Happy Halloween from Inspector Pumphead and all of us at Pump Products!
Inspector Pumphead wants to suck… your blood!
Now, if you’re a childless young-ish adult, you may have already had your Halloween celebrations on Saturday. You may have Instagrammed your ironic, edgy or topical costume to gain a paltry amount of “likes” before waking up in a hungover haze on Sunday.
However, Halloween is really a holiday designed to let little kids eat candy and it is today, October 31. But what is the history behind Halloween?
History
Most historians generally agree that the strongest historical influence for Halloween is the various pagan folk festivals celebrated by the Celts. Many of these festivals marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the “darker half” of the year or winter.
Rituals and games associated with the future and death were popular. People often went house-to-house in a costume, singing songs in exchange for food. This was known as “mumming” and is the precedent for trick-or-treating. Later celebrations were influenced by the European Christian celebration of “All Hallows’ Eve,” in which the faithful would often dress as saints or martyrs in an act of commemoration.
The spirit of that holy commemoration is now represented by people dressing up like The Joker.
Halloween Creep
Do you feel like people have been talking about or celebrating Halloween since basically late September? You’re not alone in noticing the proliferation of what has been termed “Halloween Creep” after the similarly named concept “Christmas Creep.” The website Consumerist took note of the phenomenon last year when a reader wrote in about seeing Halloween decorations for sale in July.
Of course, after today, expect to see Christmas decorations and hear “All I Want for Christmas Is You” everywhere you go. It’s part of the relentless, insatiable march of capitalism where we must be given things to buy and consume. So enjoy I guess.
Popular Costumes for 2017
Besides your standard variety of zombies, witches, werewolves, or vampires, look for a lot of Pennywise the Clown from It or variations thereof. Also: Belle (from Beauty and the Beast), Wonder Woman, Donald Trump and anything from Stranger Things and Game of Thrones. People really like dressing up as their favorite characters from popular culture. Who knew?
Think About This
Yeah.
Fun Fact
According to USA Today, Americans will spend close to $15 billion USD on Halloween this year. The spending includes costumes, candy and decorations. That’s bigger than the GDP of Jamaica, and most of that spending will be done by millennials. Darn millennials – get your priorities in order!
Happy Halloween! Enjoy your candy responsibly and don’t forget to book a dentist appointment.
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