A Halloween edition of Extra Time
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- In this Halloween edition of Eyewitness News Extra Time, we cover everything from costumes, candy trends and the iconic Village Halloween Parade in New York City.
The parade is a celebration filled with Halloween costumes, decorations, music, carved pumpkins and more, but the origin of the spookiest holiday of the year is much less commercial.
It began as a pagan festival to mark the end of summer and the beginning of winter. During early Christian times, All Hallow's Eve honored the dead.
In the late 19th century, the holiday lost some of its association with death and people started celebrating with festivals and parties. Now of course, Halloween is very commercial.
Analysts expect total Halloween spending to reach a record $12.2 billion, exceeding last year's record of $10.6 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.
In the middle of the giant celebration was Eyewitness News reporter Lucy Yang.
And before the adults took over the streets, the children showed off their costumes.
The Children's Halloween Parade marched through Greenwich Village Tuesday afternoon. The 33rd annual parade included a spooky stroll through Washington Square Park, entertainment and lots of candy.
Watch the entire Extra Time show for more on the Halloween-filled festivities across our area.
You can watch 'Eyewitness News Extra Time' live Monday-Friday at 6:30 p.m. on ABC7NY.com or our ABC7NY app on Roku, FireTV, Apple TV and Android TV.
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