title: Radiohead

text: The first single from "In Rainbows", "Jigsaw Falling into Place", was released in January 2008, followed by "Nude" in March, which debuted at number 37 in the "Billboard" Hot 100; it was Radiohead's first song to enter the chart since "High and Dry" (1995) and their first US top 40 since "Creep". In July, Radiohead released a digitally shot video for "House of Cards". Radiohead held remix competitions for "Nude" and "Reckoner", releasing the separated stems for fans to remix. In April 2008, Radiohead launched W.A.S.T.E. Central, a social networking service for Radiohead fans. In May, VH1 broadcast "In Rainbows – From the Basement", a special episode of the music television show "From the Basement" in which Radiohead performed songs from "In Rainbows". It was released on iTunes in June. From mid-2008 to early 2009, Radiohead toured North America, Europe, Japan and South America to promote "In Rainbows", and headlined the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2009.


title: Radiohead

text: Days after Radiohead signed to XL, EMI announced a box set of Radiohead material recorded before "In Rainbows", released in the same week as the "In Rainbows" special edition. Commentators including the "Guardian" saw the move as retaliation for the band choosing not to re-sign with EMI. In June 2008, EMI released a greatest hits album, "". It was made without Radiohead's involvement and contains only songs recorded under their contract with EMI. Yorke was critical of the release, calling it a "wasted opportunity". In 2009, EMI reissued Radiohead's back catalogue in expanded editions.


title: Radiohead

text: As social media expanded around the turn of the decade, Radiohead gradually withdrew their public presence, with no promotional interviews or tours to promote new releases. "Pitchfork" wrote that around this time Radiohead's "popularity became increasingly untethered from the typical formalities of record promotion, placing them on the same level as Beyoncé and Kanye West".


title: Radiohead

text: In May 2009, Radiohead began new recording sessions with Godrich. In August, they released "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)", a tribute song to Harry Patch, the last surviving British soldier to have fought in World War I, with proceeds donated to the British Legion. The song has no conventional rock instrumentation, and instead comprises Yorke's vocals and a string arrangement composed by Jonny Greenwood. Later that month, another new song, "These Are My Twisted Words", featuring krautrock-like drumming and guitars, was leaked via torrent, possibly by Radiohead. It was released as a free download on the Radiohead website the following week. Commentators saw the releases as part of Radiohead's new unpredictable release strategy, without the need for traditional marketing.


title: Radiohead

text: In 2009, Yorke formed a new band, Atoms for Peace, to perform his solo material, with musicians including Godrich and the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. They played eight North American shows in 2010. In January 2010, Radiohead played their only full concert of the year in the Los Angeles Henry Fonda Theater as a benefit for Oxfam. Tickets were auctioned, raising over half a million US dollars for the NGO's 2010 Haiti earthquake relief. That December, a fan-made video of the performance, "Radiohead for Haiti", was released via YouTube and torrent with Radiohead's support and a "pay-what-you-want" link to donate to Oxfam. Radiohead also released the soundboard recording of their 2009 Prague performance for use in a fan-made concert video, "Live in Praha". The videos were described as examples of Radiohead's openness to fans and positivity toward non-commercial internet distribution.


title: Radiohead

text: In June 2010, Yorke and Jonny Greenwood performed a surprise set at Glastonbury Festival, performing "Eraser" and Radiohead songs. Selway released his debut solo album, "Familial", in August. "Pitchfork" described it as a collection of "hushed" folk songs in the tradition of Nick Drake, with Selway on guitar and vocals.


title: Radiohead

text: Radiohead released their eighth album, "The King of Limbs", on 18 February 2011 as a download from their website. Following the protracted recording and more conventional rock instrumentation of "In Rainbows", Radiohead developed "The King of Limbs" by sampling and looping their recordings with turntables. It was followed by a retail release in March through XL, and a special "newspaper album" edition in May. "The King of Limbs" sold an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 copies through Radiohead's website; the retail edition debuted at number six on the US "Billboard" 200 and number seven on the UK Albums Chart. It was nominated for five categories in the 54th Grammy Awards. Two tracks not included on "The King of Limbs", "Supercollider" and "The Butcher", were released as a double A-side single for Record Store Day in April. A compilation of "King of Limbs" remixes by various artists, "TKOL RMX 1234567", was released in September.


title: Radiohead

text: To perform the rhythmically complex "King of Limbs" material live, Radiohead enlisted a second drummer, Clive Deamer, who had worked with Portishead and Get the Blessing. Deamer has joined Radiohead on subsequent tours. In June, Radiohead played a surprise performance on the Park stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival, performing songs from "The King of Limbs" for the first time. With Deamer, Radiohead recorded "", released online in August 2011. It was also broadcast by international BBC channels and released on DVD and Blu-ray in January 2012. The performance included two new songs, "The Daily Mail" and "Staircase", released as a double A-side download single in December 2011. In February 2012, Radiohead began their first extended North American tour in four years, including dates in the United States, Canada and Mexico. On tour, they recorded material at Jack White's studio Third Man Records, but discarded the recordings.


title: Radiohead

text: On 16 June 2012, an hour before gates were due to open at Toronto's Downsview Park for the final concert of Radiohead's North American tour, the roof of the venue's temporary stage collapsed, killing the drum technician Scott Johnson and injuring three other members of Radiohead's road crew. After rescheduling the tour, Radiohead paid tribute to Johnson at their next concert, in Nîmes, France, in July. In June 2013, Live Nation Canada Inc, two other organisations and an engineer were charged with 13 charges under Ontario health and safety laws. In September 2017, after several delays, the case was dropped under the Jordan ruling, which sets strict time limits on trials. Radiohead released a statement condemning the decision. A 2019 inquest returned a verdict of accidental death.


title: Radiohead

text: After the "King of Limbs "tour, the band members worked on further side projects. In February 2013, Yorke and Godrich's band Atoms for Peace released a studio album, "Amok". The pair made headlines that year for their criticism of the free music streaming service Spotify; Yorke accused Spotify of only benefiting major labels with large back catalogues, and encouraged artists to build their own "direct connections" with audiences instead.


title: Radiohead

text: In February 2014, Radiohead released the "Polyfauna" app for smartphones, a collaboration with the British digital arts studio Universal Everything using music and imagery from "The King of Limbs". In May, Yorke contributed a soundtrack, "Subterranea", to "The" "Panic Office", an installation of Radiohead artwork in Sydney, Australia. Yorke and Selway released their solo albums "Tomorrow's Modern Boxes" and "Weatherhouse" in late 2014. Jonny Greenwood scored his third Anderson film, "Inherent Vice"; it features a new version of an unreleased Radiohead song, "Spooks", performed by Greenwood and members of Supergrass. "Junun", a collaboration between Greenwood, Godrich, Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur and Indian musicians, was released in November 2015, accompanied by a documentary directed by Anderson.


title: Radiohead

text: In April 2016, Radiohead's back catalogue was acquired by XL Recordings, which had released the retail editions of "In Rainbows" and "The King of Limbs" and most of Yorke's solo work. XL reissued Radiohead's back catalogue on vinyl in May 2016.


title: Radiohead

text: Radiohead began work on their ninth studio album in September 2014. In 2015, they resumed work in the La Fabrique studio near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France. The sessions were marred by the death of Godrich's father and Yorke's separation from his wife, Rachel Owen, who died from cancer in 2016. Work was interrupted when Radiohead were commissioned to write the theme for the 2015 James Bond film "Spectre"; after their song, "Spectre", was rejected, Radiohead released it on the audio streaming site SoundCloud on Christmas Day 2015.


title: Radiohead

text: Radiohead's ninth studio album, "A Moon Shaped Pool", was released in May 2016 on Radiohead's website and online music stores, followed by retail versions in June via XL Recordings. It was promoted with music videos for the singles "Burn the Witch" and "Daydreaming", the latter directed by Anderson. The album includes several songs written years earlier, including "True Love Waits", and strings and choral vocals performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra. It was Radiohead's sixth UK number-one album and reached number three in the US. It was the fifth Radiohead album nominated for the Mercury Prize, making Radiohead the most shortlisted act in the award's history, and was also nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Song (for "Burn the Witch") at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. It appeared on several publications' lists of the best albums of the year.


title: Radiohead

text: In 2016, 2017, and 2018, Radiohead toured Europe, Japan, and North and South America, including headline shows at the Coachella and Glastonbury festivals. The tours included a performance in Tel Aviv in July 2017, disregarding the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign for an international cultural boycott of Israel. The performance was criticised by artists including Roger Waters and Ken Loach, and a petition urging Radiohead to cancel it was signed by more than 50 prominent figures. Yorke responded in a statement: "Playing in a country isn't the same as endorsing the government. Music, art and academia is about crossing borders not building them, about open minds not closed ones, about shared humanity, dialogue and freedom of expression."


title: Radiohead

text: In June 2017, Radiohead released a 20th-anniversary "OK Computer" reissue, "OKNOTOK 1997 2017", comprising a remastered version of the album, B-sides, and previously unreleased material. Radiohead promoted the reissue with music videos for the new tracks "I Promise", "Man of War" and "Lift". "OKNOTOK" debuted at number two on the UK Album Chart, boosted by Radiohead's televised Glastonbury performance that week, and reached number 23 on the US "Billboard" 200. Yorke and Jonny Greenwood performed a benefit concert in Le Marche, Italy, in August 2017 following the August 2016 Central Italy earthquake. In September, the nature documentary series "Blue Planet II" premiered featuring a new version of the "King of Limbs" track "Bloom", created with the composer Hans Zimmer.


