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Halloween is celebrated
on October 31st
in the United States.
Halloween is a
favorite family
celebration – a time for
traditions such as
dressing in costumes,
trick-or-treating around
the neighborhood, and
carving pumpkins.
American children dress
up in funny or scary
costumes and go "trick
or treating". The
neighbors are expected
to respond by giving
them small treats.
Adults may also dress in
costume for Halloween
parties.
The name "Halloween"
comes from the Christian
tradition. It is derived
from "All Hallow's Eve."
October 31st
is the eve of All
Hallows day, better
known as
All Saints Day. This
is a day when the church
celebrates and remembers
the lives of the saints.
Halloween is a
secular celebration
based on ancient Druid
customs, dating back to
700 B.C. The Druids, a
Celtic religious order
in ancient Britain,
Ireland and France,
believed that the souls
of the dead returned to
mingle with the living
on "hallowed eve,"
October 31. Each year on
that night, the Druids
would build bonfires and
offer sacrifices of
crops and animals, and
individuals would dress
in costumes to disguise
themselves from these
spirits.
Halloween first was
celebrated in the United
States in the 1840s,
when Irish Catholics,
fleeing from the potato
famine, brought
Halloween customs with
them to America. The
tradition of carving
jack-o'-lanterns
originated with Irish
children who first
carved out the centers
of rutabagas, turnips
and potatoes and placed
candles inside. This
symbolized a mythical
ghost doomed to walk the
earth forever because he
had angered both God and
the devil. The new
Americans found that
pumpkins made even
better jack-o'-lanterns
than the other items
they had used in
Ireland.
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