singing a short song dedicated to St. Martin.

Romania

Halloween in Romania is celebrated around the myth of “Dracula” on October 31. In Transylvania and especially in the city of Sighioara, there are many costume parties, for teenagers and adults, that are created from the US model.[citation needed] Also the spirit of Dracula is believed to live there because the town was the site of many witch trials; these are recreated today by actors on the night of Halloween.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, Halloween is seen as being a pagan festival. After first becoming popular in 1999, Halloween is on the wane. People see it as an imported product from the United States, which has not recently enjoyed a good image in the country. Switzerland already has a “festival overload” and even though Swiss people like to dress up for any occasion, they do prefer a traditional element.

Ueli Mder, a professor of sociology at Basel University said that the Swiss adoption of Halloween about ten years ago  Swiss shops stocked Halloween costumes and masks for the first time in 1999  came from “a need for rituals”. “In a strongly commercialised world a need arises for meaningful experiences. I can imagine that a ritual like Halloween when it is celebrated in a simple genuine way can satisfy that need.” But he added: “It also took on an exaggerated or extreme form for a while which probably turned some people off. Perhaps is there is a need to bring Halloween back to a more simple level.”

Italy

In the traditional culture of some regions of Italy there were until the last century[citation needed] traditions very similar to Halloween, i.e. beliefs about nocturnal visiting and processions of dead people, preparation of special biscuits and carving jack-o’-lanterns[citation needed].

Particularly between 1630 and 1640 the Catholic Church carried on a campaign to suppress surviving pagan traditions connected to All Saints’ Day and its eve. These feasts vanished completely; until the mid-1970s the festivity was completely unknown by the people, in 1979 just 1 million of people on a population of 57 million declared celebrating[citation needed] Halloween.

Between the 20th and 21st centuries, however, Halloween was popularized principally by television and merchandising coming from United States, including sitcom episodes such as The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror (trick-or-treat’s translation as “Dolcetto o Scherzetto”, literally treat-or-joke, appeared first in dubbed sitcoms). As a result, in 1989 4 million declared celebrating it, in 1999 7 million and in 2009 10 million[citation needed], turning Halloween in Italy into a major[citation needed] festivity that outclasses the Catholic ones[citation needed] among Italian children.

Halloween traditions are mostly based on US tradition, but even then not completely  for example the story of Jack-o’-lantern is not widely known, and people talk simply of the “zucca di Halloween” (“Halloween pumpkin”). Some children trick-or-treat and they dress up as skeletons, zombies, devils etc., though most elderly people still do not understand the children’s request. Teens, instead, celebrate the festivity disguising themselves as horror characters, throwing away eggs, spraying foam and doing dirty tricks on each other.

Denmark

In Denmark children go trick-or-treating, even though they already collect candy from neighbors on Fastelavn, the Danish name for the Carnival which occurs before Lent.

Central and South America

In most parts of Central and South America, kids will pay a visit to their neighbors and yell “Dulce o Truco!” (‘Sweet or Trick!’) in order to get candy, while in Brazil kids yell “Doce ou Travessura!”. The Spanish name for Halloween is Noche de Brujas (Night of the Witches), and the Portuguese name is Dia das Bruxas.

Norway

In Norway Halloween has become very popular, and most toy stores etc. have big sales and massive campaigns. Children go trick-or-treating, but it is much more common to not perform a trick, only ringing the door bell and asking for candy.

Finland

Halloween has become increasingly popular among the new generation in Finland. Teenagers like to wear costums and have Halloween-themed parties.

Arab Christians (Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank/Gaza)

Arab Christians in Lebanon, Syria and West Bank celebrate Saint Barbara’s Day or Eid il-Burbara on December 4 in a style somewhat reminiscent of Halloween celebrations in other countries. Children wear costumes and go trick-or-treating whilst singing a song. The traditional food for the occasion is Burbara, a bowl of boiled barley, pomegranate seeds, raisins, anise and sugar offered to masquerading children. Lebanese Christians believe that Saint Barbara disguised herself as numerous characters to elude the Romans who were persecuting her.

Qarqe’an is a similar holiday celebrated in Kuwait and other Gulf states. The scary theme is not a part of the tradition: children dress in traiditional garb, form groups, carry baskets and sing outside of homes, receiving sweets and nuts for their effort.

Japan

Halloween has become popular only recently in Japan, mainly in the context of American pop culture. Western-style Halloween decorations such as jack-o’-lanterns can be seen in many locations, and places such as Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan put on special Halloween events. The wearing of costumes is mostly limited to private home parties, day care centers and kindergartens, as well as in larger cities at bars frequented or run by foreigners. On a national scale trick-or-treating is largely unpracticed.

Hong Kong

Halloween in Hong Kong has two traditions. The first involves the event called “Yue Lan” (Festival of the Hungry Ghosts). It is less of celebration, but rather an opportunity to give gifts to spirits of the dead to provide comfort and ward them off.

The second and more commericalized event is celebrated by expatriate Americans or Canadians. Disney Hong Kong and Ocean Park (Halloween Bash) host annual Halloween shows. Lan Kwai Fong bars will be decked out with Halloween decorations to lure expats and locals interest in Halloween.

While trick or treating is not celebrated in Hong Kong, there are events at Tsim Sha Tsui’s Avenue of the Stars that try to mimic the celebration.

India

Halloween has become very popular among the new generation only recently[citation needed] mainly in the context of American pop culture. There are western style decorations like jack-o’-lanterns, trick-or-treating and costume parties etc. Many people collect all the candy and donate it to the poor. In India, Halloween is considered as more of a social event.[citation needed]

Philippines

In the Philippines they celebrate a holiday called Undas or Araw ng mga Patay (Day of the Dead) on November 1st or November 2nd. Recently the habit of trick or treating has become popular in urban areas, especially the Metro Manila area, but on a national scale, it is not largely practiced.

Saint Helena

In Saint Helena Halloween is actively celebrated, largely along the American model, with ghosts, skeletons, devils, vampires, witches and the like. Imitation pumpkins are used as the season is wrong for real ones. Trick-or-treating is widespread. Party venues provide entertainment for adults.

References

^ a b Rogers, Nicholas. (2002). “Coming Over: Halloween in North America” Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. pp.49-77. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.

^ Campbell, John Gregorson (1900, 1902, 2005). The Gaelic Otherworld. Black, Ronald (Ed.), pp.55962. Edinburgh: Birlinn. ISBN 1-84158-207-7.

^ a b Arnold, Bettina (2001-10-31). “Bettina Arnold  Halloween Lecture: Halloween Customs in the Celtic World”. Halloween Inaugural Celebration. University of Wisconsinilwaukee: Center for Celtic Studies. http://www.uwm.edu/~barnold/lectures/holloween.html. Retrieved 2007-10-16. 

^ “BBC Religion & Ethicsallowe’en”. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/halloween.shtml. Retrieved 2007-03-14. 

^ Hutton, Ronald (1996). Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. New York: Oxford Paperbacks. ISBN 0-19-285448-8. 

^ “Halloween 2007″. Derrycity.gov.uk. http://www.derrycity.gov.uk/halloween/. Retrieved 2008-10-31. 

^ de Leary, Kim. “Traditional Halloween Divination Games from Ireland” www.startpage.ie

^ Shack Lunch  Places to Eat  Athlone, dinner, irish pub food  Ireland Logue (March 24, 2007). “Culinary Confusion  Ireland Travel Guide”. Irelandlogue.com. http://www.irelandlogue.com/about-ireland/history/culinary-confusion.html. Retrieved 2008-10-31. 

^ Simpson, John; Weiner, Edmund (1989). Oxford English Dictionary (second ed.). London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-861186-2. OCLC 17648714. 

^ “Celtic Attic: Celts facts and fiction  Feasts and Celebrations”. Celticattic.com. http://www.celticattic.com/contact_us/the_celts/feasts_and_celebrations.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-31. 

^ a b Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) “Festive Rights:Halloween in the British Isles”. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. p.48. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195146913

^ Bannatyne, Lesley Pratt (1998) Forerunners to HalloweenPelican Publishing Company. ISBN 1565543467 p.44

^ Pumpkins have been banned from a Halloween festival in favour of a more Scottish-style celebration accessed 27-10-2007

^ Roger, Nichola (2002). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. Oxford University Press. pp. 2830. ISBN 0-19-514691-3. 

^ “Mischief Night causes havoc across county”. BBC. 2002-11-05. http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/news/2002/11/05/fire.shtml. Retrieved 2006-09-14. 

^ “Fines for Halloween troublemakers”. BBC News. 2006-11-28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6093634.stm. Retrieved 2006-12-28. 

^ Rogers, p. 49.

^ Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) “Coming Over:Halloween in North America”. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. p.76. Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0195146913

^ Ruth Edna Kelley, The Book of Hallowe’en, Boston: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co., 1919, chapter 15, “Hallowe’en in America.”

^ The New York Institute for Special Education

^ Heddon. “deliriumsrealm.com A Brief History of Halloween in America” Deliriumsrealm.com. 10 September, 2007.

^ Anderson, Richard (2000). “Antique Halloween Postcards and E-cards”. shaktiweb.com. http://www.shaktiweb.com/postcards/. Retrieved 2006-09-14. 

^ Dawn Kroma; Lou Kroma (n.d.). “Beistle: An American Halloween Giant”. Spookshows.com. http://www.spookshows.com/beistle/beistle.htm. Retrieved 2006-09-14. 

^ Ledenbach, Mark B. (n.d.). “A Brief History of Halloween Collectibles”. halloweencollector.com. http://www.halloweencollector.com/history/. Retrieved 2006-09-14. 

^ 2006 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey. Washington, DC: The National Retail Federation.

^ “Trick-or-treaters can expect Mom or Dad favorites in their bags this year”. National Confectioners Association. 2005. http://www.candyusa.org/Media/Seasonal/Halloween/pr_2005.asp. Retrieved 2006-09-14. 

^ “Fun Facts: Halloween”. National Confectioners Association. 2005. http://www.candyusa.org/Classroom/Facts/default.asp?Fact=Halloween. Retrieved 2006-09-14. 

^ “Halloween revelers erupt in Madison”. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 2002-11-04. http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/nov02/93044.asp. Retrieved 2007-12-18. 

^ “Chapel Hill to goblins: stay away”. The News & Observer. 2008-10-31. http://www.newsobserver.com/264/story/1276364.html. Retrieved 2008-10-31. 

^ “FBI Response to E-mail Rumor”. FBI National Press Office. 2001-10-15. http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel01/101501.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-26. 

^ a b http://www.news.com.au/poll/display/1,23628,5042028-421-1,00.html

^ http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26283533-421,00.html

^ http://www.smh.com.au/national/hell-of-a-row-as-kids-buy-into-imported-halloween-rituals-20091031-hqpn.html

^ http://www.ourbrisbane.com/lifestyle/parenting-and-families/halloween-for-kids

^ http://www.news.com.au/comments/0,23600,26283533-421,00.html

^ Halloween fever hits Australia at Daily Telegraph; accessed October 31, 2007.

^ Halloween in Transylvania, Romania

^ Halloween retailers get a shock

^ Particularly in Friuli, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna and Liguria but also in some southern localities as in Tuscany, Northern Latium, Campania, Molise and specifically Sardinia.

^ Boland, Rory (October 6, 2009). “Trick or Treat  Halloween in Hong Kong”. About.com. http://gohongkong.about.com/b/2009/10/06/halloween-in-hong-kong.htm. Retrieved 31 October, 2009. 

^ Boland, Rory (October 30, 2009). “Events and Celebrations for Halloween in Hong Kong”. About.com. http://gohongkong.about.com/od/hongkongfestivals/a/halloweeninhk.htm. Retrieved 31 October, 2009. 

