More focus on halloween could boost Sefton economy
David Barton discusses the benefits of promoting the annual holiday
ECONOMIC GROWTH: Lord Street Southport
A local campaigner for the heritage of Sefton is recommending that his local authority and central government take measures to market popular occasions, such as Halloween, to boost economic growth across the Borough.
David Barton said he would like to see a steadfast effort made by elected officials and others to actively promote such festivities in the run up, with incentives provided to those that incorporate a charitable aspect, such as linked fundraising for charitable organisations, such as Children In Need and Comic Relief.
Halloween's origins date back over 2,000 years when the Ancient Celts celebrated the festival Samhain across Ireland, the UK and France. To deter phantoms and supernatural agents, people would light bonfires and wear costumes.
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Samhain, or All Hallows Eve, indicated the end of the harvest season and the commencement of the dark, cold winter. The Celts believed that on this night, the boundary between the realms of the living and the dead became obscured. On the night of October 31 during celebrations, it was believed that local spectres were able to revisit earth.
In the 8th Century, Pope Gregory III officially designated November 1 as a day to honour all saints, with All Saints Day integrating many of the traditions of Samhain. Today the festival has become a mainstream occasion in the United States following its initial settlement of Pilgrims in Colonial New England, with its concentration being in Maryland and the southern colonies. Halloween saw a rapid expansion following the mass immigration during the Irish potato famine.
Mr. Barton said: “Halloween is an internationally acclaimed festival with the UK being one of the very first places in which it was celebrated so it is only fitting that more is done to recognise this in the 21st Century.”
He says: “Be it decorative displays, social activities to simply spending time with close ones, the essence of Halloween is something that is yet to be collectively grasped by our country and I believe that if done successfully this may even remind people of the value of traditional vernacular architecture which jointly has become synonymous with this category over time and holds the key to levelling up.”
Submitted by David Barton, Community Campaigner
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