Roots of Halloween

Largely forgotten after 200 years of writing, Washington Irving has a literary legacy that digs down deep in children dressing up in costume to collect treats from door to door in their neighborhood.

            The tradition of spooky appearance has an origin in Irving’s classic creations of “Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” as well as “The Headless Horseman.” Each of the famous examples of his ghostly fiction leads up to the modern-day tradition of Halloween.

            Irving’s main superstitious character in his creative plot is a country schoolteacher by the name of Ichabod Crane, who is courting the daughter of a wealthy farmer hoping to receive a large inheritance. His main rival for her affection is a rash horseman who likes to play tricks on the schoolmaster. Late one night, Ichabod is riding home from a party at his lady friend’s home when he is frightened by a ghostly Headless Horseman that chases him home. The horseman hurls at Ichabod a round object taken for his head that turns out to be a pumpkin, as in my illustration.

            Ichabod is so frightened he left town and was never seen there again. Another resident and victim in Sleepy Hollow was Rip Van Winkle, who famously fell asleep there for years and years and finally woke up to find around him a changed, unfamiliar world. Even his own dog has been replaced by a strange looking cur. Even his own dog doesn’t see, to remember who he is.

            His falling asleep in Sleepy Hollow is a very popular situation in children’s imagination and today inspires Halloween participants dressing in costume for making their rounds to poke fun at the ridiculous situation.

            Washington Irving was a boy who got his name after George Washington, who in 1769 had been inaugurated President after winning the colonial war for freedom from England. At the same time, Washington Irving devoted his creative ability to achieve freedom of thought in literature, which would for children dig deeply into the legacy of annually demonstrating Halloween in their neighborhood.

By George B. Emmons

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