^ “Entertainment & Events” (PDF 4.1 MB). St Helena Independent. Saint FM. 30 October, 2009. Retrieved 30 October, 2009.

v  d  e

Halloween

Main

History  Symbols  Trick-or-treating  Activities  Around the world  Religious perspectives

Traditions

Apple bobbing  Food  Ghost tours  Costumes  Jack-o’-lantern  Trick-or-treating

Events

Bonfire  Brooke Hills Spooktacular  HalloWishes  Halloween Horror Nights (Hollywood)  Halloween Horror Nights (Orlando)  Halloween Spooktacular (Orlando)  Halloween Spooktacular (San Diego)  Halloween in the Castro  Haunted Mansion Holiday  Haunted attraction  Headless Horseman Hayride  Howl-O-Scream (San Antonio)  Howl-O-Scream (Tampa Bay)  Howl-O-Scream (Williamsburg)  Knott’s Halloween Haunt  Mickey’s Trick-Or-Treat Party  Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party  New York’s Village Halloween Parade  Pumpkin Fest  Pumpkin queen  Rutland Halloween Parade  Shocktoberfest  Spinning tunnel

  State Street Halloween Party (Madison)  Terror Behind the Walls  The Great Pumpkin

Media

Television  Films  Books  Music: Albums  Songs

Related Days and times

All Saints  Allantide  Beggars Night  Day of the Dead  Devil’s Night  Eid il-Burbara  Hop-tu-Naa  Koroksun  Mischief night  Samhain

Categories: Halloween | Halloween events | October observancesHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from November 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from October 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from October 2009

Domenic Carosa floated his company, Destra, when he was 25, becoming Australia’s youngest publicly listed CEO in Australian history. Domenic built Destra to annual revenues north of 0m, with Lachlan Murdoch as a shareholder. Today, Domenic runs an investment fund focused on high growth internet companies and has invested in more than 14 internet up-starts over the last 18 months. In this interview, Domenic covers what he looks for in investments and entrepreneurs.

Cruise Vacations: Alluring Destinations Around the World

There has never been a better time to hit the high seas for a cruise vacation. An estimated 18.4 million passengers will be cruising the world’s waters in 2010 in search of a remarkable vacation.

According to Cruise Market Watch, the worldwide cruise capacity is up almost 7 percent in 2010, as cruise lines add new ships to boost their lines. And with the additional space, some cruise lines are offering value pricing so the new space and the existing spaces are booked.

There are plenty of short-range cruises available for a quick getaway:

A three-night cruise to the Bahamas for just 9. You’ll see Miami, Fla., Nassau and Norwegian Private Island.

Or maybe you would like a five-night cruise to the Western Caribbean, starting in Miami and traveling to Ocho Rios and the Grand Cayman – all for 9 per adult passenger.

Or for 9 per adult passenger, go the other direction toward the Eastern Caribbean for a seven-night cruise to Miami, Samana, St. Thomas, Tortola and Great Stirrup Cay.

Or, if you want to start on the West Coast, consider a seven-day cruise from Los Angeles, Calif., to Mexico. For 9 per adult passenger, you can enjoy stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas and then back to Los Angeles.

These cruises offer just a taste of the quick-trips available from U.S. ports of call. There are plenty of other ventures on both sides of the coast to experience. But with cruising so hot this year, this may be the time to try a trip that’s a bit more alluring – someplace off the Caribbean track.

How about a seven-night cruise to Australia and New Zealand for just 9 per adult passenger. You start in Sydney, Australia, and will continue on to Noumea and Isle of Pines, both islands making up New Caledonia.

Starting for around ,000 per person, you can take a 12-day cruise to Latin America and see sites you’ve only heard about in an atlas. The trip starts in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and includes Montevideo, Urugyay; Falkland Islands; a sail by Cape Horn, a stop in Ushuaia, Argentina; a cruising tour of Romanche & Alemania glaciers and the Cockburn & Beagle Channels; a stop in Punta Arenas; passage through the Strait of Magellan; a cruise through the Amalia Glacier Canal and passage through the Darwin Channel Chilean Fjords. The trip concludes in Santiago, Chile.

Want to go the Far East? How about a five-night cruise of Asia, starting at ,045 a person. You will start in Hong Kong, China; travel on to Sanya, China; and then head onto Hue and Hanoi, Vietnam; before ending back up in Hong Kong.

Got dreams of seeing the South Pacific? Consider the ,595 10-day South Pacific cruise. It will take you to places most people only read about: Tahiti, Rangiroa and Bora Bora – all in French Polynesian.

Ever dreamed of seeing the Grecian Isles? What better way than on a seven-night European-Mediterranean cruise for just 9 a person. The adventure starts in Venice and onto Bari, Italy. From there, the ship sails on to the Greek isles of Katakolon, Santorini, Mykonos and Rhodes. Last stop is Dubrovnik, a hugely popular tourist city on the Adriatic Sea.

Want to get off the high seas? Consider a 9 per person, four-day cruise of the Avalon Waterways. You will start your river cruise in Vienna and follow on to Melk-Dürnstein in Austria; Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia; and finish the tour in Budapest, Hungary.

For a trip you’ll never forget, spend 10 days exploring Egypt and the treasures of the Nile. Start by spending three days in Cairo, exploring the Kingdom of the Pharaohs, King Tutankhamen’s treasures, the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids of Giza. From there, you will fly to Aswan where you will embark on a four-night cruise of the Nile River where you can experience temples dedicated to crocodiles and falcon gods and the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens where 62 royal tombs have been unearthed, leaving many untouched. Conclude your adventure with a visit to Karnak, ancient Egypt’s greatest city. You will wind up back in Cairo in time to take in an evening of modern entertainment or rest up for the flight home the next day. The cost for all this is ,211 per passenger.

Now that you have an idea of the tame and the more adventurous offerings, you need to take these into consideration when selecting your cruise:

Is it an all-adult trip, or will you have to worry about little children? Older children will enjoy some of the historical sites more than their younger counterparts.

Does vacation time allow for a 12-day cruise? Or might a four-night quick getaway suffice for this year’s getaway?

Is one of these trips on you bucket list? If so, start there. The others will have to wait.

Halloween around the world

Ireland

Snap-Apple Night by Daniel Maclise portrays a Halloween party in Blarney, Ireland, in 1832. The young children on the right bob for apples. A couple in the center play “Snap-Apple,” which involves retrieving an apple hanging from a string. The couples at left play divination games.

Halloween is a significant cultural event in Ireland; it is widely celebrated. It is known in Irish as Oche Shamhna (Irish pronunciation: [ih haun] ee-hah how-nah), literally “Samhain Night.” In the Irish language, Samhain is the name for the month of November. Pre-Christian Celts had an autumn festival, Samhain (Irish pronunciation: [saun], from the Old Irish samain), “End of Summer,” a pastoral and agricultural “fire festival” or feast, when the dead revisited the mortal world and large communal bonfires would hence be lit to ward off evil spirits. Costumes and masks being worn at Halloween goes back to the Celtic traditions of attempting to copy the evil spirits or placate them. Samhnag Candle lanterns carved from turnips, were part of the traditional festival. Large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces and placed in windows, also used to ward off harmful spirits.

History

Pope Gregory IV standardized the date of All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows’ Day, on November 1 in the name of the entire Western Church in 837. As the Church day began at sunset, the holiday coincided exactly with Samhain. It is claimed that the choice of date was consistent with the common practice of leaving pagan festivals and buildings intact (e.g., the Pantheon) while overlaying a Christian meaning, however no reliable documentation indicates such a motivation in this case. While the Celts might have been content to move All Saints’ Day from their own previous date of April 20, the rest of the world celebrating it on May 13, it is speculated without evidence that they were unwilling to give up their preexisting autumn festival of the dead and continued to celebrate Samhain.

Traditions

On Halloween night, adults and children dress up as creatures from the underworld (e.g., ghosts, ghouls, zombies, witches, and goblins), light bonfires, and enjoy spectacular fireworks displays  in particular, the city of Derry is home to the largest organized Halloween celebration on the island, in the form of a street carnival and fireworks display. It is also common for fireworks to be set off for the entire month preceding Halloween as well as a few days after. Halloween was perceived as the night during which the division between the world of the living and the otherworld was blurred so that spirits of the dead and inhabitants from the underworld were able to walk free on the earth. It was believed necessary to dress as a spirit or otherworldly creature when venturing outdoors to blend in, and this is where dressing in such a manner for Halloween comes from. This gradually evolved into trick-or-treating, because children would knock on their neighbours’ doors in order to gather fruit, nuts, and sweets for the Halloween festival. Salt was once sprinkled in the hair of the children to protect against evil spirits.[citation needed]

Typical Halloween scene in Dublin, Ireland.

Houses are frequently adorned with pumpkins, or traditional turnip carved into scary faces; lights or candles are sometimes placed inside the carvings, resulting in an eerie effect. The traditional Halloween cake in Ireland is the barmbrack, which is a fruit bread. The Halloween Brack traditionally contained various objects baked into the bread and was used as a fortune-telling game. In the barmbrack were a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence), and a ring. Each item, when received in the slice, was supposed to carry a meaning to the person concerned: the pea, the person would not marry that year; the stick, “to beat one’s wife with,” would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be married within the year. Commercially produced barmbracks for the Halloween market still include a toy ring.[citation needed]

Games are often played, such as bobbing for apples, in which apples, peanuts, and other nuts and fruit and some small coins are placed in a basin of water. The apples and nuts float, but the coins, which sink, are harder to catch. Everyone takes turns catching as many items possible using only their mouths. In some households, the coins are embedded in the fruit for the children to “earn” as they catch each apple. Another common game involves the hands-free eating of an apple hung on a string attached to the ceiling. Games of divination are also played at Halloween, but are becoming less popular.

Lunchtime (the midday meal, sometimes called “dinner” in Ireland), on Halloween is called Colcannon.Babou

France

Halloween celebration in France began in 1997 on behalf of selling companies but hasn’t caught up. Popularity peaked in 2000, but declined after that. In 2006, many French newspapers wrote on the death of Halloween. It was purely commercial, and overlapped with the Toussaint day (Catholic festival) that takes place November 1st.

Scotland

Scotland, having a shared Gaelic culture with Ireland, has celebrated the festival of Samhain (pronounced Sow-win) robustly for many centuries. The autumn festival is pre-Christian Celtic in origin, and is known in Scottish Gaelic as Oidhche Shamhna, the “Summer’s night.” During the fire festival, souls of the dead wander the Earth and are free to return to the mortal world until dawn. Traditionally, bonfires and lanterns (samhnag in Scottish Gaelic) would be lit to ward off the phantoms and evil spirits that emerge at midnight. The term Samhainn or Samhuinn is used for the harvest feast, and an t-Samhain is used for the entire month of November.

History

As in Ireland, the exact customs involved with celebrating Halloween from ancient times to pre-industrialised Scotland are lost and lack primary documentation to distinguish the ancient customs from the modern counterpart. The Witchcraft Act of 1735 was repealed in the 1950s. The name Halloween is first attested in the 16th century as a Scottish shortening of the fuller All-Hallows-Even, that is, the night before All Hallows Day. Scotland’s National Bard, Robert Burns, portrayed some of the customs in his poem “Hallowe’en” (1785).