title: Radiohead

text: Radiohead were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, their first year of eligibility. They were nominated again in 2018 and inducted the following March. Though Jonny Greenwood and Yorke expressed a lack of interest in the event, Selway and O'Brien attended and made speeches. The singer David Byrne, one of Radiohead's formative influences, gave a speech praising Radiohead's musical and release innovations, which he said had influenced the whole music industry.


title: Radiohead

text: In June 2019, several hours of recordings made by Radiohead during the "OK Computer" period leaked online. In response, Radiohead made the recordings available to purchase online as "MiniDiscs [Hacked]", with all proceeds to the environmentalist group Extinction Rebellion. In December 2019, Radiohead made their discography available free to stream on YouTube. The following January, they launched the Radiohead Public Library, an online archive of their work, including music videos, live performances, artwork and the 1998 documentary "Meeting People Is Easy". Radiohead suspended their online content for Blackout Tuesday on 2 June, protesting racism and police brutality.


title: Radiohead

text: In 2017, Selway released his third solo work, the soundtrack to the film "Let Me Go". Jonny Greenwood was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for his fifth collaboration with Anderson, "Phantom Thread" (2017), and scored his second film by Lynne Ramsay, "You Were Never Really Here" (2018). Yorke released his first feature film soundtrack, "Suspiria" (2018), and his third solo album, "Anima" (2019), backed by a short film directed by Anderson. O'Brien released his debut solo album, "Earth", under the moniker EOB in 2020. He had been writing songs for years, but felt they had a "distinct energy" that would be lost with Radiohead.


title: Radiohead

text: Radiohead abandoned plans to tour in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In November, they released "Kid A Mnesia," an anniversary reissue compiling "Kid A," "Amnesiac" and previously unreleased material from the sessions. It was promoted with download singles and videos for the previously unreleased tracks "If You Say the Word" and "Follow Me Around". Plans for an art installation based on the albums were cancelled due to logistical problems and the pandemic; instead, Radiohead created a free digital experience, "Kid A Mnesia Exhibition", for PlayStation 5, macOS and Windows.


title: Radiohead

text: In a livestream event held by Glastonbury Festival in May 2021, Yorke and Jonny Greenwood debuted a new band, the Smile, a collaboration with Godrich and the drummer Tom Skinner. Greenwood said the project was a way for him and Yorke to work together during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The "Guardian" critic Alexis Petridis described the Smile as a "more skeletal and knottier version of Radiohead", with unusual time signatures, complex riffs and "hard-driving" motorik psychedelia. In May 2022, the Smile released their debut album, "A Light for Attracting Attention", to acclaim. The "Pitchfork" critic Ryan Dombal wrote that it was "instantly, unmistakably the best album yet by a Radiohead side project". The Smile began an international tour in May. Selway will release his third solo album, "Strange Dance", in 2023.


title: Radiohead

text: Radiohead's musical style has been described as art rock, alternative rock, electronica, experimental rock, progressive rock, Britpop, grunge, art pop, and electronic rock.


title: Radiohead

text: Among Radiohead's earliest influences were Queen, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd and Elvis Costello, post-punk acts such as Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Magazine, and significantly 1980s alternative rock bands such as R.E.M., U2, the Pixies, the Smiths and Sonic Youth. Jonny Greenwood named the Magazine guitarist John McGeoch his biggest guitar influence. By the mid-1990s, Radiohead were adopting recording methods from hip hop, inspired by the sampling work of DJ Shadow, and became interested in using computers to generate sounds. Other influences include the soundtracks of Ennio Morricone, 1960s rock groups such as the Beatles and the Beach Boys, and Phil Spector's "wall of sound" production.


title: Radiohead

text: Radiohead have cited 60s and 70s jazz artists such as Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and Alice Coltrane as influences. According to Jonny Greenwood, "We bring in our favourite jazz albums, and say: we want to do this. And we enjoy the sound of our failing!" He likened their jazz influence to 1950s English bands imitating American blues records. The drummer Clive Deamer, who has recorded and performed with Radiohead since 2011, said Radiohead do not see themselves as a rock band and that their methodology is closer to jazz: "They deliberately try to avoid cliché and standard forms for the sake of the song ... Rock bands don't do that. It's far more like a jazz mentality."


title: Radiohead

text: The electronic music of "Kid A" and "Amnesiac" was inspired by Yorke's admiration for Warp Records artists such as Aphex Twin; in 2013, Yorke named Aphex Twin as his biggest influence. "Kid A" also samples early computer music. 1970s krautrock bands such as Can and Neu! were other major influences during this period. Jonny Greenwood's interest in 20th-century classical music also had a role, as the influence of composers Krzysztof Penderecki and Olivier Messiaen was apparent. Since the recording of "Kid A", Greenwood has played the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument popularised by Messiaen. Recording "In Rainbows", Radiohead mentioned rock, electronic, hip hop and experimental musicians as influences, including Björk, M.I.A, Liars, Modeselektor and Spank Rock. In 2011, Yorke denied that Radiohead had set out to make "experimental music", saying they were "constantly absorbing music" and that a variety of musicians are always influencing them.


title: Radiohead

text: Radiohead songs usually begin as a sketch by Yorke, which is harmonically developed by Jonny Greenwood before the rest of the band develop their parts. Whereas Yorke has never learnt to read sheet music, Greenwood is trained in music theory; in "Pitchfork", Ryan Dombal wrote that "the duo's left brain-right brain dynamic has proven to be one of the most adventurous in rock history".


title: Radiohead

text: All the band members have a role in arrangement. While Greenwood plays most lead guitar parts, O'Brien often creates ambient effects, making extensive use of effects units. The band often try several approaches to songs, and may develop them over years; for example, Radiohead first performed "True Love Waits" in 1995 before releasing it in a different arrangement on "A Moon Shaped Pool" in 2016. Greenwood said he saw Radiohead as "just a kind of an arrangement to form songs using whatever technology suits the song", be it a cello or a laptop.


title: Radiohead

text: The "Kid A" and "Amnesiac" sessions brought a change in Radiohead's music and working methods. Since their shift from conventional rock instrumentation toward electronic sound, the members have gained flexibility and often switch instruments. On "Kid A" and "Amnesiac", Yorke played keyboard and bass, Jonny Greenwood played ondes Martenot, Colin Greenwood worked on sampling, and O'Brien and Selway worked with drum machines and digital manipulation. In 2004, Yorke said that where his power in the band had been "absolutely unbalanced" and that he would "subvert everybody else's power at all costs", later albums had been more democratic.


title: Radiohead

text: Yorke is Radiohead's lyricist. Though his early lyrics were personal, from "Kid A" he experimented with cutting up words and phrases and assembling them at random. He deliberately uses cliches, idioms and other common expressions, suggesting "a mind consumed by meaningless data". The "New Republic" writer Ryan Kearney speculated that Yorke's use of common expressions, which he described as "Radioheadisms", was an attempt "to sap our common tongue of meaning and expose the vapidity of everyday discourse".


title: Radiohead

text: According to Yorke, many of his lyrics are motivated by anger, expressing his political and environmental concerns and written as "a constant response to doublethink". "Pitchfork" wrote that Yorke's lyrics on "A Moon Shaped Pool" were less cynical, conveying wonder and amazement. Yorke dismissed accusations that Radiohead make "depressing" music, saying in 2004: "Depressing music to me is just shit music. It's like air freshener – just a nasty little poison in the air."


title: Radiohead

text: Radiohead had sold more than 30 million albums worldwide by 2011. Their work places highly in both listener polls and critics' lists of the best music of the 1990s and 2000s. In 2005, "Rolling Stone" named them the 73rd greatest artist of all time; Jonny Greenwood and O'Brien were both included in "Rolling Stone"s list of the best guitarists, and Yorke in their list of the best singers. They are the most nominated act for the Mercury Prize, with five nominated albums. They have been listed among the greatest bands of all time by "Spin" (15th) and among the greatest artists by VH1 (29th). They were also ranked as the third-best British band in history by Harry Fletcher of the "Evening Standard". Radiohead were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2009, "Rolling Stone" readers voted Radiohead the second-best artist of the 2000s, behind Green Day. In 2021, "Pitchfork" readers voted three Radiohead albums among the ten greatest albums of the previous 25 years, including "Kid A" at number one.


title: Radiohead

text: Radiohead are cited as one of the foremost rock bands of the 21st century. Their 90s albums "The Bends" and "OK Computer" influenced a generation of British acts, including Coldplay, Keane, James Blunt and Travis. In 2008, "Rolling Stone" ranked Yorke as the 66th greatest vocalist of all time and one of the most influential singers of his generation. Radiohead's experimental approach is credited with expanding alternative rock. According to the "AllMusic" journalist Stephen Thomas Erlewine, in the early 21st century, Radiohead became "a touchstone for everything that is fearless and adventurous in rock", succeeding David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Talking Heads. In 2003, the "Village Voice" critic Robert Christgau wrote that Radiohead were "the only youngish band standing that combines critical consensus with the ability to fill a venue larger than the Hammerstein Ballroom". Gavin Haynes of "NME" described Radiohead in 2014 as "our generation's Beatles". In 2020, the academic Daphne Brooks described Radiohead as "the blackest white rock band to emerge over the past 30 years", citing their black jazz influences, influence on black artists, and their "introspective other worlds", which parallel the work of radical black artists.


