Autumn is here! The leaves start falling, cosy jumpers are back and the smell of clean and crisp air is on the tip of everyone’s noses. But what event occurs during this season? Halloween of course! The spooky season will soon be upon us, but when is Halloween? What is Halloween? Is there a history of Halloween? How do we celebrate Halloween?
We have all the answers for you! With frighteningly fun facts, that we all should know!
👻 ATTENTION: We’ve created a brand new Halloween Events page for you! So, you can find all the best Halloween events with just a simple click! 👻
When is Halloween?
So, the most important question is – what day does Halloween land upon? Well, as everyone knows, it’s always on the 31st of October.
This year, it’s Thursday 31st October!
But why is it on the 31st every year? Let’s delve into some history…
Halloween History
The origin of Halloween actually dates back to an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain. It marked the end of the summer season, and as the weather grew darker and colder and the harvest came in, many associated this with human death. And the Celts believed that on the 31st of October, ghosts returned from the dead to walk on Earth.
The Celts also thought that the spirits walking earth made it easier for Druids to foretell the future and make prophecies. The Druids would then start lighting bonfires to burn crops and animals as a sacrifice to the Celtic Gods. They also wore costumes like animal skins! Is this where Halloween costumes come in? Maybe!
The aspect of the festival changed many times from performing an ancient practice like honouring the Roman goddess of fruit and trees, Pomona. To celebrating Christian festivals like All Saints’ Day (also known as All-hallowmas) others would hold divination rituals. As more modern celebrations came in, people started to don fancy dress, hold parties, have community feasts and festive gatherings, share ghost stories, and eventually go from house to house shouting ‘trick or treat!!’
What is Halloween?
So, what is this celebration that we now celebrate heavily in the 21st century?
Short and simple:
It was a day to dress in costumes and light huge bonfires to ward off spirits. Nowadays, it’s a day to celebrate autumn, have an excuse to dress up in really awesome outfits and party!
How Do People Celebrate Halloween?
Everyone celebrates Halloween differently!
Some will stick to the ancient practice of the Celtic celebration, while others will join the Pagan Festival rituals and play divination games. Many will also hold community feasts to celebrate the harvest and lighting bonfires.
But the most common practice of celebrating is fancy dress and going house to house trick or treating. Gathering their sweet treats, eating candy apples and candy corn. Visiting terrifying haunted houses, telling spooky stories of dead souls or getting the family together to enjoy a huge feast on the dinner table.
How do you celebrate yours?
If you need any ideas for Halloween costumes, we have loads of them here! From baby costumes to ideas for teens and family costumes.
Looking forward to Halloween? Start planning with some pumpkin picking near you, and grab your tickets to some terrifyingly terrific Halloween events. Holding a Halloween party? Here’s how to make some cool Halloween decorations out of paper and to occupy the kids, we have some colouring pages too!