Halloween was seen as the time when the division between the world of the living and the otherworld was blurred. Many of the traditional customs derive from ancient divination practices and ways of trying to predict the future. By the 18th century, most of the customs were methods for young people to search for their future husbands or wives. As Samhainn was originally a harvest festival, many of these practices are connected with food or the harvest and fertility. One old custom associated with the Western Isles was to put two large nuts in the hearth of a peat fire to represent the person and his or her intended spouse. If the nuts curled together when they warmed up, it was deemed to be a good omen; but if they jumped apart, then it was time to look for another sweetheart.[citation needed] Islanders from Lewis traditionally poured ale into the sea as a libation to a marine God called “Seonaidh,” or “Shoney,” on Celtic Samhain or Halloween so that he would send seaweed to the shore to fertilise the fields for the coming year. Seonadh in Scottish Gaelic means sorcery, augury, or Druidism, and it is possible that the custom of Shonaidh is the direct link to an ancient form of Celtic god worship that has been Christianised.[citation needed] As “Seonaidh,” which is Gaelic “Johnny,” it may also be a reference to one of St. John and an invocation of him.

Fire rituals were also important. Great bonfires were lit in villages or by individual families, with the resultant ashes being used to form a circle. One stone for each member of the household was kept inside this circle near the circumference. If any stone were displaced or seemed broken by next morning, the person to whom that stone belonged was believed to be destined to die within a year.[citation needed] A similar rite in northern Wales includes a great bonfire called Coel Coeth, built for each family on Halloween; later, the members of the household threw a white stone marked in their name into the ashes. Upon the next morning, all the stones were searched for, and if any stone was missing, the person who threw that stone was believed to be destined to die before next Halloween.[citation needed] In particular, the village of Fortingall, in Perthshire, held festivities on Crn na Marbh, “Mound of the Dead.” This was the focal point of a Samhain festival. A great fire, or “Samhnag,” was lit atop it each year. The whole community took hands when it was blazing and danced around the mound, both sunwise and antisunwise. As the fire began to wane, some of the younger boys took burning embers from the flames and ran throughout the field with them, finally throwing them into the air and dancing over them as they lay glowing on the ground. When the last embers were showing, the boys would have a leaping competition across the remains of the fire, reminiscent of the Beltane festival. When it was finished, the young people went home to duck for apples and practise divination. There was no Scottish tradition of “guising” here, the bonfire being the absolute centre of attention until it was consumed. The Samhain celebrations here apparently came to an end relatively early, in 1925.

Traditions

In Scotland, folklore, including that of Halloween, revolves around the ancient Celtic belief in faeries (Sidhe, or Sith, in modern Gaelic). Children who ventured out carried a traditional lantern (samhnag) with a devil face carved into it to frighten away the evil spirits. Such Halloween lanterns were made from a turnip, or “Neep” in Lowland Scots, with a candle lit in the hollow inside. In modern times, however, such lanterns use pumpkins, as in North American traditions, possibly because it is easier to carve a face into a pumpkin than into a turnip. Due to this, the practice of hollowing out pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns may have its roots in this practice.

Houses were also protected with the same candle lanterns. If the spirits got past the protection of the lanterns, the Scottish custom was to offer the spirits parcels of food to leave and spare the house another year. Children, too, were given the added protection by disguising them as such creatures in order to blend in with the spirits. If children approached the door of a house, they were also given offerings of food (Halloween being a harvest festival), which served to ward off the potential spirits that may lurk among them. This is where the origin of the practice of Scottish “guising” (a word that comes from “disguising”), arose, with the tradition of children going from door to door in costume. It is now a key feature of the tradition of trick-or-treating practised in North America.

In modern-day Scotland, this old tradition survives, chiefly in the form of children going door to door “guising” in this manner; that is, dressed in a disguise (often as a witch, ghost, monster, or another supernatural being) and offering entertainment of various sorts. If the entertainment is enjoyed, the children are rewarded with gifts of sweets, fruits, or money., There is no Scottish trick-or-treat tradition as in North America; on the contrary, trick or treating is an outgrowth of these Scottish guising customs.[citation needed]

Popular games played on the holiday include “dunking” for apples (i.e., retrieving an apple from a bucket of water using only one’s mouth). In some places, the game has been replaced (because of fears of contracting saliva-borne illnesses in the water) by standing over the bowl holding a fork in one’s mouth and releasing it in an attempt to skewer an apple using only gravity. Another popular game is attempting to eat, while blindfolded, a treacle- or jam-coated scone on a piece of string hanging from the ceiling. Sometimes the blindfold is left out, because it is already difficult to eat the scone. In all versions, however, the participants cannot use their hands.

In 2007, Halloween festival organisers in Perthshire said they wanted to move away from U.S.-style celebrations in favour of more culturally accurate traditions. Plans include abandoning the use of pumpkins and reinstating traditional activities, such as a turnip lantern competition and dooking (ducking) for apples.

Isle of Man

The Manx traditionally celebrate Hop-tu-Naa on October 31; this ancient Celtic tradition has parallels in Irish and Scottish traditions.

England

History

All Saints’ Day (All Hallows Day) became fixed on 1 November in 835, and All Souls’ Day on 2 November, circa 998. On All Souls’ Eve, families stayed up late, and little “soul cakes” were eaten by everyone. At the stroke of midnight, there was solemn silence among households, which had candles burning in every room to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes and a glass of wine on the table to refresh them. The tradition of giving soul cakes that originated in Britain and Ireland was known as souling, often seen as the origin of modern Trick or Treating in North America, and souling continued in areas of northern England as late as the 1930s, with children going from door to door singing songs and saying prayers for the dead in return for cakes or money. The English Reformation in the 16th century de-emphasised holidays like All Hallows Day or All Souls Day and their associated eves.

Traditions

A Halloween party in The United Kingdom

In parts of northern England, there is a traditional festival called Mischief Night, which falls on the 30th of October. During the celebration, children play a range of “tricks” (ranging from minor to more serious) on adults. One of the more serious tricks might include the unhinging of garden gates (which were often thrown into ponds or moved far away). In recent years, such acts have occasionally escalated to extreme vandalism, sometimes involving street fires.

Bobbing for apples is a well-established association with Halloween. In the game, attempts are made (using only one’s mouth) to catch an apple placed in a water-filled barrel. Once an apple is caught, it is sometimes peeled and tossed over the shoulder in the hope that the strips would fall into the shape of a letter, which would be the first initial of the participant’s true love.[citation needed]

Other traditions include making toffee apples and apple tarts. Apple tarts may be baked with a coin hidden inside, and nuts of all types are traditional Halloween fare.

There has been increasing concern about the potential for antisocial behaviour, particularly among older teenagers, on Halloween. Cases of houses being “egg-bombed” or having lit fireworks posted through the letterbox (especially when the occupants do not give money or gifts) have been reported, and the BBC reported that for Halloween 2006, police forces stepped up patrols to respond to such mischief.

Wales

In Welsh, Halloween is known as Nos Calan Gaeaf (the beginning of the new winter; see Calan Gaeaf). Spirits are said to walk around (as it is an Ysbrydnos, or “spirit night”), and a “white lady” ghost is sometimes said to appear. Bonfires are lit on hillsides to mark the night.

In many urban areas, principally South Wales, Welsh children Trick or Treat, as per the American custom. Halloween parties and events are common place.

Customs

Coelcerth: Families build a fire and place stones with their names on it. The person whose stone is missing the next morning would die within the year.

Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta: Legend has it that a fearsome spirit called Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta took the form of a tail-less black sow and roamed the countryside with a headless woman. Children would rush home early.

Eiddiorwg Dalen: A few leaves of ground ivy is thought to give you the power to see hags. For prophetic dreams a boy should cut ten ivy leaves, throw away one and put the rest under his head before he sleeps. A girl should take a wild rose grown into a hoop, creep through it three times, cut it in silence, and go to bed with it under her pillow.

Teiliwr: In Glamorgan tailors were associated with witchcraft. They supposedly possessed the power to ewitch anybody if they wished.

Canada and USA

History

Halloween is largely celebrated in the same manner between the two countries of Canada and the United States. In the United States, where lingering Puritan tradition restricted the observance of many holidays, Halloween did not become a holiday until the 19th century. American almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th centuries do not include Halloween in their lists of holidays. The transatlantic migration of nearly two million Irish following the Irish Potato Famine (18451849) finally brought the holiday to the United States. Scottish emigration, primarily to Canada before 1870 and to the United States thereafter, brought the Scottish version of the holiday to each country. At the time of substantial Irish and Scottish immigration to North America in the late 19th century, Halloween had a strong tradition of “guising” children in Ireland and Scotland disguised in costumes going from door to door requesting food or coins. The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in English speaking North America occurs in 1911, when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario reported that it was normal for the smaller children to go street “guising” on Halloween between 6 and 7 p.m., visiting shops and neighbors to be rewarded with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs.

American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts, wrote the first book length history of the holiday in the US; The Book of Hallowe’en (1919), and references souling in the chapter Hallowe’en in America; “All Hallowe’en customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries. The taste in Hallowe’en festivities now is to study old traditions, and hold a Scotch party, using Burn’s poem Hallowe’en as a guide; or to go a-souling as the English used. In short, no custom that was once honored at Hallowe’en is out of fashion now”. The main event for children of modern Halloween in the United States and Canada is trick-or-treating, in which children disguise themselves in costumes and go door to door in their neighborhoods, ringing each doorbell and yelling “Trick or treat!” to solicit a gift of candy or similar items.

Irish-American and Scottish-American societies held dinners and balls that celebrated their heritages, with perhaps a recitation of Robert Burns’ poem “Halloween” or a telling of Irish legends, much as Columbus Day celebrations were more about Italian-American heritage than Columbus per se. Home parties centred on children’s activities, such as apple bobbing, and various divination games often concerning future romance. Not surprisingly, pranks and mischief were common as well.

At the turn of the 20th century, Halloween had turned into a night of vandalism, with destruction of property and cruelty to animals and people. Around 1912, the Boy Scouts, Boys Clubs, and other neighborhood organizations came together to encourage a safe celebration that would end the destruction that had become so common on this night. School posters during this time called for a “Sane Halloween.” Children began to go door to door, receiving treats, rather than playing tricks on their neighbors. This helped to reduce the mischief, and by the 1930s, “beggar’s nights” had become very popular. Trick-or-treating became widespread by the end of the 1930s.

Traditions

The commercialization of Halloween in the United States did not start until the 20th century, beginning perhaps with Halloween postcards (featuring hundreds of designs), which were most popular between 1905 and 1915. Dennison Manufacturing Company (which published its first Halloween catalog in 1909) and the Beistle Company were pioneers in commercially made Halloween decorations, particularly die-cut paper items. German manufacturers specialised in Halloween figurines that were exported to the United States in the period between the two World Wars.

Community Halloween party in Frazier Park, California.

Mass-produced Halloween costumes did not appear in stores until the 1930s, and trick-or-treating did not become a fixture of the holiday until the 1950s. In the 1990s, many manufacturers began producing a larger variety of Halloween yard decorations; before this, the majority of decorations were homemade. Some of the most popular yard decorations are jack-o’-lanterns, scarecrows, witches, orange string lights, inflatable decorations such as spiders, pumpkins, mummies and vampires, and animatronic window and door decorations. Other popular decorations are foam tombstones and gargoyles.

Halloween is now the United States’ second most popular holiday (after Christmas) for decorating; the sale of candy and costumes is also extremely common during the holiday, which is marketed to children and adults alike. According to the National Retail Federation, the most popular Halloween costume themes for adults are, in order: witch, pirate, vampire, cat, and clown. Each year, popular costumes are dictated by various current events and pop culture icons. On many college campuses, Halloween is a major celebration, with the Friday and Saturday nearest October 31 hosting many costume parties.

Four contestants in the Halloween Slick Chick beauty contest in Anaheim, California, 1947

The National Confectioners Association reported in 2005 that 80 percent of American adults planned to give out candy to trick-or-treaters, and that 93 percent of children planned to go trick-or-treating.