title: Radiohead

text: "Kid A" is credited for pioneering the use of the internet to stream and promote music. The pay-what-you-want release for "In Rainbows" is credited as a major step for music distribution; "Forbes" wrote that it "helped forge the template for unconventional album releases in the internet age", ahead of artists such as Beyoncé and Drake. Speaking at Radiohead's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the singer David Byrne praised Radiohead's musical and release innovations, which he said had influenced the entire music industry.


title: Radiohead

text: Nigel Godrich first worked with Radiohead as an audio engineer on their second album, "The Bends". He has produced all their studio albums since their third album, "OK Computer." He also plays Chieftain Mews, a long-running character appearing in Radiohead's promotional material. Godrich has been dubbed the band's "sixth member", an allusion to George Martin being called the "Fifth Beatle". In 2016, Godrich said: "I can only ever have one band like Radiohead who I've worked with for this many years. That's a very deep and profound relationship. The Beatles could only have ever had one George Martin; they couldn't have switched producers halfway through their career. All that work, trust, and knowledge of each other would have been thrown out of the window and they'd have to start again."


title: Radiohead

text: Graphic artist Stanley Donwood met Yorke when they were art students. Together, they have produced all of Radiohead's album covers and visual artwork since 1994. Donwood works in the studio with the band as they record, allowing the music to influence the artwork. He and Yorke won a Grammy in 2002 for the special edition of "Amnesiac" packaged as a library book.


title: Radiohead

text: Dilly Gent has commissioned all Radiohead music videos since "OK Computer", working with the band to find directors. Since Radiohead's formation, Andi Watson has been their lighting and stage director, designing the visuals of their live concerts. Backline Chief and Technician Peter "Plank" Clements has worked with Radiohead since before "The Bends", overseeing the technical management of studio recordings and live performances. Jim Warren has been Radiohead's live sound engineer since their first tour in 1992, and recorded early tracks including "High and Dry" and "Pop Is Dead". Drummer Clive Deamer was enlisted in 2011 to help perform the complex rhythms of "The King of Limbs", and has performed and recorded with Radiohead since. Paul Thomas Anderson has directed several music videos for Yorke and Radiohead, and has collaborated with Jonny Greenwood on several film scores and the 2015 documentary "Junun". Radiohead are managed by Chris Hufford and Bryce Edge of Courtyard Management. Hufford produced their first release, the "Drill" EP, and co-produced their first album, "Pablo Honey."


title: Radiohead

text: Radiohead recorded their first six albums under contract with Parlophone, a subsidiary of EMI. For their seventh album, "In Rainbows" (2007), they did not renew the contract, as they did not trust the new management under Guy Hands and EMI would not give them control over their back catalogue. They have self-released their subsequent work, with retail editions released by XL Recordings. In October 2015, Radiohead sued Parlophone for deductions made from downloads of their back catalogue.


title: Radiohead

text: In September 2012, EMI was bought by Universal Music. The European Commission approved the deal on the condition that Universal Music divest Parlophone, which controlled the Radiohead records. In February 2013, Parlophone, along with Radiohead's back catalogue, was bought by Warner Music Group (WMG). As a condition of the purchase, WMG made an agreement with the Merlin Network and the trade group Impala to divest 30% of the Parlophone catalogues to independent labels, with artist approval. As a result, in April 2016, WMG transferred Radiohead's back catalogue to XL. "" and the EMI reissues released in 2008 without Radiohead's approval were removed from streaming services.


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: Our Flag Means Death is an American period romantic comedy television series created by David Jenkins. Set in the early 18th century during the Golden Age of Piracy, the series follows the misadventures of gentleman-turned-pirate Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and his crew aboard the "Revenge" as they try to make a name for themselves as pirates and cross paths with famed pirate captain Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) and his right-hand-man Izzy Hands (Con O'Neill).


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: "Our Flag Means Death" was released on HBO Max from March 3 to 24, 2022. It received positive reviews, including praise for its LGBTQ+ representation, and was renewed for a second season in June 2022. The series will be available on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two from 4th January, 2023.


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: The series is loosely based on the life of Stede Bonnet. In 1717, Captain Bonnet is a member of the landed gentry of Barbados who abandons his comfortable life and family to prove himself as a pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy, despite having no aptitude for the role. Sailing aboard his ship the "Revenge", Captain Bonnet and his dysfunctional crew struggle to survive against deadly threats from naval warships and other bloodthirsty pirates. During their misadventures the crew of the "Revenge" cross paths with notorious pirate captain Edward Teach and his crew, including right-hand-man Izzy Hands, and Bonnet and Teach eventually fall in love.


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: Creator and showrunner David Jenkins was inspired to write the show after learning about Stede Bonnet from his wife and subsequently reading his Wikipedia article. He was particularly interested in filling in the blanks of Bonnet's life, trying to find his motivations for abandoning his family as well as understanding why Blackbeard took him under his wing. From the outset he envisioned the show as centering on a romantic relationship between Bonnet and Blackbeard, and pitched it as such.


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: Taika Waititi, who shares a manager with Jenkins, became involved after Jenkins told him the story of Stede Bonnet and asked if he wanted to be involved. Waititi was attracted to the project because of what he believed to be Jenkins' original approach to pirates. In subsequent discussions they agreed that a romance between Bonnet and Teach was "the reason to do the show." Garrett Basch later joined the project as executive producer after reading the script for the pilot episode.


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: The show was given a straight to series order by HBO Max in September 2020 with Jenkins, Basch and Halstead as executive producers, and Waititi as both an executive producer and director of the first episode. On June 1, 2022, the series was renewed for a second season.


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: Casting an actor to play Stede Bonnet began shortly after the series was ordered. While Rhys Darby's name was mentioned early in the process, it was not until after an unsuccessful round of auditions and most of the script had been written that he was again brought into consideration. His casting was officially announced in January 2021. Jenkins stated that Darby made an otherwise unlikable Stede Bonnet likeable, telling "Slash Film" that he was "the only person who could play it." Darby, whose career has consisted primarily of supporting comedic roles, saw the role as an opportunity to branch out and play a leading, and more dramatic role, telling "Deadline" "I looked at myself and how much experience I've had over the years and I felt maybe it is time to step up."


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: Taika Waititi, who was already attached as executive producer and director, joined the cast to play Blackbeard four months later in April 2021. Jenkins had begun writing the role with Waititi in mind, and eventually approached him over text asking if he would be interested in playing Blackbeard. In the official casting announcement Jenkins said of Waititi "Our Blackbeard is a legend, a lover, a fighter, a tactical genius, a poetic soul and quite possibly insane. Only one man could play this role, and that is the great Taika Waititi. We're thrilled beyond measure he's decided to don the beard."


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: In June, Kristian Nairn, Nathan Foad, Samson Kayo, Rory Kinnear, Con O'Neill and Vico Ortiz were added to the cast, with Ewen Bremner, David Fane, Joel Fry, Guz Khan and Matthew Maher added in July. Leslie Jones, Nat Faxon, Fred Armisen and Samba Schutte would be cast in recurring roles in August.


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: Filming took place between June 14 and September 28, 2021. Taika Waititi, who serves as an executive producer, also directed the pilot episode, which was filmed after Waititi completed production on "". The scenes aboard the "Revenge" were filmed on a soundstage using StageCraft.


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: The second season began filming on September 25, 2022, in New Zealand. The season was set to wrap on December 13, 2022.


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: The original score for the series was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh. On May 5, 2022 it was announced that the soundtrack album for the first season would be released by "WaterTower Music" on May 6, 2022.


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating with an average rating of 7.60/10, based on 35 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, ""Our Flag Means Death"s gentle sensibility doesn't quite strike comedic gold, but its bemusing band of buccaneers are endearing enough that viewers seeking a comforting watch will find bountiful booty." Metacritic gave the first season a weighted average score of 70 out of 100 based on 13 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The show became the most in demand series in the United States after its finale, unseating "The Book of Boba Fett", which had claimed the top spot for three months.


