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Halloween is an annual celebration observed on October 31. It is also known as All Halloween, All Hallows’ Eve, and All Saints’ Eve. Halloween is a modern name for the ancient Celtic holiday called “Samhain,” a time when people around the world mark the spiritual beginning of a new year. Many activities on this day are associated with achieving prosperity and good fortune. Some believe Halloween is a day when spirits return to earth, searching for living human bodies to possess for the next year and visiting the homes they once occupied.
To appease these spirits, people offer fruits and nuts. It is believed that if the spirits are not satisfied, they might harm people or damage their property. On Halloween, people dress up as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils, with black and orange being the traditional colors. The iconic symbol of Halloween is the Jack-o’-lantern. Originally made from turnips, pumpkins are now the preferred choice.
A beloved Halloween tradition for children is “trick-or-treating,” where kids go door to door asking, “Trick or Treat?” If a treat isn’t given, the “trick” implies a playful threat to cause mischief. Homeowners typically hand out candy to those who come knocking.
“For about 30 years, Halloween was taken over by pranksters. By the ’30s, pranks were causing cities millions of dollars of damage. They considered banning Halloween in many cities, but instead, parents got together and came up with party ideas for kids, and a lot of them involved dressing up and costuming.” Lisa Morton
Halloween Observance
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | October 31 | Thursday |
| 2025 | October 31 | Friday |
| 2026 | October 31 | Saturday |
| 2027 | October 31 | Sunday |
| 2028 | October 31 | Tuesday |
History of Halloween
The celebration began in 1900 when postcards and die-cut paper decorations were first produced. Costumes for the occasion appeared in stores by 1930, and the traditional “Trick-or-Treat” ritual started in the 1950s. Today, Halloween is a profitable holiday for manufacturers of costumes, candy, and yard decorations.
Originally, Halloween began as a pagan festival in Northern Europe (now the United Kingdom). Various European cultural traditions view Halloween as a time when magic is most potent and spirits can connect with the physical world. The day marks the end of summer and the beginning of the cold, dark winter season time, often associated with human mortality. The Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On October 31, they celebrated Samhain, during which it was thought that the spirits of the dead returned to Earth.
To honor this festival, Druids created large sacred bonfires where people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. The Celts wore costumes, typically made from animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. After the Halloween celebration, people would re-light their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier in the evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them through the winter.
Happy Halloween Wishes
“What I love most about Halloween is, I get to eat a lot of the candy my kids collect. Life is good. Halloween makes it better. Have a sweet one.”
“You’re never too old to dress up on Halloween, and you’re never too old to get naked on a magical Halloween night. Have fun on Halloween, my friend.”
“I heard you’d like to be Superman for Halloween. No offense, but I think you’d be better as Peter from Family Guy. Have an enjoyable and laid back Halloween.”
“Do you know, some people believe the deceased come back from the dead to visit the living on Halloween? I hope all who come to visit you put a smile on your face this Halloween.”
“Halloween is a holiday children of all ages can enjoy. I hope you and your inner child have loads of fun. Best Halloween wishes from someone who never wants to grow up.”
“If you see a pumpkin in my window, then you know it’s Halloween. I hope that it’s the kind of day that really makes you scream.”
“On Halloween, I hope you laugh until you cry, and I hope the Halloween treats you receive far outnumber the number of tricks played on you. Enjoy Halloween to the fullest.”
“When given the choice of a trick or a treat, I would take the latter. Knowing you has been the best treat of my life, which is why I’m wishing you the best on Halloween day.”
“There’s a black cat in window and a pumpkin on my stoop. On the lawn is a ghost and a witch. This tells me Halloween is very near, so Happy Halloween to you.”
Halloween Quotes
“It’s said that All Hallows’ Eve is one of the nights when the veil between the worlds is thin – and whether you believe in such things or not, those roaming spirits probably believe in you, or at least acknowledge your existence, considering that it used to be their own. Even the air feels different on Halloween, autumn-crisp and bright.” – Erin Morgenstern
“The worst thing about Halloween is, of course, candy corn. It’s unbelievable to me. Candy corn is the only candy in the history of America that’s never been advertised. And there’s a reason. All of the candy corn that was ever made was made in 1911. And so, since nobody eats that stuff, every year there’s a ton of it left over”. – Lewis Black
“If ever there was a holiday that deserves to be commercialized, it’s Halloween. We haven’t taken it away from kids. We’ve just expanded it so that the kid in adults can enjoy it, too.” – Cassandra Peterson
“I had this grand idea that Elvira’s kind of the Santa Claus of Halloween – at the malls, you’d have an Elvira there. Girls would dress as Elvira just like guys dress as Santa Claus, and it’s not the real thing, but they’ll pose for pictures, sign autographs. Of course, I couldn’t go around to every mall, so we’d have to get more Elviras.” – Cassandra Peterson
“When it comes to romance, I’m really simple. I am really a ‘dinner and a movie’ type of person, and I love food, so surprise me and order something different or adventurous when it comes to food, and I’m like a kid at Halloween.” – Sasha Grey
“We were a family that made our Halloween costumes. Or, more accurately, my mother made them. She took no suggestions or advice. Halloween costumes were her territory. She was the brain behind my brother’s winning girl costume, stuffing her own bra with newspapers for him to wear under a cashmere sweater and smearing red lipstick on his lips.” – Ann Hood
“I do love horror movies, but I’m not the kind of guy who would dress up as a ghoul for Halloween. I might go as a member of the Blue Man Group.” – Christopher Mintz-Plasse
“Let’s say you go to a friend’s wedding, or Thanksgiving, or Halloween. It’d be great the next day to see what went on with your friends’ Thanksgiving weekend, or all the costumes they wore on Halloween, and be able to look back and see what they wore the year before, and the year before that.” – Mike McCue
“I saw ‘Paranormal Activity’ on Halloween with all my friends. It scared me, but it was so much fun.” – Nicola Peltz
“The idea that you can dress up in some kind of a fake Indian outfit and get on stage is somehow acceptable in this country. That has to do with the fact that you have the Redskins, the Braves, you have people who dress up like Indians, people dress up like Indians on Halloween. That is acceptable.” – Winona LaDuke
Happy Halloween Images
Other Celebrations on October 31
October 31 is also celebrated as
How to Celebrate the Day
You can celebrate this festival with family members, friends, neighbors, and even co-workers. Events and parties will take place worldwide on October 31. Children often dress in costumes and visit nearby homes, asking for snacks, sweets, or small gifts. If they don’t receive a treat, they may playfully threaten to “trick” the homeowners. Adults celebrate by watching horror movies, organizing parties, creating haunted houses, and more. Be sure to capture photos of the festivities and share them on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using hashtags like #HappyHalloween or #Halloween.