Madison, Wisconsin, home of the University of Wisconsinadison, hosts one of the more infamous annual Halloween celebrations. Due to the large influx of out-of-towners crowding the State Street area, riots have broken out in recent years, resulting in the use of mounted police and tear gas to disperse the crowds. Likewise, Chapel Hill, NC, site of the University of North Carolina, has a notorious downtown street party which in 2007 drew a crowd estimated at 80,000 on downtown Franklin Street, in a town with a population of just 54,000. In 2008, in an effort to curb the influx of out-of-towners, mayor Kevin Foy emplaced measures to make commuting downtown more difficult on Halloween.

Anoka, Minnesota, the self-proclaimed “Halloween Capital of the World”, celebrates the holiday with a large civic parade and several other city-wide events. Salem, Massachusetts, also has laid claim to the “Halloween Capital” title, while trying to dissociate itself from its history of persecuting witchcraft. At the same time, however, the city does see a great deal of tourism surrounding the Salem witch trials, especially around Halloween. In the 1990s, the city added an official “Haunted Happenings” celebration to the October tourist season. Nearby Keene, New Hampshire, hosts the annual Pumpkin Fest each October which previously held the record for having the greatest number of lit jack-o’-lanterns at once. (Boston, Massachusetts holds the record as of October 2006). In Atlanta, Georgia, the Little Five Points neighborhood hosts the Little Five Points Halloween Parade on the weekend before October 31 each year.

Rutland, Vermont has hosted the annual Rutland Halloween Parade since 1960. Tom Fagan, a local comic book fan, is credited with having a hand in the parade’s early development and superhero theme. In the early 1970s, the Rutland Halloween Parade achieved a degree of fame when it was used as the setting of a number of superhero comic books, including Batman #237, Justice League of America #103, Amazing Adventures #16 and The Mighty Thor #207.

New York City hosts the United States’ largest Halloween celebration, known as The Village Halloween Parade. Started by Greenwich Village mask maker Ralph Lee in 1973, the evening parade now attracts over two million spectators and participants, as well as roughly four million television viewers annually. It is the largest participatory parade in the country if not the world, encouraging spectators to march in the parade as well. Barbara Ehrenreich, in her book on collective joy mentions this as an example of how Halloween is transitioning from a children’s holiday to an adult holiday and compares it to Mardi Gras.

In Detroit, Michigan, the night before Halloween is referred to as Devil’s Night, and for many years involved petty vandalism by children and teens, such as rubbing soap or wax on car windows or throwing eggs at houses. This activity perhaps started in the 1930s. In the 1970s, the minor vandalism gave way to serious acts of arson, and the city today mounts volunteer neighborhood patrols to prevent violence.

In many towns and cities, trick-or-treaters are welcomed by lit porch lights and jack-o’-lanterns. In some large and/or crime ridden areas, however, trick-or-treating is discouraged, or refocused to staged trick-or-treating events within nearby shopping malls, in order to prevent potential acts of violence against trick-or-treaters. Even where crime is not an issue, many American towns have designated specific hours for trick-or-treating, e.g., 57 pm or 58 pm, to discourage late-night trick-or-treating. After the September 11 terror attacks, trick-or-treating was discouraged in many areas. Some feared that terrorists would take the opportunity to attack trick-or-treaters, and others felt that celebrating Halloween so soon after the attacks seemed inappropriate. There were even fears of attacks on shopping malls after an anonymous email began circulating on the Internet that was allegedly written by a terrorist that alluded to planned attacks on shopping malls on October 31, 2001. This threat was revealed to be a hoax after an official FBI press release stating that the threat was deemed not credible.

Those living in the country may hold Halloween parties, often with bonfires, with the celebrants passing between them. The parties usually involve traditional games (like snipe hunting, bobbing for apples, or searching for candy in a similar manner to Easter egg hunting), haunted hayrides (often accompanied by scary stories, and costumed people hiding in the dark to jump out and scare the riders), and treats (usually a bag of candy and/or homemade treats). Scary movies may also be viewed. Normally, the children are picked up by their parents at predetermined times. However, it is not uncommon for such parties to include sleepovers.

Trick-or-treating may often end by early evening, but the nightlife thrives in many urban areas. Halloween costume parties provide an opportunity for adults to gather and socialize. Urban bars are frequented by people wearing Halloween masks and risqu costumes. Many bars and restaurants hold costume contests to attract customers to their establishments. Haunted houses are also popular in some areas.

In Western Canada, fireworks displays and a civic bonfire are part of the festivities. Fireworks are also held at Disneyland (as of 2009) and Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom during an event at that park called Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party titled HalloWishes.

Mexico

Halloween piatas and other decorations for sale at the Jamaica Market in Mexico City.

In Mexico, Halloween has been celebrated since roughly 1960. There, celebrations have been influenced by the American traditions, such as the costuming of children who visit the houses of their neighborhood in search of candy. Though the “trick-or-treat” motif is used, tricks are not generally played on residents not providing candy. Older crowds of preteens, teenagers and adults will sometimes organize Halloween-themed parties, which might be scheduled on the nearest available weekend. Usually kids stop by at peoples’ houses, knock on their door or the ring the bell and say “Noche de Brujas, Halloween!” (‘Witches’ Night, Halloween!’) or “Queremos Haloween!” (We want Halloween!). The second phrase is more commonly used among children, the affirmation of “We want Halloween” means “We want candy”, similarly “Me da mi calaverita” means “I want my little skull”.

Halloween in Mexico begins three days of consecutive holidays, as it is followed by All Saints’ Day, which also marks the beginning of the two day celebration of the Day of the Dead or the Da de los Muertos. This might account for the initial explanations of the holiday having a traditional Mexican-Catholic slant.

Australia

Despite many American media influences (including television sit-coms and The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror and its sequels), Halloween is frowned upon by some due to its having little relevance to Australian culture. It is also considered an unwanted American influence and an online poll conducted by News Limited has suggested that 84% of Australians are opposed to the event as “an event on the calendar”.. In 2006, costume shops reported a rise in sales on Halloween-themed costumes, on October 31, 2006 and have reported a steady increase on October 31, 2007. On Halloween night, horror films and horror-themed TV episodes are traditionally aired, and currently, Halloween private parties are more commonly held than actual “trick-or-treating”, however both are still observed. Trick or treating is generally only done in the trick-or-treater’s neighbourhood.

The children of the largest town in Bonaire gather together on Halloween day.

The Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, and Austria

Halloween has become increasingly popular in Belgium, Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany, and Austria since the early 1990s. From early October, stores are full of merchandise related to the popular Halloween themes. Students and little children dress up on Halloween for parties and small parades. Trick-or-treating is uncommon in these countries because children already engage in a similar practice to celebrate St. Martin’s Day, which takes place a few days after Halloween. On November 11, Dutch, Belgian, German, and Austrian children ring doorbells hoping to receive a small treat in return for singing a short song dedicated to St. Martin.

Romania

Halloween in Romania is celebrated around the myth of “Dracula” on October 31. In Transylvania and especially in the city of Sighioara, there are many costume parties, for teenagers and adults, that are created from the US model.[citation needed] Also the spirit of Dracula is believed to live there because the town was the site of many witch trials; these are recreated today by actors on the night of Halloween.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, Halloween is seen as being a pagan festival. After first becoming popular in 1999, Halloween is on the wane. People see it as an imported product from the United States, which has not recently enjoyed a good image in the country. Switzerland already has a “festival overload” and even though Swiss people like to dress up for any occasion, they do prefer a traditional element.

Ueli Mder, a professor of sociology at Basel University said that the Swiss adoption of Halloween about ten years ago  Swiss shops stocked Halloween costumes and masks for the first time in 1999  came from “a need for rituals”. “In a strongly commercialised world a need arises for meaningful experiences. I can imagine that a ritual like Halloween when it is celebrated in a simple genuine way can satisfy that need.” But he added: “It also took on an exaggerated or extreme form for a while which probably turned some people off. Perhaps is there is a need to bring Halloween back to a more simple level.”

Italy

In the traditional culture of some regions of Italy there were until the last century[citation needed] traditions very similar to Halloween, i.e. beliefs about nocturnal visiting and processions of dead people, preparation of special biscuits and carving jack-o’-lanterns[citation needed].

Particularly between 1630 and 1640 the Catholic Church carried on a campaign to suppress surviving pagan traditions connected to All Saints’ Day and its eve. These feasts vanished completely; until the mid-1970s the festivity was completely unknown by the people, in 1979 just 1 million of people on a population of 57 million declared celebrating[citation needed] Halloween.

Between the 20th and 21st centuries, however, Halloween was popularized principally by television and merchandising coming from United States, including sitcom episodes such as The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror (trick-or-treat’s translation as “Dolcetto o Scherzetto”, literally treat-or-joke, appeared first in dubbed sitcoms). As a result, in 1989 4 million declared celebrating it, in 1999 7 million and in 2009 10 million[citation needed], turning Halloween in Italy into a major[citation needed] festivity that outclasses the Catholic ones[citation needed] among Italian children.

Halloween traditions are mostly based on US tradition, but even then not completely  for example the story of Jack-o’-lantern is not widely known, and people talk simply of the “zucca di Halloween” (“Halloween pumpkin”). Some children trick-or-treat and they dress up as skeletons, zombies, devils etc., though most elderly people still do not understand the children’s request. Teens, instead, celebrate the festivity disguising themselves as horror characters, throwing away eggs, spraying foam and doing dirty tricks on each other.

Denmark

In Denmark children go trick-or-treating, even though they already collect candy from neighbors on Fastelavn, the Danish name for the Carnival which occurs before Lent.

Central and South America

In most parts of Central and South America, kids will pay a visit to their neighbors and yell “Dulce o Truco!” (‘Sweet or Trick!’) in order to get candy, while in Brazil kids yell “Doce ou Travessura!”. The Spanish name for Halloween is Noche de Brujas (Night of the Witches), and the Portuguese name is Dia das Bruxas.

Norway

In Norway Halloween has become very popular, and most toy stores etc. have big sales and massive campaigns. Children go trick-or-treating, but it is much more common to not perform a trick, only ringing the door bell and asking for candy.

Finland

Halloween has become increasingly popular among the new generation in Finland. Teenagers like to wear costums and have Halloween-themed parties.

Arab Christians (Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank/Gaza)

Arab Christians in Lebanon, Syria and West Bank celebrate Saint Barbara’s Day or Eid il-Burbara on December 4 in a style somewhat reminiscent of Halloween celebrations in other countries. Children wear costumes and go trick-or-treating whilst singing a song. The traditional food for the occasion is Burbara, a bowl of boiled barley, pomegranate seeds, raisins, anise and sugar offered to masquerading children. Lebanese Christians believe that Saint Barbara disguised herself as numerous characters to elude the Romans who were persecuting her.

Qarqe’an is a similar holiday celebrated in Kuwait and other Gulf states. The scary theme is not a part of the tradition: children dress in traiditional garb, form groups, carry baskets and sing outside of homes, receiving sweets and nuts for their effort.

Japan

Halloween has become popular only recently in Japan, mainly in the context of American pop culture. Western-style Halloween decorations such as jack-o’-lanterns can be seen in many locations, and places such as Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan put on special Halloween events. The wearing of costumes is mostly limited to private home parties, day care centers and kindergartens, as well as in larger cities at bars frequented or run by foreigners. On a national scale trick-or-treating is largely unpracticed.

Hong Kong

Halloween in Hong Kong has two traditions. The first involves the event called “Yue Lan” (Festival of the Hungry Ghosts). It is less of celebration, but rather an opportunity to give gifts to spirits of the dead to provide comfort and ward them off.

The second and more commericalized event is celebrated by expatriate Americans or Canadians. Disney Hong Kong and Ocean Park (Halloween Bash) host annual Halloween shows. Lan Kwai Fong bars will be decked out with Halloween decorations to lure expats and locals interest in Halloween.