title: Our Flag Means Death

text: The series has garnered praise for its substantial LGBTQ+ representation, which consists of three queer relationships, one of which involves a nonbinary character (Jim Jimenez). The central romance of the show, between Bonnet and Teach, was originally believed by many to be a "friendship". It has also been praised for its subversion of the common trope of queerbaiting by making their relationship explicit before the end of the season.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: The "Billboard" Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by "Billboard" magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming in the United States.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: The weekly tracking period for sales was initially Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but was changed to Friday to Thursday in July 2015. This tracking period also applies to compiling online streaming data. Radio airplay, which, unlike sales figures and streaming, is readily available on a real-time basis, is also tracked on a Friday to Thursday cycle effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021 (previously Monday to Sunday and before July 2015, Wednesday to Tuesday). A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by "Billboard" on Tuesdays but post-dated to the following Saturday.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: The first number-one song of the "Billboard" Hot 100 was "Poor Little Fool" by Ricky Nelson, on August 4, 1958. As of the issue for the week ending on December 17, 2022, the "Billboard" Hot 100 has had 1,144 different number-one entries. The chart's current number-one song is "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: The first chart published by "Billboard" was "Last Week's Ten Best Sellers Among the Popular Songs", a list of best-selling sheet music, in July 1913. Other charts listed popular song performances in theatres and recitals. In 1928, "Popular Numbers Featured by Famous Singers and Leaders" appeared, which added radio performances to in-person performances. On January 4, 1936, Billboard magazine published "Ten Best Records for Week Ending", which recorded the 10 top selling records of three leading record companies as reported by the companies themselves. In October 1938, a review list "The Week's Best Records" was retitled "The Billboard Record Buying Guide" by incorporating airplay and sheet music sales, which would eventually become the first trade survey of record popularity. This, the full-page "Billboard Music Popularity Chart" for week ending July 20, 1940, and published in the July 27 issue, with lists covering jukebox play, retail sales, sheet music sales, and radio play. Listed were 10 songs of the National "Best Selling Retail Records", which is the fore-runner of today's pop chart, with "I'll Never Smile Again" by Tommy Dorsey its first number one.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: Starting on March 24, 1945, "Billboard"s lead popularity chart was the "Honor Roll of Hits". This chart ranked the most popular songs regardless of performer (it combined different versions of the same song by different artists) based on record and sheet sales, disk jockey, and jukebox performances as determined by "Billboard"s weekly nationwide survey. At the start of the rock era in 1955, there were three charts that measured songs by individual metrics:


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: Although officially all three charts had equal "weight" in terms of their importance, "Billboard" retrospectively considers the "Best Sellers in Stores" chart when referencing a song's performance before the creation of the Hot 100. On the week ending November 12, 1955, "Billboard" published The Top 100 for the first time. "The Top 100" combined all aspects of a single's performance (sales, airplay and jukebox activity), based on a point system that typically gave sales (purchases) more weight than radio airplay. The first No. 1 in that chart was "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" by The Four Aces. The "Best Sellers in Stores", "Most Played by Jockeys" and "Most Played in Jukeboxes" charts continued to be published concurrently with the new "Top 100" chart.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: On June 17, 1957, "Billboard" discontinued the "Most Played in Jukeboxes" chart, as the popularity of jukeboxes waned and radio stations incorporated more and more rock-oriented music into their playlists. The week of July 28, 1958, had the final "Most Played by Jockeys" and "Top 100" charts, both of which had Perez Prado's instrumental version of "Patricia" ascending to the top.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: On August 4, 1958, "Billboard" premiered one main all-genre singles chart: the "Hot 100", with "Poor Little Fool" by Ricky Nelson its first No. 1. The Hot 100 quickly became the industry standard and "Billboard" discontinued the "Best Sellers In Stores" chart on October 13, 1958.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: The Hot 100 was created by journalists Tom Noonan, Paul Ackerman, and Seymour Stein; Stein does not recall who chose the name.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: The "Billboard" Hot 100 is still the standard by which a song's popularity is measured in the United States. The Hot 100 is ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS, sales data compiled by Nielsen Soundscan (both at retail and digitally) and streaming activity provided by online music sources.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: There are several component charts that contribute to the overall calculation of the Hot 100. The most significant ones are:


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: The tracking week for sales, streaming and airplay begins on Friday and ends on Thursday (airplay used to have a tracking week from Monday to Sunday, but effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021, the week was adjusted to align with the other two metrics). A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by "Billboard" on Tuesday. Each chart is post-dated with the "week-ending" issue date four days after the charts are refreshed online (i.e., the following Saturday). For example:


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: The methods and policies by which this data is obtained and compiled have changed many times throughout the chart's history.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: Although the advent of a singles music chart spawned chart historians and chart-watchers and greatly affected pop culture and produced countless bits of trivia, the main purpose of the Hot 100 is to aid those within the music industry: to reflect the popularity of the "product" (the singles, the albums, etc.) and to track the trends of the buying public. "Billboard" has (many times) changed its methodology and policies to give the most precise and accurate reflection of what is popular. A very basic example of this would be the ratio given to sales and airplay. During the Hot 100's early history, singles were the leading way by which people bought music. At times, when singles sales were robust, more weight was given to a song's retail points than to its radio airplay.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: As the decades passed, the recording industry concentrated more on album sales than singles sales. Musicians eventually expressed their creative output in the form of full-length albums rather than singles, and by the 1990s many record companies stopped releasing singles altogether (see "Album Cuts", below). Eventually, a song's airplay points were weighted more so than its sales. "Billboard" has adjusted the sales/airplay ratio many times to more accurately reflect the true popularity of songs.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: "Billboard" has also changed its Hot 100 policy regarding "two-sided singles" several times. The pre-Hot 100 chart "Best Sellers in Stores" listed popular A- and-B-sides together, with the side that was played most often (based on its other charts) listed first. One of the most notable of these, but far from the only one, was Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" / "Hound Dog". During the Presley single's chart run, top billing was switched back and forth between the two sides several times. But on the concurrent "Most Played in Juke Boxes", "Most Played by Jockeys" and the "Top 100", the two songs were listed separately, as was true of all songs. With the initiation of the Hot 100 in 1958, A- and-B-sides charted separately, as they had on the former Top 100.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: Starting with the Hot 100 chart for the week ending November 29, 1969, this rule was altered; if both sides received significant airplay, they were listed together. This started to become a moot point by 1972, as most major record labels solidified a trend they had started in the 1960s by putting the same song on both sides of the singles provided to radio.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: More complex issues began to arise as the typical A-and-B-side format of singles gave way to 12 inch singles and maxi-singles, many of which contained more than one B-side. Further problems arose when, in several cases, a B-side would eventually overtake the A-side in popularity, thus prompting record labels to release a new single, featuring the former B-side as the A-side, along with a "new" B-side.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: As many Hot 100 chart policies have been modified over the years, one rule always remained constant: songs were not eligible to enter the Hot 100 unless they were available to purchase as a single. However, on December 5, 1998, the Hot 100 changed from being a "singles" chart to a "songs" chart. During the 1990s, a growing trend in the music industry was to promote songs to radio without ever releasing them as singles. It was claimed by major record labels that singles were cannibalizing album sales, so they were slowly phased out. During this period, accusations began to fly of chart manipulation as labels would hold off on releasing a single until airplay was at its absolute peak, thus prompting a top ten or, in some cases, a number-one debut. In many cases, a label would delete a single from its catalog after only one week, thus allowing the song to enter the Hot 100, make a high debut and then slowly decline in position as the one-time production of the retail single sold out.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: It was during this period that several popular mainstream hits never charted on the Hot 100, or charted well after their airplay had declined. During the period that they were not released as singles, the songs were not eligible to chart. Many of these songs dominated the "Hot 100 Airplay" chart for extended periods of time:


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: As debate and conflicts occurred more and more often, "Billboard" finally answered the requests of music industry artists and insiders by including airplay-only singles (or "album cuts") in the Hot 100.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: Extended play (EP) releases were listed by "Billboard" on the Hot 100 and in pre-Hot 100 charts (Top 100) until the mid-to-late 1960s. With the growing popularity of albums, it was decided to move EPs (which typically contain four to six tracks) from the Hot 100 to the "Billboard" 200, where they are included to this day.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: Since February 12, 2005, the "Billboard" Hot 100 tracks paid digital downloads from such internet services as iTunes, Musicmatch, and Rhapsody. "Billboard" initially started tracking downloads in 2003 with the Hot Digital Tracks chart. However, these downloads did not count towards the Hot 100 and that chart (as opposed to Hot Digital Songs) counted each version of a song separately (the chart still exists today along with Hot Digital Songs). This was the first major overhaul of the Hot 100's chart formula since December 1998.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: The change in methodology has shaken up the chart considerably, with some songs debuting on the chart strictly with robust online sales and others making drastic leaps. In recent years, several songs have been able to achieve 80-to-90 position jumps in a single week as their digital components were made available at online music stores. Since 2006, the all-time record for the biggest single-week upward movement was broken nine times.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: In the issue dated August 11, 2007, "Billboard" began incorporating weekly data from streaming media and on-demand services into the Hot 100. The first two major companies to provide their statistics to Nielsen BDS on a weekly basis were AOL Music and Yahoo! Music. On March 24, 2012, Billboard premiered its On-Demand Songs chart, and its data was incorporated into the equation that compiles the Hot 100. This was expanded to a broader Streaming Songs chart in January 2013, which ranks web radio streams from services such as Spotify, as well as on-demand audio titles. In February 2013, U.S. views for a song on YouTube were added to the Hot 100 formula. "Harlem Shake" was the first song to reach number one after the changes were made.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: In July 2020, "Billboard" announced that they would no longer allow sales of physical/digital bundles to be reported as digital sales. This refers to songs being bought along with merchandise, either from an artists website or through another vendor. The magazine stated that this was a tactic generally used by certain artists to boost their chart positions. Instead, such physical releases are now only counted when they are shipped to the consumer, rendering the tactic "ineffectual".


