Halloween

Many people around the world celebrate Halloween, which occurs annually on October 31. It is the day before All Saints’ Day and is also sometimes called All Hallows’ Eve and Hallowmas Eve.

What Is Halloween?

Halloween, observed each year on October 31, is a holiday known for costumes, trick-or-treating, and carved pumpkins. Its origins go back to ancient Celtic festivals and Christian traditions that marked the transition from autumn to winter and honored the spirits of the dead.

Today, modern celebrations are centered on fun, community, and a touch of fright. It is one of the most widely recognized observances around the world.

How Is Halloween Celebrated?

Modern Halloween is best known for costumes, candy, and community events:

• Trick-or-treating: Children dress up in Halloween costumes and go door-to-door asking for sweets with the phrase “trick or treat?”.
• Costume parties: Both children and adults enjoy dressing as spooky or playful characters, from ghosts and witches to superheroes.
• Carving pumpkins: Families carve glowing jack-o’-lanterns, a practice with roots in the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, who originally carried a carved turnip lantern.
• Decorations: Homes are decorated with jack-o’-lanterns, fake cobwebs, skeletons, bats, witches, and headstones.
• Games & food: Apple bobbing and seasonal treats are common at gatherings.
• Pagan observances: Some modern pagans mark Samhain with bonfires, rituals, and ancestor feasts.

The History of Halloween

Halloween’s story begins with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, held more than 2,000 years ago in Ireland and Scotland. Samhain marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, a time of year associated with darkness and death.

The Celts believed that the boundary between the living and the spirit world grew thin on Halloween night. To ward off wandering souls, people lit bonfires and wore masks to disguise themselves. When Christianity began to influence Celtic lands, these ancient beliefs about connecting with the dead gradually came together with Christian traditions.

As Christianity spread across Europe during the Middle Ages, the Church established All Saints’ Day on November 1 and All Souls’ Day on November 2 to honor departed loved ones. The evening before became known as All Hallows’ Eve—later shortened to Halloween.

Modern Halloween Traditions

Irish and Scottish immigrants carried their customs to North America in the 19th century, where they developed into modern customs such as trick-or-treating, Halloween parties, and carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns.

By the 20th century, Halloween had grown into a major celebration of community, costumes, and popular culture.

Is Halloween a Public Holiday?

In most countries, Halloween is not a public holiday, and schools, businesses, and government offices usually remain open.

Still, in places like the United States, Canada, the UK, and Australia, Halloween is one of the most visible community observances of the year, with neighborhoods alive with trick-or-treaters, decorated homes, and lively celebrations of Halloween night.

Symbols of Halloween

Halloween is filled with imagery that reflects its themes of death, mystery, and the supernatural:

• Ghosts, skeletons, witches, and vampires
• Black cats, bats, and spiders
• Pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns
• Graveyards, cobwebs, and haunted houses
• Traditional colors: orange and black, with purple and green as modern additions

Did You Know?

• The first jack-o’-lanterns were carved from turnips, not pumpkins.
• Trick-or-treating has roots in medieval “souling”, when people went door-to-door to pray for the dead in exchange for soul cakes.
• New York hosted some of the earliest large-scale Halloween parades in the US, helping shape the holiday into a public spectacle.
• Halloween is a major commercial holiday that generates over $11 billion in US consumer spending.

Holidays Around the Same Time

Elsewhere, other holidays occur around the same time and explore similar themes of the afterlife, but focus more on remembrance and honoring the deceased:

• Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead): In Mexico, families honor deceased loved ones with altars, offerings, and festivals, blending reflection with celebration.
• Variations of Day of the Dead observances are found in parts of Guatemala, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru, where Indigenous customs are sometimes blended with Catholic All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day traditions.
• All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days: Widely observed across Europe and South America, these religious holidays involve church services and visits to cemeteries to remember saints and departed loved ones.