While trick or treating is not celebrated in Hong Kong, there are events at Tsim Sha Tsui’s Avenue of the Stars that try to mimic the celebration.

India

Halloween has become very popular among the new generation only recently[citation needed] mainly in the context of American pop culture. There are western style decorations like jack-o’-lanterns, trick-or-treating and costume parties etc. Many people collect all the candy and donate it to the poor. In India, Halloween is considered as more of a social event.[citation needed]

Philippines

In the Philippines they celebrate a holiday called Undas or Araw ng mga Patay (Day of the Dead) on November 1st or November 2nd. Recently the habit of trick or treating has become popular in urban areas, especially the Metro Manila area, but on a national scale, it is not largely practiced.

Saint Helena

In Saint Helena Halloween is actively celebrated, largely along the American model, with ghosts, skeletons, devils, vampires, witches and the like. Imitation pumpkins are used as the season is wrong for real ones. Trick-or-treating is widespread. Party venues provide entertainment for adults.

References

^ a b Rogers, Nicholas. (2002). “Coming Over: Halloween in North America” Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. pp.49-77. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516896-8.

^ Campbell, John Gregorson (1900, 1902, 2005). The Gaelic Otherworld. Black, Ronald (Ed.), pp.55962. Edinburgh: Birlinn. ISBN 1-84158-207-7.

^ a b Arnold, Bettina (2001-10-31). “Bettina Arnold  Halloween Lecture: Halloween Customs in the Celtic World”. Halloween Inaugural Celebration. University of Wisconsinilwaukee: Center for Celtic Studies. http://www.uwm.edu/~barnold/lectures/holloween.html. Retrieved 2007-10-16. 

^ “BBC Religion & Ethicsallowe’en”. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/halloween.shtml. Retrieved 2007-03-14. 

^ Hutton, Ronald (1996). Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. New York: Oxford Paperbacks. ISBN 0-19-285448-8. 

^ “Halloween 2007″. Derrycity.gov.uk. http://www.derrycity.gov.uk/halloween/. Retrieved 2008-10-31. 

^ de Leary, Kim. “Traditional Halloween Divination Games from Ireland” www.startpage.ie

^ Shack Lunch  Places to Eat  Athlone, dinner, irish pub food  Ireland Logue (March 24, 2007). “Culinary Confusion  Ireland Travel Guide”. Irelandlogue.com. http://www.irelandlogue.com/about-ireland/history/culinary-confusion.html. Retrieved 2008-10-31. 

^ Simpson, John; Weiner, Edmund (1989). Oxford English Dictionary (second ed.). London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-861186-2. OCLC 17648714. 

^ “Celtic Attic: Celts facts and fiction  Feasts and Celebrations”. Celticattic.com. http://www.celticattic.com/contact_us/the_celts/feasts_and_celebrations.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-31. 

^ a b Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) “Festive Rights:Halloween in the British Isles”. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. p.48. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195146913

^ Bannatyne, Lesley Pratt (1998) Forerunners to HalloweenPelican Publishing Company. ISBN 1565543467 p.44

^ Pumpkins have been banned from a Halloween festival in favour of a more Scottish-style celebration accessed 27-10-2007

^ Roger, Nichola (2002). Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. Oxford University Press. pp. 2830. ISBN 0-19-514691-3. 

^ “Mischief Night causes havoc across county”. BBC. 2002-11-05. http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/news/2002/11/05/fire.shtml. Retrieved 2006-09-14. 

^ “Fines for Halloween troublemakers”. BBC News. 2006-11-28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6093634.stm. Retrieved 2006-12-28. 

^ Rogers, p. 49.

^ Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) “Coming Over:Halloween in North America”. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. p.76. Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0195146913

^ Ruth Edna Kelley, The Book of Hallowe’en, Boston: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co., 1919, chapter 15, “Hallowe’en in America.”

^ The New York Institute for Special Education

^ Heddon. “deliriumsrealm.com A Brief History of Halloween in America” Deliriumsrealm.com. 10 September, 2007.

^ Anderson, Richard (2000). “Antique Halloween Postcards and E-cards”. shaktiweb.com. http://www.shaktiweb.com/postcards/. Retrieved 2006-09-14. 

^ Dawn Kroma; Lou Kroma (n.d.). “Beistle: An American Halloween Giant”. Spookshows.com. http://www.spookshows.com/beistle/beistle.htm. Retrieved 2006-09-14. 

^ Ledenbach, Mark B. (n.d.). “A Brief History of Halloween Collectibles”. halloweencollector.com. http://www.halloweencollector.com/history/. Retrieved 2006-09-14. 

^ 2006 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey. Washington, DC: The National Retail Federation.

^ “Trick-or-treaters can expect Mom or Dad favorites in their bags this year”. National Confectioners Association. 2005. http://www.candyusa.org/Media/Seasonal/Halloween/pr_2005.asp. Retrieved 2006-09-14. 

^ “Fun Facts: Halloween”. National Confectioners Association. 2005. http://www.candyusa.org/Classroom/Facts/default.asp?Fact=Halloween. Retrieved 2006-09-14. 

^ “Halloween revelers erupt in Madison”. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 2002-11-04. http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/nov02/93044.asp. Retrieved 2007-12-18. 

^ “Chapel Hill to goblins: stay away”. The News & Observer. 2008-10-31. http://www.newsobserver.com/264/story/1276364.html. Retrieved 2008-10-31. 

^ “FBI Response to E-mail Rumor”. FBI National Press Office. 2001-10-15. http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel01/101501.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-26. 

^ a b http://www.news.com.au/poll/display/1,23628,5042028-421-1,00.html

^ http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26283533-421,00.html

^ http://www.smh.com.au/national/hell-of-a-row-as-kids-buy-into-imported-halloween-rituals-20091031-hqpn.html

^ http://www.ourbrisbane.com/lifestyle/parenting-and-families/halloween-for-kids

^ http://www.news.com.au/comments/0,23600,26283533-421,00.html

^ Halloween fever hits Australia at Daily Telegraph; accessed October 31, 2007.

^ Halloween in Transylvania, Romania

^ Halloween retailers get a shock

^ Particularly in Friuli, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna and Liguria but also in some southern localities as in Tuscany, Northern Latium, Campania, Molise and specifically Sardinia.

^ Boland, Rory (October 6, 2009). “Trick or Treat  Halloween in Hong Kong”. About.com. http://gohongkong.about.com/b/2009/10/06/halloween-in-hong-kong.htm. Retrieved 31 October, 2009. 

^ Boland, Rory (October 30, 2009). “Events and Celebrations for Halloween in Hong Kong”. About.com. http://gohongkong.about.com/od/hongkongfestivals/a/halloweeninhk.htm. Retrieved 31 October, 2009. 

^ “Entertainment & Events” (PDF 4.1 MB). St Helena Independent. Saint FM. 30 October, 2009. Retrieved 30 October, 2009.

v  d  e

Halloween

Main

History  Symbols  Trick-or-treating  Activities  Around the world  Religious perspectives

Traditions

Apple bobbing  Food  Ghost tours  Costumes  Jack-o’-lantern  Trick-or-treating

Events

Bonfire  Brooke Hills Spooktacular  HalloWishes  Halloween Horror Nights (Hollywood)  Halloween Horror Nights (Orlando)  Halloween Spooktacular (Orlando)  Halloween Spooktacular (San Diego)  Halloween in the Castro  Haunted Mansion Holiday  Haunted attraction  Headless Horseman Hayride  Howl-O-Scream (San Antonio)  Howl-O-Scream (Tampa Bay)  Howl-O-Scream (Williamsburg)  Knott’s Halloween Haunt  Mickey’s Trick-Or-Treat Party  Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party  New York’s Village Halloween Parade  Pumpkin Fest  Pumpkin queen  Rutland Halloween Parade  Shocktoberfest  Spinning tunnel

  State Street Halloween Party (Madison)  Terror Behind the Walls  The Great Pumpkin

Media

Television  Films  Books  Music: Albums  Songs

Related Days and times

All Saints  Allantide  Beggars Night  Day of the Dead  Devil’s Night  Eid il-Burbara  Hop-tu-Naa  Koroksun  Mischief night  Samhain

Categories: Halloween | Halloween events | October observancesHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from November 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from October 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from October 2009

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Churchill: Polar Bear Capital of the World

Churchill, Manitoba, located 970 kilometers north of Winnipeg on the sub-arctic tundra, bills itself both as “the polar bear” and “beluga whale” capital of the world.

                The province’s northern region, location of its initial inhabitants, had provided land for indigenous nomadic tribes who had hunted, fished seals and whales, and tracked the caribou herd migrations for thousands of years, using the interconnected waterways as their transportation means.  Although the Europeans, such as Sir Thomas Button, had sailed to the mouth of the Churchill River as early as 1613 in search of the elusive Northwest Passage to China, it had been the secondary discovery, of fur-abundant animals, which had caused them to stay to satisfy the demand created by the cold-soaked European continent.  In 1670, the Company of Adventures Trading into Hudson’s Bay had therefore been formed, the first such collaborative venture with the existing Aboriginals who, intimately familiar with their territory, had provided orientation and guidance, along with labor and sustenance.  Animals were trapped and hided and their furs were transported over the rivers of the north by canoes and York boats to Hudson Bay, an extension of the Arctic Ocean, for transfer to trans-Atlantic, Europe-bound ships.  Supplies, conversely, had been offloaded from arriving ships and were transported inland to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s (HBC) increasing number of outposts.

                In 1912, the northern region became the last edition to the province of Manitoba.

                Ore deposits, located below the forests, replaced fur trading as the modern-day resource, resulting in a multitude of mining camps, outgrowths of which were towns with swelling populations, while hydro-electric dams harnessed power in the region’s rivers.

                Churchill itself, located just below the province line between Nunavut and Manitoba at the confluence of the Churchill River and Hudson Bay and boasting a population of little more than 1,000, only encompassed a few blocks, but attracted an increasing number of visitors in search of eco-tourism.  The area itself had been inhabited for some 3,500 years, but the first permanent structure had been the Prince of Wales Fort constructed in 1732 across the river.  In 1769, Britain’s Royal Society had observed the Venetian eclipse of the sun there, but it had not been until 1929, with completion of the Hudson Bay Railway, that the town site had been relocated to the current side and, in conjunction with the railroad, developed into a grain port.  During World War II, the United States built a Strategic Air Command (SAC) base there and during the Cold War with the Soviet Union the Churchill Research Range, now the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, had been erected.  The modern, 22,300-square-meter Churchill Town Centre Complex, the town’s latest construction project, contained an indoor playground, a daycare facility, a curling rink, an arena, a bowling alley, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, a library, a pizza parlor, a 300-seat theater, and a school for grades kindergarten to 12, and overlooked the too-cold-for-use beach on Hudson Bay.

                Travel to Churchill can be circuitous at best.  There are no roads in or out.  Air Canada offers- multiple non-stop flights from Toronto and Montreal to Winnipeg, from where VIA Rail Canada offers thrice-weekly rail service on its appropriately-named Hudson Bay, which takes some 36 hours to cover the 1,700 ground kilometers, traversing three distinct topographical zones: farmland, boreal forest, and the austerely beautiful tundra.  In order to reduce costs, many drive to Thompson, where the paved road terminates, or Gillam, where the dirt road ends, and transfer to the train.  Calm Air offers twice-daily turboprop Saab 340 service from Winnipeg, which reduces to once per day on weekends.

                Of the half-dozen or so motels, inclusive of the Seaport Hotel, the Churchill Motel, the Aurora Inn, the Iceberg Inn, the Tundra Inn, and the Lazy Bear Lodge, all average about 25 rooms and vary in rating by a half to a full star, but the latter, hand-crafted from fire-killed logs in the fur trade era style, is the largest log building in all of Manitoba.  Although all fare is available, indigenous northern cuisine, such as arctic char, muskox, and caribou steak, can be ordered in most of the restaurants belonging to the motels.