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: A growing trend in the early first decade of the 21st century was to issue a song as a "remix" that was so drastically different in structure and lyrical content from its original version that it was essentially a whole new song. Under normal circumstances, airplay points from a song's album version, "radio" mix and/or dance music remix, etc. were all combined and factored into the song's performance on the Hot 100, as the structure, lyrics and melody remained intact. Criticisms began when songs were being completely re-recorded to the point that they no longer resembled the original recording. The first such example of this scenario is Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Real". Originally entering the Hot 100 in its album version, a "remix" was issued in the midst of its chart run that featured rapper Ja Rule. This new version proved to be far more popular than the album version and the track was propelled to number one.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: To address this issue, "Billboard" now separates airplay points from a song's original version and its remix, if the remix is determined to be a "new song". Since administering this new chart rule, several songs have charted twice, normally credited as "Part 1" and "Part 2". The remix rule is still in place.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: "Billboard", in an effort to allow the chart to remain as current as possible and to give representation to new and developing artists and tracks, has (since 1991) removed titles that have reached certain criteria regarding its current rank and number of weeks on the chart. Recurrent criteria have been modified several times and currently (), a song is permanently moved to "recurrent status" if it has spent 20 weeks on the Hot 100 and fallen below position number 50. Additionally, descending songs are removed from the chart if ranking below number 25 after 52 weeks. Exceptions are made to re-releases and sudden resurgence in popularity of tracks that have taken a very long time to gain mainstream success. These rare cases are handled on a case-by-case basis and ultimately determined by "Billboard"s chart managers and staff. Christmas songs have been a regular presence on the Hot 100 each December since the relaxation of recurrent rules, culminating in Mariah Carey's 1994 recording "All I Want for Christmas is You" reaching #1 on the chart in December 2019.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: "Billboard" altered its tracking-week for sales, streaming and radio airplay in order to conform to a new Global Release Date, which now falls on Fridays in all major-market territories (United States product was formerly released on Tuesdays before June 2015). This modified tracking schedule took effect in the issue dated July 25, 2015.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: "Billboard"s "chart year" runs from the first week of December to the final week in November. This altered calendar allows for "Billboard" to calculate year-end charts and release them in time for its final print issue in the last week of December.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: Before Nielsen SoundScan, year-end singles charts were calculated by an inverse-point system based solely on a song's performance on the Hot 100 (for example, a song would be given one point for a week spent at position 100, two points for a week spent at position 99 and so forth, up to 100 points for each week spent at number one). Other factors including the total weeks a song spent on the chart and at its peak position were calculated into its year-end total.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: After "Billboard" began obtaining sales and airplay information from Nielsen SoundScan, the year-end charts are now calculated by a very straightforward cumulative total of yearlong sales, streaming, and airplay points. This gives a more accurate picture of any given year's most popular tracks, as the points accrued by one song during its week at number one in March might be less than those accrued by another song reaching number three in January. Songs at the peak of their popularity at the time of the November/December chart-year cutoff many times end up ranked on the following year's chart as well, as their cumulative points are split between the two chart-years, but often are ranked lower than they would have been had the peak occurred in a single year.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: The Hot 100 served for many years as the data source for the weekly radio countdown show "American Top 40". This relationship ended on November 30, 1991, as "American Top 40" started using the airplay-only side of the Hot 100 (then called Top 40 Radio Monitor). The ongoing splintering of Top 40 radio in the early 1990s led stations to lean into specific formats, meaning that practically no station would play the wide array of genres that typically composed each weekly Hot 100 chart.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: An artist or band's ability to have hits in the Hot 100 across multiple decades is recognized as a sign of longevity and being able to adapt to changing musical styles. Only five artists had a Hot 100 Top 40 hit in each of the four decades from the 1980s through the 2010s: Michael Jackson, Madonna, "Weird Al" Yankovic, U2, and Kenny G. Mariah Carey is the first artist to have a number-one single in four different decades.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: A new chart, the Pop 100, was created by "Billboard" in February 2005 to answer criticism that the Hot 100 at the time was too dominated by hip hop and R&B. It was discontinued in June 2009 due to the charts becoming increasingly similar.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: The Canadian Hot 100 was launched June 16, 2007. Like the Hot 100 chart, it uses sales and airplay tracking compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and BDS.


title: Billboard Hot 100

text: The "Billboard" Japan Hot 100 was launched in the issue dated May 31, 2008, using the same methodologies as the Hot 100 charts for the U.S. and Canada, using sales and airplay data from SoundScan Japan and radio tracking service Plantech.


title: Halloween

text: Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.


title: Halloween

text: One theory holds that many Halloween traditions were influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, which are believed to have pagan roots. Some go further and suggest that Samhain may have been Christianized as All Hallow's Day, along with its eve, by the early Church. Other academics believe Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, being the vigil of All Hallow's Day. Celebrated in Ireland and Scotland for centuries, Irish and Scottish immigrants took many Halloween customs to North America in the 19th century, and then through American influence Halloween had spread to other countries by the late 20th and early 21st century.


title: Halloween

text: Popular Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising and souling), attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins or turnips into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, and watching horror or Halloween-themed films. Some people practice the Christian religious observances of All Hallows' Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, although it is a secular celebration for others. Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes.


title: Halloween

text: The word "Halloween" or "Hallowe'en" ("Saints' evening") is of Christian origin; a term equivalent to "All Hallows Eve" is attested in Old English. The word "hallowe[']en" comes from the Scottish form of "All Hallows' Eve" (the evening before All Hallows' Day): is the Scots term for "eve" or "evening", and is contracted to or ; "(All) Hallow(s) E(v)en" became "Hallowe'en".


title: Halloween

text: Halloween is thought to have influences from Christian beliefs and practices. The English word 'Halloween' comes from "All Hallows' Eve", being the evening before the Christian holy days of All Hallows' Day (All Saints' Day) on 1 November and All Souls' Day on 2 November. Since the time of the early Church, major feasts in Christianity (such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost) had vigils that began the night before, as did the feast of All Hallows'. These three days are collectively called Allhallowtide and are a time when Western Christians honour all saints and pray for recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven. Commemorations of all saints and martyrs were held by several churches on various dates, mostly in springtime. In 4th-century Roman Edessa it was held on 13 May, and on 13 May 609, Pope Boniface IV re-dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to "St Mary and all martyrs". This was the date of Lemuria, an ancient Roman festival of the dead.


title: Halloween

text: In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III (731–741) founded an oratory in St Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors". Some sources say it was dedicated on 1 November, while others say it was on Palm Sunday in April 732. By 800, there is evidence that churches in Ireland and Northumbria were holding a feast commemorating all saints on 1 November. Alcuin of Northumbria, a member of Charlemagne's court, may then have introduced this 1 November date in the Frankish Empire. In 835, it became the official date in the Frankish Empire. Some suggest this was due to Celtic influence, while others suggest it was a Germanic idea, although it is claimed that both Germanic and Celtic-speaking peoples commemorated the dead at the beginning of winter. They may have seen it as the most fitting time to do so, as it is a time of 'dying' in nature. It is also suggested the change was made on the "practical grounds that Rome in summer could not accommodate the great number of pilgrims who flocked to it", and perhaps because of public health concerns over Roman Fever, which claimed a number of lives during Rome's sultry summers.


title: Halloween

text: By the end of the 12th century, the celebration had become known as the holy days of obligation in Western Christianity and involved such traditions as ringing church bells for souls in purgatory. It was also "customary for criers dressed in black to parade the streets, ringing a bell of mournful sound and calling on all good Christians to remember the poor souls". The Allhallowtide custom of baking and sharing soul cakes for all christened souls, has been suggested as the origin of trick-or-treating. The custom dates back at least as far as the 15th century and was found in parts of England, Wales, Flanders, Bavaria and Austria. Groups of poor people, often children, would go door-to-door during Allhallowtide, collecting soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the dead, especially the souls of the givers' friends and relatives. This was called "souling". Soul cakes were also offered for the souls themselves to eat, or the 'soulers' would act as their representatives. As with the Lenten tradition of hot cross buns, soul cakes were often marked with a cross, indicating they were baked as alms. Shakespeare mentions souling in his comedy "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" (1593). While souling, Christians would carry "lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips", which could have originally represented souls of the dead; jack-o'-lanterns were used to ward off evil spirits. On All Saints' and All Souls' Day during the 19th century, candles were lit in homes in Ireland, Flanders, Bavaria, and in Tyrol, where they were called "soul lights", that served "to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes". In many of these places, candles were also lit at graves on All Souls' Day. In Brittany, libations of milk were poured on the graves of kinfolk, or food would be left overnight on the dinner table for the returning souls; a custom also found in Tyrol and parts of Italy.


title: Halloween

text: Christian minister Prince Sorie Conteh linked the wearing of costumes to the belief in vengeful ghosts: "It was traditionally believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, and All Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes". In the Middle Ages, churches in Europe that were too poor to display relics of martyred saints at Allhallowtide let parishioners dress up as saints instead. Some Christians observe this custom at Halloween today. Lesley Bannatyne believes this could have been a Christianization of an earlier pagan custom. Many Christians in mainland Europe, especially in France, believed "that once a year, on Hallowe'en, the dead of the churchyards rose for one wild, hideous carnival" known as the "danse macabre", which was often depicted in church decoration. Christopher Allmand and Rosamond McKitterick write in "The New Cambridge Medieval History" that the "danse macabre" urged Christians "not to forget the end of all earthly things". The "danse macabre" was sometimes enacted in European village pageants and court masques, with people "dressing up as corpses from various strata of society", and this may be the origin of Halloween costume parties.


