H alloween is the best time to bring out your best designed costumes, get imaginative and pull out all the plugs. This night has evolved into a time of excitement with trick-or-treating (trick-or-treaters go from house to house with the threat that they will pull a trick if they do not receive a treat, usually candy), carving jack-o-lanterns (a hollowed-out pumpkin , originally a turnip , carved into a demonic face and lit with a candle inside), festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating sweet treats.
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago, mostly in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest, and the beginning of the dark, cold winter. They also believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred.
Today, celebrations include play parties which are public events held to celebrate the harvest. Neighbours gather and share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing. Many dress up in costumes and go from house to house asking for food or money, a practice that is now called the “trick-or-treat” tradition.
The custom of dressing up can trace its roots to the olden days, when winters were a time of uncertainty and fear. Food supplies often ran low and the short days of winter were full of constant worry. People believed that ghosts visited Earth a day before the new year and they wore masks to protect themselves when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits.
Young Moroccans take part in the Boujloud festival, a popular celebration also known as the 'Moroccan Halloween' in the Sidi Moussa district of Sale near the capital Rabat, on September 28, 2019. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
HALLOWEEN PROGRAMME BY THE CHILDREN OF LITTLE THEATRE IN CHENNAI ON WEDNESDAY. PHOTO S.MAHINSHA
27dmc Halloween at PizzaExpress
A boy dressed as "La Muerte" poses for a phot after taking part in a Halloween costume contest at a shopping mall in Managua, Nicaragua, Friday, Oct. 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Farmer Tom Hoggard harvests pumpkins ahead of Halloween at Howe Bridge Farm in Yorkshire, Monday Sept. 16, 2019. The family run farm is expected to harvest thousands of pumpkins in the coming weeks to supply shops and business throughout England. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)