                Sights depend upon season: aurora borealis (northern lights) from January to March, seals from April to August, bird watching from May to June, wild flowers from June to August,, beluga whale watching from July to August, and polar bears from October to November.

                On my first day in Churchill, I elected to take a half-day tundra buggy adventure.  Following the main, paved road from town, the van crossed over its dirt extension, driving past the former Strategic Air Command Base and the current Churchill Northern Studies Centre, and arrived at the Tundra Buggy Depot, comprised of two rows of five vehicles backed into an elevated wooden boarding platform.  The buggy itself, converted in Churchill, had featured a truck-cannibalized aluminum chassis, four massive, tubeless tires, and a diesel 466 engine, and contained school bus-like padded, bench seats, a furnace and a toilet in the rear, and an outdoor observation platform for wildlife viewing. 

                Negotiating gravel, dirt, rock, mud, muskeg, and stream, and traversing barren, treeless tundra, tundra buggy 11 lurched past the military observation tower and purple, fireweed wild flowers and green, velvet-like moss to the banks of Hudson Bay, encountering tundra swans, woodland caribou, and snow geese along the way to a polar bear siting.  Drinks and snacks had been served while a lone bear, fasting on the tundra until autumn’s temperatures would once again permit the formation of ice sheets and the continuation of his daily seal hunt, moved round the pond and investigated the very high tundra buggy, animatedly maneuvering on both two and four paws, sniffing, looking, and cautiously approaching until he had come within only feet of the observation platform.

                Polar bear life cycles revolve round seasonality.  The 1,300 polar bears on Hudson Bay, the world’s largest land carnivores and the only “marine” bears, spend most of their time stalking seals from frozen seas, seeking breathing holes or hunting from the edges of ice sheets.  When the ice breaks up in spring, they are forced on to land, where they fast for several months.  Adult males, varying in length from 240 to 260 cm, can weigh between 400 and 600 kg, while females, at half these lengths, weigh between 150 and 250 kg.

                A morning excursion to the Prince of Wales Fort and the whale-watching area of the Churchill River had been planned for the second day.  The fort itself, accessed by a zodiac crossing of the river, is a National Historic Site of Canada and had been built by the British at the mouth of the Churchill River, at Eskimo Point, during the 40-year period between 1732 and 1772 for three primary reasons:

To establish a trade center with the Aboriginals—namely, the Cree, the Dene, and the Inuit. To create a war-time refuge for Hudson’s Bay Company’s ships. To construct a base from which northern exploration could be conducted.

                The star-shaped fort, featuring 12-meter-thick walls and an upper bastion supporting 40 surrounding cannons, had featured, upon entrance, the men’s dual-level quarters on the left and the shops and services, including the carpenter, the tailor, the blacksmith, and the bakery, on the right.

                In 1782, when the French Navy had sailed into Hudson Bay, the Prince of Wales Fort, which would have proved a paltry match to its opponent with a small, beleaguered crew and insufficient ammunition, had been surrendered to French Admiral Jean-Francois Galaup, although a treaty later returned it to British control.

                The morning’s excursion, continuing by zodiac across the Churchill River, approached a 3- to 5-meter deep area at a slow pace, moving within the circle of beluga whales, which periodically arced skyward, sometimes four abreast, in order to inhale air.  So high had two surfaced that they dove nose-first back toward the water, their fins momentarily poised vertically until they had disappeared.  Babies, identifiable by their white skins, swam with their mothers, which sported darker gray coverings.  The warmer waters of the Churchill River, now no longer ice bound, had been the source of abundant sea life, and the whales, targeting prey, surrounded it, tightening their circumference until they had moved in for their attacks.

                Beluga whales, whose brains are larger than those of humans with greater surface areas, think with their upper, oily lobe and use sound as their principle sense, which enters through their jaws.  Because water provides a more effective medium than air, sound waves travel five times faster.  Beluga whales are among the few types which can move their necks.  Typical food pursuit entails holding the breath, using depth perception to dive as low as 1,000 meters, and attacking the fish before returning to the surface.

                The afternoon had been spent poking into Churchill’s Visitor Center, museums, gift shops, and restaurants, and by the following morning, separated from the previous day’s dusk by only four hours of darkness, it had already been time for the all-too-soon return journey to Winnipeg. Conducted by air, had been completed in under two-and-a-half hours by turboprop aircraft.

                Winnipeg, hardly comparable to my native Manhattan, had nevertheless been a skyscraper metropolis with a growing population and traffic congestion, but my thoughts quickly returned to the clear, crisp air of Churchill; the tiny town; the warm people who seemed to know everyone living there; its surrounding barren, but somehow beautiful sub-arctic tundra; and its abundant wildlife, which lived in harmony with nature’s laws, not man’s.  I had somehow already missed it.

                I may go back there some day…

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2003 World Oil Market Chronology

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2003 World Oil Market Chronology

By: dfjyj
Posted: Sep 02, 2010

January 6: Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Mines Rafael Ramrez announces that the Venezuelan government plans to split state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PdVSA) into two separate entities as part of a large-scale restructuring of the company, most of whose 40,000 workers are currently on strike. Such a decentralization could limit the power of Caracas-based executives who have joined in the strike, which began on December 2, 2002. (NYT)

January 12: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), meeting in Vienna, agrees to raise the aggregate production quota of its members (excluding Iraq) to 24.5 million barrels per day (3,900,000 m3/d), up from the current 23 million barrels per day (3,700,000 m3/d), effective February 1. Each member will receive a proportionately higher share of the quota, about a 6.5% increase. (NYT)

January 16: Fourteen U.S. corporations or subsidiaries launch the Chicago Climate Exchange, a trading program wherein companies would be able to earn redeemable credits for exceeding emissions reductions goals of 4% of 1998-2001 average emissions over the next four years. Companies unable to meet the goals would buy the credits. The Exchange intends to create means to verify that actual reductions in emissions have taken place. (WP)

January 21: The near-month crude oil futures price on the NYMEX settles at .61 per barrel, the highest price since November 29, 2000. The market is experiencing a variety of higher price pressures, including the strike in Venezuela, fears of a conflict in Iraq, a cold winter in the United States, and low commercial oil stock levels in the United States. (USAT)

January 28: The U.S. Department of Energy approves oil company requests to delay delivery of March shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The announcement will allow 4.4 million barrels (700,000 m3) of crude oil designated for storage in the SPR, to be marketed to domestic refineries instead. (Reuters)

:January 29 Striking managers at Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA confirm that oil production has surpassed 1 million barrels per day (160,000 m3/d) once again, after falling to as low as 200 million barrels per day (32,000,000 m3/d) during the strike that began on December 2. On January 31, PdVSA President Ali Rodriguez announces that production is at 1.5 million barrels per day (240,000 m3/d) and that 5,300 striking workers have been fired. Opposition estimates of production are much lower at around 1.05 million barrels per day (167,000 m3/d). (NYT, Reuters)

:January 29 During his State of the Union Address, President Bush proposes .2 billion in funding to support the research and development of hydrogen-powered vehicles. (Reuters)

February 3: Indian Petroleum Minister Ram Naik announces that the government of India plans to boost the country’s strategic crude oil reserves to 45 days from 15 days at an estimated cost of 43.50 billion rupees (0 million). (Reuters)

February 6: Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh announces that phases two and three of the South Pars natural gas field are now on-line. These phases represent additional production of about 55 million cubic meters (1.9 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas per year, 85 million barrels per day (13,500,000 m3/d) of condensate, and 1 million metric tons (11.6 million barrels) of liquefied petroleum gas per year. The two phases are officially inaugurated on February 15. (DJ)

February 11: BP invests .75 billion in Russia by creating a new joint venture company with TNK-BP (Russia’s fourth largest oil company) and Sidanco, of which BP already held a 25% stake. BP will have a 50% stake in the new company. TNK’s shareholders, investment groups Alfa Group and Access-Renova, will hold the other 50% stake of the new firm, and board control will be balanced equally. The investment by BP is equivalent to almost 10% of Russian foreign exchange reserves and around 1.5% of Russian gross domestic product (GDP). (Reuters)

February 12: Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) show that U.S. commercial crude oil stocks have fallen to 269.8 million barrels (42,890,000 m3) for the week ending February 7, 2003. This is the lowest commercial crude oil stock level since 1975, and just slightly below the lower operational inventory level of 270 million barrels (43,000,000 m3). The lower operational inventory level, while not implying shortages, operational problems, or price increases, is indicative of a situation where inventory-related supply flexibility could be constrained or nonexistent. (Reuters)

February 18: Exxon Mobil begins construction of the billion Kizomba B offshore development project in Angolan waters. The project, when completed, is expected to produce 250 million barrels (40,000,000 m3) of crude oil per day, beginning in 2006, with total production over the life of the field estimated to be about 1 billion barrels (160,000,000 m3). Besides Exxon Mobil, which has a 40% stake, the other stakeholders are BP (26.67%), Eni (20%), and Statoil (13.33%). The concessionaire is Angolan state oil company Sonangol. (Reuters)

February 28: The NYMEX near-month heating oil futures price settles at an all-time high of 125.59 cents per gallon, as many of the same market forces affecting the crude oil market also have driven up the price of heating oil, especially increased demand from the cold winter. High sulfur distillate fuel inventories (also referred to as heating oil) plunged more than 15% over the most recent four-week period to end the week of February 28, at 35.6 million barrels (5,660,000 m3), 32% below the level for the same period last year. (Reuters)

March 5: Some 500,000 bbl/d (79,000 m3/d) of Venezuelan production in the eastern region begins to come back on-line. It was shut off at the wellhead for a week because of bottlenecks at export terminals as Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA encountered problems in returning loading at terminals to pre-strike levels. The Venezuelan government claims that oil production is over 2 million barrels per day (320,000 m3/d), while fired PdVSA workers claim production is at 1.1 million barrels per day (170,000 m3/d). (Reuters)

March 6: Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez announces that force majeure is henceforth lifted on Venezuelan oil exports. Venezuela had declared force majeure on its oil exports shortly after the national strike began on December 2, 2002. It is later revealed that this lifting does not apply to certain petroleum products. President Chavez also refuses to consider rehiring any of the over 15,000 fired PdVSA workers. (Reuters)

March 7: The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) puts into effect expanded price limits on its energy contracts and reduces to five minutes the time trading is halted when those limits are reached. Under the revised rules, the initial price limits for light, sweet crude oil futures will be expanded to per barrel in all months from the current .50 in the first two months and .00 in all other months. The initial Henry Hub natural gas futures limits will expand to .00 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in all months from in all months. The initial limits on heating oil, gasoline and propane futures will increase to 25 cents per gallon in all months from 20 cents in the first two months and 6 cents in all other months. (Reuters)

March 7: Officials in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announce that new clean water regulations for smaller sites, to take effect March 10, will not apply to the petroleum and natural gas industries. Rather, these two industries will have a two-year exemption, because, according to the EPA, further study of the effects of these regulations upon these two industries is needed. (NYT)

March 11: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets in Vienna and decides to maintain crude oil production quotas for its member countries (excluding Iraq) at 24.5 million barrels per day (3,900,000 m3/d). Saudi Arabia Oil Minister, Ali al-Naimi says, “There will be no shortage of oil. The test is, when the need is there, whether we will use the capacity or not and I can assure you we will. Most analysts, including EIA, believe that OPEC-10’s (excluding Iraq) actual production is higher than the quota amount. (NYT, Reuters)