title: Halloween

text: In Britain, these customs came under attack during the Reformation, as Protestants berated purgatory as a "popish" doctrine incompatible with the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. State-sanctioned ceremonies associated with the intercession of saints and prayer for souls in purgatory were abolished during the Elizabethan reform, though All Hallow's Day remained in the English liturgical calendar to "commemorate saints as godly human beings". For some Nonconformist Protestants, the theology of All Hallows' Eve was redefined; "souls cannot be journeying from Purgatory on their way to Heaven, as Catholics frequently believe and assert. Instead, the so-called ghosts are thought to be in actuality evil spirits". Other Protestants believed in an intermediate state known as Hades (Bosom of Abraham). In some localities, Catholics and Protestants continued souling, candlelit processions, or ringing church bells for the dead; the Anglican church eventually suppressed this bell-ringing. Mark Donnelly, a professor of medieval archaeology, and historian Daniel Diehl write that "barns and homes were blessed to protect people and livestock from the effect of witches, who were believed to accompany the malignant spirits as they traveled the earth". After 1605, Hallowtide was eclipsed in England by Guy Fawkes Night (5 November), which appropriated some of its customs. In England, the ending of official ceremonies related to the intercession of saints led to the development of new, unofficial Hallowtide customs. In 18th–19th century rural Lancashire, Catholic families gathered on hills on the night of All Hallows' Eve. One held a bunch of burning straw on a pitchfork while the rest knelt around him, praying for the souls of relatives and friends until the flames went out. This was known as "teen'lay". There was a similar custom in Hertfordshire, and the lighting of 'tindle' fires in Derbyshire. Some suggested these 'tindles' were originally lit to "guide the poor souls back to earth". In Scotland and Ireland, old Allhallowtide customs that were at odds with Reformed teaching were not suppressed as they "were important to the life cycle and rites of passage of local communities" and curbing them would have been difficult.


title: Halloween

text: In parts of Italy until the 15th century, families left a meal out for the ghosts of relatives, before leaving for church services. In 19th-century Italy, churches staged "theatrical re-enactments of scenes from the lives of the saints" on All Hallow's Day, with "participants represented by realistic wax figures". In 1823, the graveyard of Holy Spirit Hospital in Rome presented a scene in which bodies of those who recently died were arrayed around a wax statue of an angel who pointed upward towards heaven. In the same country, "parish priests went house-to-house, asking for small gifts of food which they shared among themselves throughout that night". In Spain, they continue to bake special pastries called "bones of the holy" () and set them on graves. At cemeteries in Spain and France, as well as in Latin America, priests lead Christian processions and services during Allhallowtide, after which people keep an all night vigil. In 19th-century San Sebastián, there was a procession to the city cemetery at Allhallowtide, an event that drew beggars who "appeal[ed] to the tender recollectons of one's deceased relations and friends" for sympathy.


title: Halloween

text: Today's Halloween customs are thought to have been influenced by folk customs and beliefs from the Celtic-speaking countries, some of which are believed to have pagan roots. Jack Santino, a folklorist, writes that "there was throughout Ireland an uneasy truce existing between customs and beliefs associated with Christianity and those associated with religions that were Irish before Christianity arrived". The origins of Halloween customs are typically linked to the Gaelic festival Samhain.


title: Halloween

text: Samhain is one of the quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and has been celebrated on 31 October1 November in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. A kindred festival has been held by the Brittonic Celts, called "Calan Gaeaf" in Wales, "Kalan Gwav" in Cornwall and "Kalan Goañv" in Brittany; a name meaning "first day of winter". For the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset; thus the festival begins the evening before 1 November by modern reckoning. Samhain is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature. The names have been used by historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century, and are still the Gaelic and Welsh names for Halloween.


title: Halloween

text: Samhain marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year. It was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned. This meant the "Aos Sí", the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into this world and were particularly active. Most scholars see them as "degraded versions of ancient gods [...] whose power remained active in the people's minds even after they had been officially replaced by later religious beliefs". They were both respected and feared, with individuals often invoking the protection of God when approaching their dwellings. At Samhain, the "Aos Sí" were appeased to ensure the people and livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left outside for them. The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Places were set at the dinner table and by the fire to welcome them. The belief that the souls of the dead return home on one night of the year and must be appeased seems to have ancient origins and is found in many cultures. In 19th century Ireland, "candles would be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the eating, drinking, and games would begin".


title: Halloween

text: Throughout Ireland and Britain, especially in the Celtic-speaking regions, the household festivities included divination rituals and games intended to foretell one's future, especially regarding death and marriage. Apples and nuts were often used, and customs included apple bobbing, nut roasting, scrying or mirror-gazing, pouring molten lead or egg whites into water, dream interpretation, and others. Special bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them. Their flames, smoke, and ashes were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers. In some places, torches lit from the bonfire were carried sunwise around homes and fields to protect them. It is suggested the fires were a kind of imitative or sympathetic magicthey mimicked the Sun and held back the decay and darkness of winter. They were also used for divination and to ward off evil spirits. In Scotland, these bonfires and divination games were banned by the church elders in some parishes. In Wales, bonfires were also lit to "prevent the souls of the dead from falling to earth". Later, these bonfires "kept away the devil".


title: Halloween

text: From at least the 16th century, the festival included mumming and guising in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales. This involved people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the "Aos Sí", or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf, similar to 'souling'. Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also believed to protect oneself from them. In parts of southern Ireland, the guisers included a hobby horse. A man dressed as a "Láir Bhán" (white mare) led youths house-to-house reciting verses – some of which had pagan overtones – in exchange for food. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune. In Scotland, youths went house-to-house with masked, painted or blackened faces, often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed. F. Marian McNeill suggests the ancient festival included people in costume representing the spirits, and that faces were marked or blackened with ashes from the sacred bonfire. In parts of Wales, men went about dressed as fearsome beings called "gwrachod". In the late 19th and early 20th century, young people in Glamorgan and Orkney cross-dressed.


title: Halloween

text: Elsewhere in Europe, mumming was part of other festivals, but in the Celtic-speaking regions, it was "particularly appropriate to a night upon which supernatural beings were said to be abroad and could be imitated or warded off by human wanderers". From at least the 18th century, "imitating malignant spirits" led to playing pranks in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. Wearing costumes and playing pranks at Halloween did not spread to England until the 20th century. Pranksters used hollowed-out turnips or mangel wurzels as lanterns, often carved with grotesque faces. By those who made them, the lanterns were variously said to represent the spirits, or used to ward off evil spirits. They were common in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands in the 19th century, as well as in Somerset (see Punkie Night). In the 20th century they spread to other parts of Britain and became generally known as jack-o'-lanterns.


title: Halloween

text: Lesley Bannatyne and Cindy Ott write that Anglican colonists in the southern United States and Catholic colonists in Maryland "recognized All Hallow's Eve in their church calendars", although the Puritans of New England strongly opposed the holiday, along with other traditional celebrations of the established Church, including Christmas. Almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th century give no indication that Halloween was widely celebrated in North America.


title: Halloween

text: It was not until after mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century that Halloween became a major holiday in America. Most American Halloween traditions were inherited from the Irish and Scots, though "In Cajun areas, a nocturnal Mass was said in cemeteries on Halloween night. Candles that had been blessed were placed on graves, and families sometimes spent the entire night at the graveside". Originally confined to these immigrant communities, it was gradually assimilated into mainstream society and was celebrated coast to coast by people of all social, racial, and religious backgrounds by the early 20th century. Then, through American influence, these Halloween traditions spread to many other countries by the late 20th and early 21st century, including to mainland Europe and some parts of the Far East.


title: Halloween

text: Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time. Jack-o'-lanterns are traditionally carried by guisers on All Hallows' Eve in order to frighten evil spirits. There is a popular Irish Christian folktale associated with the jack-o'-lantern, which in folklore is said to represent a "soul who has been denied entry into both heaven and hell":


title: Halloween

text: The modern imagery of Halloween comes from many sources, including Christian eschatology, national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature (such as the novels "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" and "Dracula") and classic horror films such as "Frankenstein" (1931) and "The Mummy" (1932). Imagery of the skull, a reference to Golgotha in the Christian tradition, serves as "a reminder of death and the transitory quality of human life" and is consequently found in "memento mori" and "vanitas" compositions; skulls have therefore been commonplace in Halloween, which touches on this theme. Traditionally, the back walls of churches are "decorated with a depiction of the Last Judgment, complete with graves opening and the dead rising, with a heaven filled with angels and a hell filled with devils", a motif that has permeated the observance of this triduum. One of the earliest works on the subject of Halloween is from Scottish poet John Mayne, who, in 1780, made note of pranks at Halloween; ""What fearfu' pranks ensue!"", as well as the supernatural associated with the night, ""bogles"" (ghosts), influencing Robert Burns' "Halloween" (1785). Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween. Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, and mythical monsters. Black cats, which have been long associated with witches, are also a common symbol of Halloween. Black, orange, and sometimes purple are Halloween's traditional colors.


