October ends with Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve on October 31 in 2025. Halloween is the feast on the night before All Hallow on November 1, which is where it got its name from. Halloween is mostly celebrated in Ireland and the USA, where many of the customs about the night of witches, vampires and ghosts come from. Modern celebrations include spooky decorations with graven Halloween pumpkins and dressing up in creepy costumes. The pumpkins are lit by a candle and often called jack-o’-lantern, according to an English legend about a strange flickering light.
A typical Halloween pumpkin looks like a cruel or funny face or head. It glooms and is placed on the doorstep on Halloween and the days around Halloween. The popular trick or treat Halloween tradition has made its way from Northern America to Europe: in more and more countries kids walk from house to house in their customs asking for sweets, so they wouldn’t play tricks on the house owner. Usually kids go in small groups or with their parents. They would have bags to carry the sweets and have a great and spooky time outside.
The Celts celebrated their feast “Samhain” 2,000 years ago. With it they let summer part and send their regards to the winter season. It was observed on October 31, which was the last day of the year, back then. The Celts believed that during that night all souls of the dead came back to earth as ghosts. Therefore they inflamed huge bonfires for them. But all those ghosts, who wouldn’t find their ways back to their old homes, would haunt the streets and scare the living. The Christian relation about Halloween comes from All Saints Day and All Souls’ Day afterwards. Here is the connection to the dead. Halloween is short for All Hallows Evening - which is nothing but the evening before Christian All Saints Day. Halloween is also the first day of Allhallowtide.
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