March 12: The near-month (April) crude oil futures price at the NYMEX settles at .83 per barrel, the highest near-month settlement price (in nominal terms) since October 1990. This comes as EIA reports today that commercial crude oil inventories for the previous week declined by 3.8 million barrels (600,000 m3) to 269 million barrels (42,800,000 m3). This is below the 270-million-barrel (43,000,000 m3) lower operational inventory level, which, while not implying shortages, operational problems, or price increases, is indicative of a situation where inventory-related supply flexibility could be constrained or nonexistent. This heightens supply concerns before an impending war in Iraq. (WSJ)

March 19: Military action in Iraq commences with a bombing raid and missile attack on targets in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad (March 20 Baghdad time) by Coalition forces, given Saddam Hussein and his regime’s rejection of U.S. President George Bush’s March 17 ultimatum. Iraq launches several conventional missiles at Kuwait, but this has no effect on Kuwaiti oil production. However, the Kuwait Petroleum Company does implement an emergency plan to protect its workers and facilities. (Reuters)

March 23: Outbreaks of violence between soldiers and militants of various ethnic groups in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria prompt three major oil companies operating in the region – ChevronTexaco, Royal Dutch/Shell, and TotalFinaElf – to shut in operations in the area, totaling about 800 million barrels per day (130,000,000 m3/d). This represents about 40% of Nigeria’s total production, including about 768 million barrels per day (1.221E+8 m3/d) in the West Niger Delta (all operations there for the three companies) and 50 million barrels per day (7,900,000 m3/d) of Shell production in the East Niger Delta. Employees of ChevronTexaco, which had declared force majeure on its Escravos crude oil terminal three days earlier, return to Nigeria on April 4 to begin a gradual resumption of production. Force majeure is lifted on April 24, 2003. (NYT, Reuters)

March 24: After Coalition forces have pushed further into Iraq securing most of the southern oilfields over the weekend, Kuwaiti fire fighters are able to enter Iraq and are able to extinguish one of the wellhead fires. Iraq’s southern fields represent about 40% of the country’s output. Damage is assessed to be relatively minimal. Some pockets or Iraqi resistance in the southern oilfields remain, however. Furthermore, heavy Iraqi resistance in some parts of Iraq gives rise to market speculation that the war could last longer than initially thought. The NYMEX near-month crude oil price rises 6.5%, to settle at .66 per barrel, as the war in Iraq as well as the situation in Nigeria have traders concerned. (Reuters, DJ)

April 4: Coalition forces continue to make progress against the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, with the U.S. military capturing Baghdad’s main international airport. Also, according to the U.S. military, 80%-90% of Iraq’s southern oilfield production is under coalition control, as well as all related export facilities, as of this date. (Reuters)

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April 4: Royal Dutch/Shell restarts production and development work at the Soroosh and Nowrooz fields offshore southwestern Iran, after shutting down work at the two fields on March 19 because of fears that staff could be vulnerable to intentional or accidental attack, given the fields’ proximity to the border with Iraq. Soroosh produces about 60 million barrels per day (9,500,000 m3/d), and the shut down has delayed the coming on line of the Nowrooz field, scheduled for later this year. (DJ, Reuters) )

April 8: Syrian state oil company Sytrol informs customers that it will cut crude oil term export volumes by around 40% (about 150 million barrels per day (24,000,000 m3/d)) as a result of the halt in Iraqi imports through the Iraq-Syria-Lebanon pipeline that is reported to have been shut down. Sytrol suggests that the reduction will continue for the rest of the year. (WMRC)

April 14: Pumping on the oil pipeline from Iraq’s Kirkuk oilfields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan is halted as the storage facilities have reached their maximum capacity of about 6.5 million barrels (1,030,000 m3). There has not been a loading of Iraqi crude oil at the port since March 20. (Reuters)

April 14: Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) shuts down for inspection the last of its 17 nuclear reactors still in operation. The shut downs result from the discovery last year that TEPCO had falsified data regarding reactor inspections, leading to the decision to shut down by Japan’s nuclear authorities. Japan’s largest power firm said that unless its reactors were started back up, there would be an electricity shortage of up to 9.55 million kilowatts during the summer, when electricity demand hits its peak. (Japan Times)

April 15: U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announces that the U.S. military has shut off an oil pipeline from Iraq to Syria that is alleged to have been carrying 100,000-150,000 barrels per day. “We have been told that they have shut off a pipeline,” Secretary Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing. “Whether it’s the only one and whether that has completely stopped the flow of oil between Iraq and Syria, I cannot tell you. … I cannot assure you that all illegal oil flowing from Iraq into Syria is shut off. I just hope it is.” (Reuters)

April 22: Yukos Oil Company and Sibneft, Russia’s first and fifth largest oil companies, respectively, in terms of production, announce that they will merge in a deal in which Yukos will pay billion in cash and stock for Sibneft. The new company will be the world’s fifth-largest publicly traded oil and gas company, with a production of 2.4 million barrels per day (380,000 m3/d). The new company plans to become a major player outside of Russia as well. (NYT, WSJ)

April 23: According to the American military officer in charge of restarting Iraq’s oil production infrastructure, Iraq’s southern fields have begun to produce again. Four southern wells have begun producing a modest amount of crude oil, but according to Brig. Gen. Robert Crear of the Army Corps of Engineers, southern wells should soon be producing about 170 million barrels per day (27,000,000 m3/d). Initial production would go toward meeting domestic demand, especially as more refineries come back on line. The country’s northern oilfields are still offline. (WSJ)

April 24: OPEC oil ministers, meeting for emergency talks in Vienna, decide to simultaneously reduce crude oil production by 2 million barrels per day (320,000 m3/d), as of June 1, and increase their overall production quota by 900 million barrels per day (140,000,000 m3/d) to a total quota of 25.4 million barrels per day (4,040,000 m3/d). This is a tacit admission that OPEC production is well in excess of the previous quota of 24.5 million barrels per day (3,900,000 m3/d). Iraq does not participate in the meetings and is not subject to the quota regime. (LAT)

April 29: Brazilian state oil company Petrobras announces the largest-ever natural gas discovery in Brazil. The discovery, located about 85 miles (137 km) off the coast of the state of So Paulo, is a field containing an estimated 2.47 trillion cubic feet (70 km3) of natural gas. This field raises Brazil’s natural gas reserves by about 30%, according to some estimates. (Reuters)

May 22: The United Nations Security Council approves the immediate end of 13 years of economic sanctions on Iraq, dating from the time of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Resolution 1483 effectively grants the United States-led coalition forces control of Iraq until a new Iraqi government can be put in place. The end of the sanctions also makes it easier for Iraqi oil exports to resume without the auspices of the United Nations. Later, on May 27, the U.S. Department of the Treasury lifts most remaining sanctions on Iraq, thereby implementing U.N. Security Council Resolution 1483. Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow states, “It is no longer a crime for U.S. companies and individuals to do business with Iraq.” (WP)

May 28: Yukos of Russia signs a 0 billion agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), wherein CNPC agrees to purchase 5.13 billion barrels (816,000,000 m3) of oil between 2005 and 2030 via a .5 billion pipeline from Russia’s Western Siberia fields to China’s Daqing field. (Reuters)

June 2: Royal Dutch/Shell signs a billion contract with an alliance of Japanese and Russian companies for the construction of Russia’s first natural gas liquefaction plant in Sakhalin. This comes after Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and Tokyo Gas agreed two weeks earlier to purchase about one-quarter of the liquefaction plant’s planned capacity of 9.6 million metric tons per year. Shell owns 55% of the production rights for the natural gas supplying the planned plant. (NYT)

June 10: Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan notes that rising natural gas prices in the United States could have a negative impact on the economy in the months ahead if prices remain at high levels. States Greenspan, “I have no doubt that…if we stay at these very elevated prices we’re going to see some erosion in a number of macroeconomic variables which are not evident at this stage. A very significant amount of natural gas using infrastructure in the American economy was based on gas. That means a lot of noncompetitive structures are sitting out there.” (Reuters)

June 11: Oil Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in Qatar decide to keep OPEC crude oil production quotas unchanged for the ten members (i.e. not including Iraq) participating in the quota regime. The combined output quota for the ten members is 25.4 million barrels (4,040,000 m3) of crude oil per day. OPEC President Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, also Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry, says, “We don’t want to cut for the sake of it. We should justify it.” (Reuters, DJ)

June 12: Two explosions damage the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline, in what is later determined to be an act of sabotage. Several other Iraqi pipelines are damaged in acts of sabotage throughout the month, including a natural gas pipeline in the western desert on June 21, an oil pipeline west of Baghdad on June 22, and the now-stalled Iraq-Syria pipeline on June 23. (Reuters, AP)

June 14: ConocoPhillips announces that the company will proceed with its .5 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) development project at the Bayu-Undan fields after government officials of Australia and East Timor approved the project in the Timor Sea Joint Petroleum Development Area. Natural gas from the field will be piped to an LNG liquefaction plant in Australia’s Northern Territory. (WSJ, NYT)

June 17: The head of Iraq’s North Oil Company, Adil al-Qazzaz, states that Iraq’s main north-south crude oil pipeline, the so-called Strategic Pipeline, will not be operable for some time, especially because the K-3 pumping station was badly damaged during the recent war. Al-Qazzaz goes on to state that because the pipeline is not working, “[W]e don’t have export flexibility, and that will have an impact.” (WSJ)

June 22: Iraq exports oil for the first time since March 20, the first day of the war that eventually toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein. The crude oil, 1 million barrels (160,000 m3), was part of the June 12 tender and will be sold to Turkish refiners from oil in storage at the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Loading of the oil onto a tanker begins today. (WP)

July 2: The European Parliament votes to cap European industry’s carbon dioxide output and let firms trade the right to pollute. As of January 2005, many plants in the oil refining, smelting, steel, cement, ceramics, glass and paper sectors will need special permits to emit carbon dioxide (CO2). “It means that the largest emissions trading scheme in the world to date will be a reality from 2005, and that the architecture foreseen under the Kyoto Protocol is coming to life,” according to European Union Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom. (Reuters)

July 9: The government of Chad announces that it has begun its first-ever crude oil production, as wells began pumping on July 1. It will still take weeks before crude is shipped from the .5 billion project through a 650-mile (1,050 km) pipeline to the Atlantic coast in neighboring Cameroon. The government does not announce the initial flow rate, but eventual production is expected to reach 225 million barrels per day (35,800,000 m3/d). Oil begins flowing through the pipeline on July 15. (Reuters)

July 12: Sakhalin Oil Development Corporation, the Japanese partner in an international consortium in the Sakhalin-1 project, announces that oil drilling offshore has begun. The project, which may eventually see billion invested in oil and natural gas development, is potentially the largest direct foreign investment in Russia. Total recoverable reserves at the Sakhalin-1 area are estimated to be 2.3 billion barrels (370,000,000 m3) of oil and 17.1 trillion cubic feet (480 km3) of natural gas. (DJ)

July 15: The operator of Israel’s Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, a bi-directional pipeline linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, announces that the pipeline is operational. The pipeline, with a current capacity of 400 million barrels per day (64,000,000 m3/d), but a design capacity of 1.2 million barrels per day (190,000 m3/d), provides an alternative to the Suez Canal, as both Israeli ports can handle VLCCs, whereas Suez cannot. Perhaps even more importantly, with the new southerly flow, Russian crude on small tankers from the Bosporus will be able to eventually load onto VLCCs bound for East Asia. (Reuters)

July 15: Hurricane Claudette hits the Texas coast about 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Houston. According the U.S. Minerals Management Service, an estimated 2.5 billion cubic feet (71,000,000 m3) per day of natural gas had been shut in by Claudette, or about 18% of the Gulf’s total gas output. Also, about 330 million barrels per day (52,000,000 m3/d) of oil, or some 21% of the Gulf of Mexico’s daily oil production, has been shut down. Production is quickly restored in the next few days. (Reuters)