title: Halloween

text: Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" implies a "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. The practice is said to have roots in the medieval practice of mumming, which is closely related to souling. John Pymm wrote that "many of the feast days associated with the presentation of mumming plays were celebrated by the Christian Church." These feast days included All Hallows' Eve, Christmas, Twelfth Night and Shrove Tuesday. Mumming practiced in Germany, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, involved masked persons in fancy dress who "paraded the streets and entered houses to dance or play dice in silence".


title: Halloween

text: In England, from the medieval period, up until the 1930s, people practiced the Christian custom of souling on Halloween, which involved groups of soulers, both Protestant and Catholic, going from parish to parish, begging the rich for soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the souls of the givers and their friends. In the Philippines, the practice of souling is called Pangangaluluwa and is practiced on All Hallow's Eve among children in rural areas. People drape themselves in white cloths to represent souls and then visit houses, where they sing in return for prayers and sweets.


title: Halloween

text: In Scotland and Ireland, guisingchildren disguised in costume going from door to door for food or coinsis a traditional Halloween custom. It is recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895 where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit, and money. In Ireland, the most popular phrase for kids to shout (until the 2000s) was "Help the Halloween Party". The practice of guising at Halloween in North America was first recorded in 1911, where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, reported children going "guising" around the neighborhood.


title: Halloween

text: American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts wrote the first book-length history of Halloween in the US; "" (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America". In her book, Kelley touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic; "Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Halloween customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries".


title: Halloween

text: While the first reference to "guising" in North America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920. The earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" appears in 1927, in the "Blackie Herald", of Alberta, Canada.


title: Halloween

text: The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but not trick-or-treating. Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice in North America until the 1930s, with the first US appearances of the term in 1934, and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.


title: Halloween

text: A popular variant of trick-or-treating, known as trunk-or-treating (or Halloween tailgating), occurs when "children are offered treats from the trunks of cars parked in a church parking lot", or sometimes, a school parking lot. In a trunk-or-treat event, the trunk (boot) of each automobile is decorated with a certain theme, such as those of children's literature, movies, scripture, and job roles. Trunk-or-treating has grown in popularity due to its perception as being more safe than going door to door, a point that resonates well with parents, as well as the fact that it "solves the rural conundrum in which homes [are] built a half-mile apart".


title: Halloween

text: Halloween costumes were traditionally modeled after figures such as vampires, ghosts, skeletons, scary looking witches, and devils. Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses.


title: Halloween

text: Dressing up in costumes and going "guising" was prevalent in Scotland and Ireland at Halloween by the late 19th century. A Scottish term, the tradition is called "guising" because of the disguises or costumes worn by the children. In Ireland and Scotland, the masks are known as 'false faces', a term recorded in Ayr, Scotland in 1890 by a Scot describing guisers: "I had mind it was Halloween . . . the wee callans were at it already, rinning aboot wi’ their fause-faces (false faces) on and their bits o’ turnip lanthrons (lanterns) in their haun (hand)". Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 20th century, as often for adults as for children, and when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in Canada and the US in the 1920s and 1930s.


title: Halloween

text: Eddie J. Smith, in his book "Halloween, Hallowed is Thy Name", offers a religious perspective to the wearing of costumes on All Hallows' Eve, suggesting that by dressing up as creatures "who at one time caused us to fear and tremble", people are able to poke fun at Satan "whose kingdom has been plundered by our Saviour". Images of skeletons and the dead are traditional decorations used as "memento mori".


title: Halloween

text: "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" is a fundraising program to support UNICEF, a United Nations Programme that provides humanitarian aid to children in developing countries. Started as a local event in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood in 1950 and expanded nationally in 1952, the program involves the distribution of small boxes by schools (or in modern times, corporate sponsors like Hallmark, at their licensed stores) to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small-change donations from the houses they visit. It is estimated that children have collected more than $118 million for UNICEF since its inception. In Canada, in 2006, UNICEF decided to discontinue their Halloween collection boxes, citing safety and administrative concerns; after consultation with schools, they instead redesigned the program.


title: Halloween

text: The yearly New York's Village Halloween Parade was begun in 1974; it is the world's largest Halloween parade and America's only major nighttime parade, attracting more than 60,000 costumed participants, two million spectators, and a worldwide television audience.


title: Halloween

text: Since the late 2010s, ethnic stereotypes as costumes have increasingly come under scrutiny in the United States. Such and other potentially offensive costumes have been met with increasing public disapproval.


title: Halloween

text: According to a 2018 report from the National Retail Federation, 30 million Americans will spend an estimated $480 million on Halloween costumes for their pets in 2018. This is up from an estimated $200 million in 2010. The most popular costumes for pets are the pumpkin, followed by the hot dog, and the bumblebee in third place.


title: Halloween

text: There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween. Some of these games originated as divination rituals or ways of foretelling one's future, especially regarding death, marriage and children. During the Middle Ages, these rituals were done by a "rare few" in rural communities as they were considered to be "deadly serious" practices. In recent centuries, these divination games have been "a common feature of the household festivities" in Ireland and Britain. They often involve apples and hazelnuts. In Celtic mythology, apples were strongly associated with the Otherworld and immortality, while hazelnuts were associated with divine wisdom. Some also suggest that they derive from Roman practices in celebration of Pomona.


title: Halloween

text: The following activities were a common feature of Halloween in Ireland and Britain during the 17th–20th centuries. Some have become more widespread and continue to be popular today.


title: Halloween

text: One common game is apple bobbing or dunking (which may be called "dooking" in Scotland) in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use only their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drive the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a sticky face. Another once-popular game involves hanging a small wooden rod from the ceiling at head height, with a lit candle on one end and an apple hanging from the other. The rod is spun round and everyone takes turns to try to catch the apple with their teeth.


title: Halloween

text: Several of the traditional activities from Ireland and Britain involve foretelling one's future partner or spouse. An apple would be peeled in one long strip, then the peel tossed over the shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name. Two hazelnuts would be roasted near a fire; one named for the person roasting them and the other for the person they desire. If the nuts jump away from the heat, it is a bad sign, but if the nuts roast quietly it foretells a good match. A salty oatmeal bannock would be baked; the person would eat it in three bites and then go to bed in silence without anything to drink. This is said to result in a dream in which their future spouse offers them a drink to quench their thirst. Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards from the late 19th century and early 20th century.


title: Halloween

text: Another popular Irish game was known as "púicíní" ("blindfolds"); a person would be blindfolded and then would choose between several saucers. The item in the saucer would provide a hint as to their future: a ring would mean that they would marry soon; clay, that they would die soon, perhaps within the year; water, that they would emigrate; rosary beads, that they would take Holy Orders (become a nun, priest, monk, etc.); a coin, that they would become rich; a bean, that they would be poor. The game features prominently in the James Joyce short story "Clay" (1914).


title: Halloween

text: In Ireland and Scotland, items would be hidden in food – usually a cake, barmbrack, cranachan, champ or colcannon – and portions of it served out at random. A person's future would be foretold by the item they happened to find; for example, a ring meant marriage and a coin meant wealth.


title: Halloween

text: Up until the 19th century, the Halloween bonfires were also used for divination in parts of Scotland, Wales and Brittany. When the fire died down, a ring of stones would be laid in the ashes, one for each person. In the morning, if any stone was mislaid it was said that the person it represented would not live out the year.


title: Halloween

text: Telling ghost stories, listening to Halloween-themed songs and watching horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of television series and Halloween-themed specials (with the specials usually aimed at children) are commonly aired on or before Halloween, while new horror films are often released before Halloween to take advantage of the holiday.


title: Halloween

text: Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare patrons. Most attractions are seasonal Halloween businesses that may include haunted houses, corn mazes, and hayrides, and the level of sophistication of the effects has risen as the industry has grown.


title: Halloween

text: The first recorded purpose-built haunted attraction was the Orton and Spooner Ghost House, which opened in 1915 in Liphook, England. This attraction actually most closely resembles a carnival fun house, powered by steam. The House still exists, in the Hollycombe Steam Collection.


title: Halloween

text: It was during the 1930s, about the same time as trick-or-treating, that Halloween-themed haunted houses first began to appear in America. It was in the late 1950s that haunted houses as a major attraction began to appear, focusing first on California. Sponsored by the Children's Health Home Junior Auxiliary, the San Mateo Haunted House opened in 1957. The San Bernardino Assistance League Haunted House opened in 1958. Home haunts began appearing across the country during 1962 and 1963. In 1964, the San Manteo Haunted House opened, as well as the Children's Museum Haunted House in Indianapolis.


title: Halloween

text: The haunted house as an American cultural icon can be attributed to the opening of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland on 12 August 1969. Knott's Berry Farm began hosting its own Halloween night attraction, Knott's Scary Farm, which opened in 1973. Evangelical Christians adopted a form of these attractions by opening one of the first "hell houses" in 1972.


title: Halloween

text: The first Halloween haunted house run by a nonprofit organization was produced in 1970 by the Sycamore-Deer Park Jaycees in Clifton, Ohio. It was cosponsored by WSAI, an AM radio station broadcasting out of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was last produced in 1982. Other Jaycees followed suit with their own versions after the success of the Ohio house. The March of Dimes copyrighted a "Mini haunted house for the March of Dimes" in 1976 and began fundraising through their local chapters by conducting haunted houses soon after. Although they apparently quit supporting this type of event nationally sometime in the 1980s, some March of Dimes haunted houses have persisted until today.


