Halloween versus Day of the Dead

When people think of Halloween, they think of costumes, candy and possibly death. When people think about Day of the Dead, they think that it is like Halloween. Those people are wrong. Halloween is very different from the Day of the Dead in many different ways. The day of the Dead is when Mexicans honor the dead by placing food and drink on their graves. Halloween is mostly a candy giving holiday nowadays.

Halloween is a Christian holiday, even though most people have forgotten. The Celtics believed that on Halloween, all of the spirits that had died the year before would come back to possess the living. To discourage being possessed, the Celtics extinguished all of the fires in their houses, dressed up like ghouls and goblins and caused as much mayhem as possible. This was to frighten to spirits that wanted to take over their bodies. The Romans adopted the customs in early AD.

The Roman’s customs varied a little bit. They also honored

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The Irish have a story about a man named Jack who was a drunk and a trickster. The ember was put inside of a turnip to make it brighter. In the ritual, the Aztecs used skulls to honor those that had died. Jack was also denied access to hell because he tricked the devil. One of our traditions is to carve Jack-O-Lanterns. The Spaniards thought that the ritual was evil, so they moved it to coincide with all saint’s day to make it holier.

In conclusion, Halloween and the day of the Dead are two completely different holidays. The devil gave him a small ember to light his way.

The Day of the Dead, or dia de los muertes, started over 3,000 years ago. People put flowers on the ground leading up to their houses so that dead children and infants will follow the flowers and go to their home where their family created an alter for them. When the devil did this, Jack carved a cross into the tree, trapping the devil there.

Nowadays, people go to the cemetery and bring toys for dead children and tequila for dead adults. It was started by the natives in Mexico. The Spaniards that found Mexico saw the natives practicing something that resembled mock death.

Approximate Word count = 639
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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