July 16: Italian oil and gas major Eni announces that it has begun exporting oil production from the giant Karachaganak field in Kazakhstan to the Novorossiysk terminal on the Black Sea. In addition, Eni said that it and its partners had completed pipelines and treatment facilities so that output from the oil field could grow by the end of the year to 380 million barrels (60,000,000 m3) of oil equivalent per day from the current 220 million barrels (35,000,000 m3) of oil equivalent per day. (DJ)

July 16: Royal Dutch/Shell and Total successfully conclude the first deal with Saudi Arabia giving Western companies access to the Kingdom hydrocarbon reserves since the nationalization of its petroleum industry. The agreement entails natural gas exploration and development across 77,000 square miles (200,000 km2) in Saudi Arabia Empty Quarter. Previous efforts to open up Saudi Arabia’s upstream natural gas sector, known as audi Arabia natural gas initiative and the three ore Ventures were larger, with each estimated to be worth – billion. The Core Ventures fell apart in June due to conflicts with foreign investors over financial terms. (Reuters)

July 25: The first delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) since 1980 is made to the reactivated Cove Point LNG regasification plant in Maryland, as a tanker from Trinidad arrives carrying 22 million gallons of LNG. According to Dominion, owner of the facility, the plant will be able to supply 1 billion cubic feet (28,000,000 m3) of natural gas per day, and will be the largest LNG regasification facility in the United States. (WP)

July 31: Oil Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), meeting in Vienna, decide to keep their crude oil production quotas unchanged until their next meeting, on September 24. The combined quota for the ten members participating in the quota regime (i.e. excluding Iraq) is 24.5 million barrels per day (3,900,000 m3/d). (WSJ)

August 7: The United States estimates that restoring Iraq’s oil sector to its pre-war status will cost at least .1 billion and take nine months to complete. Prior to the war, Iraq was producing around 2.5-2.6 million barrels per day and exporting around 2.0-2.1 million barrels per day. Current production is closer to 1 million barrels per day (160,000 m3/d), with exports of about 600,000-700,000 barrels per day. (LAT))

August 14: Libya reportedly agrees to compensate families of the 1988 Lockerbie airplane bombing with .7 billion total. The money is to be released in three tranches, the first following a lifting of United Nations sanctions, the second after possible lifting of U.S. sanctions, and the third after Libya is removed from the U.S. State Department’s state sponsors of terrorism list. (WMRC)

August 14: A huge electric power blackout hits large parts of the northeastern United States, the Midwest, and southern Canada late in the afternoon. Power is out for at least several hours in major cities like New York, Detroit, Cleveland, and Toronto. Three months later, on November 19, the U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force, led by U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and Canadian Natural Resource Minister Herbert Dhaliwal, releases a 124-page investigative report which concludes that the blackout was “largely preventable” and cites several failures by regional utility companies and regulators. Analyses are also published by The Michigan Public Service Commission and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). (NYT, WSJ, AP)

August 14: Russia approves a billion merger between Yukos and Sibneft, creating “YukosSibneft,” Russia’s first “supermajor” and one of the world’s largest publicly traded oil companies. (WMRC)

August 15: Iraq’s crucial northern oil pipeline from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan is attacked, stopping flows on the line just two days after it reopened for the first time since the war. The pipeline had a pre-war capacity of 1.1 million barrels per day (170,000 m3/d), but sustained significant damage during hostilities and had started pumping at only around 200 million barrels per day (32,000,000 m3/d). Repairs to the line from the latest attack may take weeks, while full restoration of the pipeline’s pre-war capacity could take months. (WMRC)

September 1: Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a former Iraqi exile, is appointed Iraq first post-war oil minister by the country Governing Council. Uloum replaces Thamir Ghadhban, who had been the acting oil minister since early May. (Reuters)

September 10: The Inter-American Development Bank approves financing for Peru Camisea natural gas project. The Camisea fields were discovered by Shell in 1986 and are estimated to hold 13 trillion cubic feet (370 km3) of natural gas and 660 million barrels (105,000,000 m3) of condensate, possibly transforming Peru into a net energy exporter. (DJ, WP, WMRC, EIA)

September 11: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves a plan for the new Cameron liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Cameron represents the first such project in the United States in over 20 years. (NYT)

September 12: The United Nations (U.N.) Security Council lifts 11-year-old sanctions against Libya. Development of Libya sizeable oil resources has been hindered by the sanctions, which were imposed in 1992 in an effort to extradite two Libyans indicted for the 1998 bombing of an American plane over Scotland. (AP

September 19: Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh announces that the deal which granted a Japanese consortium preferential rights to develop Iran Azadegan oil field has expired. The consortium was granted the rights in late 2000, but had yet to negotiate and sign a contract. The Azadegan field is estimated to hold some 26 billion barrels (4.1109 m3) of oil. (Platts)

September 24: OPEC members agree to cut the output ceiling for the ten member countries, excluding Iraq, by 900-million-barrel-per-day (140,000,000 m3/d) to 24.5 million barrels per day (3,900,000 m3/d), effective November 1. Iraq attends the OPEC meeting for the first time since 1990. OPEC cited concerns that the world oil market will be oversupplied in 2004 leading to lower prices. (Reuters)

September 30: The Chicago Climate Exchange announces its first auction of emission allowances. Although emissions cuts are still voluntary, the exchange is considered an important prototype. (WMRC)

October 3: Chad’s President Idriss Deby announced that the new Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline is officially “onstream.” Chad began pumping oil into the pipeline in July 2003 from the Doba field. The .7 billion Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline represents the World Bank’s single largest investment ever in sub-Saharan Africa. (NYT)

October 4: The Russian oil companies Yukos and Sibneft complete their merger, creating YukosSibneft, the world’s fourth-largest private oil producer. The news is accompanied by rumors that major American firms are interested in making a deal with YukosSibneft in order to gain access to the Russian energy market. (WP)

October 14: Bowing to protests, Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada announces he will not pursue a plan to export more than one billion cubic feet per day of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the United States through Chile. The proposal had led to massive popular protests in Bolivia, resulting in the deaths of at least 16 people. (WSJ, WP, NYT)

November 4: The International Finance Corporation, the private lending division of the World Bank, approves a 0 million loan for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. Later, on November 11, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development approves its 0 million loan for the project. The 1-million-barrel-per-day (160,000 m3/d) pipeline will enable crude oil exports from the land-locked Caspian Sea region to reach world markets through the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. (WSJ, EIA, WMRC)

November 18: ChevronTexaco reports that it has received final approval form the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the world’s first-ever deepwater liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Port Pelican in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The plant will have a capacity of 1.6 billion cubic feet (45,000,000 m3) per day, with construction to begin in 2004 and to be completed in 2007. (WMRC)

November 21: The United Nations hands over the “oil-for-food” program in Iraq to the U.S.-led administration in Baghdad. The “oil-for-food” program was established by the United Nations in 1995, and used proceeds from the sale of Iraqi oil to buy food and medicine for Iraqis as well as to finance infrastructure and humanitarian projects. Iraqi oil exports reportedly have reached around 1.5 million barrels per day (240,000 m3/d). (USAT, WMRC)

November 24: The U.S. Congress abandons plans to pass an energy bill before the end of the legislative session. The bill was approved in the United States House of Representatives on November 18, but then blocked in the Senate as its proponents were unable to close debate on the issue and call for a vote. The legislation has been under construction for three years and represents Congress’s first attempt at a comprehensive energy bill since 1992. The bill’s proponents intend to revisit the issue in 2004. (NYT, WP, WSJ)

November 28: Russian oil company Sibneft makes a surprise announcement suspending its merger with Russian oil major Yukos citing technical difficulties. The billion merger was announced in April 2003, and would create the world’s fifth-largest publicly traded oil company. (WP, WSJ)

December 2: President George W. Bush signs a .3 billion energy and water bill that includes funding for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The repository remains a source of controversy between state and federal officials. (AP)

December 4: OPEC holds its 128th meeting to review oil markets in Vienna, Austria, leaving OPEC 10 output quotas unchanged. (DJ)

December 15: Oil prices fall 4% on the news that U.S. military forces capture Saddam Hussein near his hometown of Tikrit, Iraq. (CBS, WMRC)

December 18: BP signs a 20-year deal to sell 500 million cubic feet (14,000,000 m3) per day of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its Tangguh facility in Indonesia to the U.S. energy company Sempra Energy. The LNG will be shipped to Sempra’s proposed import and regasification terminal in Baja California, Mexico before being distributed to buyers in the United States. (DJ)

December 22: Libya announces that it will abandon its weapons of mass destruction programs and comply with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The United States welcomes the move, but says that it will maintain economic sanctions until it sees evidence of compliance. (WMRC, NYT)

Sources

Energy Information Administration: Chronology of World Oil Market Events

Commodity Research Bureau. The CRB Commodity Yearbook 2003, 2003.

OtherSources include: Associated Press (AP), Dow Jones (DJ), Japan Times, Los Angeles Times (LAT), New York Times (NYT), Oil Daily (OD), Reuters, USA Today (USAT), Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Washington Post (WP), World Markets Research Center (WMRC).

previous year:

2002 world oil market chronology

Chronology of world oil market events (1970-2005)

following year:

2004 world oil market chronology

Categories: History of the petroleum industry | 2003 in economics | 2000s energy crisis

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World LNG Export Markets to 2015 – Analysis and Forecasts of Trade movements

The research work provides historical and forecasted analysis of world LNG export industry for a period of 16 years from 2000 to 2015. For the first time, you will find the sales and purchase agreements, trade movements, trade pricing along with an illustrative map in one single report. In addition, the report provides the construction details, capital investments and feasibility of planned projects.

Excerpts from the report
Global LNG Export capacity stood at 262.25 mtpa as in January 2010. Further, the company estimates the capacity to increase by 74% by 2015. All the six regions- Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa, North America and South & Cent America across the world will witness an increase in liquefaction capacity.

The number of countries participating in LNG trade is set to increase from 22 to 57 between 2000 and 2015. World LNG Export capacity stood at 262.25 mtpa in January 2010. Further, the report estimates the capacity to increase by 74% by 2015. Australia and Nigeria will account for 53% of this increase.

State oil companies in Nigeria, Qatar, Malaysia and Algeria will continue to dominate the global liquefaction industry between 2009 and 2015. On the other hand, global oil and gas majors- Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron Corporation and Total S.A will make it to the top 10 list by 2015.

Australia with eight planned export terminals will emerge as the market leader in 2015, surpassing Qatar, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nigeria. Around 20$ billion revenues will flow into Australia when all its eight planned terminals start exports in 2015.

Scope

• The report provides an outlook of industry, installed and storage capacities, tank and train details, sales and purchase agreements to 2015 along with historical data from 2000
• The rational of the country to venture into LNG business and the potential benefits of LNG business for the country’s economy are detailed
• Positioning map is provided for all regional markets, which categorizes the market into one of the growth life cycle stages (potential, competitive, growth and saturated stages) and provides insights into the potential strategies required to prevail in the market
• Market structure of the industry includes all the players in the industry and their market shares for a period of 16 years from 2000 to 2015

For more information kindly visit :

http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=107856&rt=World-LNG-Export-Markets-to-2015-Analysis-and-Forecasts-of-Terminal-wise-Capacity-and-Associated-Contracts-LNG-Trade-movements-and-Prices.html

Related Reports:

Algeria LNG Export and Import Markets to 2015

http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=107858&rt=Algeria-LNG-Export-and-Import-Markets-to-2015-Analysis-and-Forecasts-of-Terminal-wise-Capacity-and-Associated-Contracts-LNG-Trade-movements-and-Prices.html