title: Halloween

text: On the evening of 11 May 1984, in Jackson Township, New Jersey, the Haunted Castle (Six Flags Great Adventure) caught fire. As a result of the fire, eight teenagers perished. The backlash to the tragedy was a tightening of regulations relating to safety, building codes and the frequency of inspections of attractions nationwide. The smaller venues, especially the nonprofit attractions, were unable to compete financially, and the better funded commercial enterprises filled the vacuum. Facilities that were once able to avoid regulation because they were considered to be temporary installations now had to adhere to the stricter codes required of permanent attractions.


title: Halloween

text: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, theme parks entered the business seriously. Six Flags Fright Fest began in 1986 and Universal Studios Florida began Halloween Horror Nights in 1991. Knott's Scary Farm experienced a surge in attendance in the 1990s as a result of America's obsession with Halloween as a cultural event. Theme parks have played a major role in globalizing the holiday. Universal Studios Singapore and Universal Studios Japan both participate, while Disney now mounts Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party events at its parks in Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo, as well as in the United States. The theme park haunts are by far the largest, both in scale and attendance.


title: Halloween

text: On All Hallows' Eve, many Western Christian denominations encourage abstinence from meat, giving rise to a variety of vegetarian foods associated with this day.


title: Halloween

text: Because in the Northern Hemisphere Halloween comes in the wake of the yearly apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples outside North America), caramel apples or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.


title: Halloween

text: At one time, candy apples were commonly given to trick-or-treating children, but the practice rapidly waned in the wake of widespread rumors that some individuals were embedding items like pins and razor blades in the apples in the United States. While there is evidence of such incidents, relative to the degree of reporting of such cases, actual cases involving malicious acts are extremely rare and have never resulted in serious injury. Nonetheless, many parents assumed that such heinous practices were rampant because of the mass media. At the peak of the hysteria, some hospitals offered free X-rays of children's Halloween hauls in order to find evidence of tampering. Virtually all of the few known candy poisoning incidents involved parents who poisoned their own children's candy.


title: Halloween

text: One custom that persists in modern-day Ireland is the baking (or more often nowadays, the purchase) of a barmbrack (), which is a light fruitcake, into which a plain ring, a coin, and other charms are placed before baking. It is considered fortunate to be the lucky one who finds it. It has also been said that those who get a ring will find their true love in the ensuing year. This is similar to the tradition of king cake at the festival of Epiphany.


title: Halloween

text: On Hallowe'en (All Hallows' Eve), in Poland, believers were once taught to pray out loud as they walk through the forests in order that the souls of the dead might find comfort; in Spain, Christian priests in tiny villages toll their church bells in order to remind their congregants to remember the dead on All Hallows' Eve. In Ireland, and among immigrants in Canada, a custom includes the Christian practice of abstinence, keeping All Hallows' Eve as a meat-free day and serving pancakes or colcannon instead. In Mexico children make an altar to invite the return of the spirits of dead children ("angelitos").


title: Halloween

text: The Christian Church traditionally observed Hallowe'en through a vigil. Worshippers prepared themselves for feasting on the following All Saints' Day with prayers and fasting. This church service is known as the "Vigil of All Hallows" or the "Vigil of All Saints"; an initiative known as "Night of Light" seeks to further spread the "Vigil of All Hallows" throughout Christendom. After the service, "suitable festivities and entertainments" often follow, as well as a visit to the graveyard or cemetery, where flowers and candles are often placed in preparation for All Hallows' Day. In Finland, because so many people visit the cemeteries on All Hallows' Eve to light votive candles there, they "are known as "valomeri", or seas of light".


title: Halloween

text: Today, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions associated with All Hallow's Eve. Some of these practices include praying, fasting and attending worship services.


title: Halloween

text: Other Protestant Christians also celebrate All Hallows' Eve as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation, alongside All Hallow's Eve or independently from it. This is because Martin Luther is said to have nailed his "Ninety-five Theses" to All Saints' Church in Wittenberg on All Hallows' Eve. Often, "Harvest Festivals" or "Reformation Festivals" are held on All Hallows' Eve, in which children dress up as Bible characters or Reformers. In addition to distributing candy to children who are trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en, many Christians also provide gospel tracts to them. One organization, the American Tract Society, stated that around 3 million gospel tracts are ordered from them alone for Hallowe'en celebrations. Others order Halloween-themed "Scripture Candy" to pass out to children on this day.


title: Halloween

text: Some Christians feel concerned about the modern celebration of Halloween because they feel it trivializes – or celebrates – paganism, the occult, or other practices and cultural phenomena deemed incompatible with their beliefs. Father Gabriele Amorth, an exorcist in Rome, has said, "if English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that." In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a "Saint Fest" on Halloween. Similarly, many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy for free. To these Christians, Halloween holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage. Christian minister Sam Portaro wrote that Halloween is about using "humor and ridicule to confront the power of death".


title: Halloween

text: In the Roman Catholic Church, Halloween's Christian connection is acknowledged, and Halloween celebrations are common in many Catholic parochial schools in the United States. Many fundamentalist and evangelical churches use "Hell houses" and comic-style tracts in order to make use of Halloween's popularity as an opportunity for evangelism. Others consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith due to its putative origins in the Festival of the Dead celebration. Indeed, even though Eastern Orthodox Christians observe All Hallows' Day on the First Sunday after Pentecost, The Eastern Orthodox Church recommends the observance of Vespers or a Paraklesis on the Western observance of All Hallows' Eve, out of the pastoral need to provide an alternative to popular celebrations.


title: Halloween

text: According to Alfred J. Kolatch in the "Second Jewish Book of Why", in Judaism, Halloween is not permitted by Jewish Halakha because it violates Leviticus 18:3, which forbids Jews from partaking in gentile customs. Many Jews observe Yizkor communally four times a year, which is vaguely similar to the observance of Allhallowtide in Christianity, in the sense that prayers are said for both "martyrs and for one's own family". Nevertheless, many American Jews celebrate Halloween, disconnected from its Christian origins. Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser has said that "There is no religious reason why contemporary Jews should not celebrate Halloween" while Orthodox Rabbi Michael Broyde has argued against Jews' observing the holiday. Purim has sometimes been compared to Halloween, in part due to some observants wearing costumes, especially of Biblical figures described in the Purim narrative.


title: Halloween

text: Sheikh Idris Palmer, author of "A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam", has ruled that Muslims should not participate in Halloween, stating that "participation in Halloween is worse than participation in Christmas, Easter, ... it is more sinful than congratulating the Christians for their prostration to the crucifix". It has also been ruled to be haram by the National Fatwa Council of Malaysia because of its alleged pagan roots stating "Halloween is celebrated using a humorous theme mixed with horror to entertain and resist the spirit of death that influence humans". Dar Al-Ifta Al-Missriyyah disagrees provided the celebration is not referred to as an 'eid' and that behaviour remains in line with Islamic principles.


title: Halloween

text: Hindus remember the dead during the festival of Pitru Paksha, during which Hindus pay homage to and perform a ceremony "to keep the souls of their ancestors at rest". It is celebrated in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada, usually in mid-September. The celebration of the Hindu festival Diwali sometimes conflicts with the date of Halloween; but some Hindus choose to participate in the popular customs of Halloween. Other Hindus, such as Soumya Dasgupta, have opposed the celebration on the grounds that Western holidays like Halloween have "begun to adversely affect our indigenous festivals".


title: Halloween

text: There is no consistent rule or view on Halloween amongst those who describe themselves as Neopagans or Wiccans. Some Neopagans do not observe Halloween, but instead observe Samhain on 1 November, some neopagans do enjoy Halloween festivities, stating that one can observe both "the solemnity of Samhain in addition to the fun of Halloween". Some neopagans are opposed to the celebration of Hallowe'en, stating that it "trivializes Samhain", and "avoid Halloween, because of the interruptions from trick or treaters". "The Manitoban" writes that "Wiccans don't officially celebrate Halloween, despite the fact that 31 Oct. will still have a star beside it in any good Wiccan's day planner. Starting at sundown, Wiccans celebrate a holiday known as Samhain. Samhain actually comes from old Celtic traditions and is not exclusive to Neopagan religions like Wicca. While the traditions of this holiday originate in Celtic countries, modern day Wiccans don't try to historically replicate Samhain celebrations. Some traditional Samhain rituals are still practised, but at its core, the period is treated as a time to celebrate darkness and the deada possible reason why Samhain can be confused with Halloween celebrations."


title: Halloween

text: The traditions and importance of Halloween vary greatly among countries that observe it. In Scotland and Ireland, traditional Halloween customs include children dressing up in costume going "guising", holding parties, while other practices in Ireland include lighting bonfires, and having firework displays. In Brittany children would play practical jokes by setting candles inside skulls in graveyards to frighten visitors. Mass transatlantic immigration in the 19th century popularized Halloween in North America, and celebration in the United States and Canada has had a significant impact on how the event is observed in other nations. This larger North American influence, particularly in iconic and commercial elements, has extended to places such as Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, (most) continental Europe, Finland, Japan, and other parts of East Asia.


title: Kevin De Bruyne

text: Kevin De Bruyne (born 28 June 1991) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Manchester City and the Belgium national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best players of his generation. Pundits have often described him as a "complete footballer".