All About All Hallow's Eve

Whenever I hear of the American holiday Halloween, I immediately think of spooky disguised little children trick-or-treating, playing tricks on random people, watching horror movies and telling scary stories to each other on the night of October 31. Little did I know that the origin of this indeed popular holiday- being the second most commercial holiday after Christmas with nearly 6 Billion dollars spent on costumes and candy annually - goes way back to a Celtic festival named Samhain. About 2000 years ago, the Celts, who resided in what is today the United Kingdom and Ireland, celebrated Samhain (meaning “summer’s end”) on November the 1^st, believing that the dead came back to life on the night before. They then used to lit bonfires, mask themselves, and put food in front of their houses to confuse the spirits, until the church declared the day as All Saints Day in the 8^th century, or All Hallow’s Eve, shortened to Halloween. The traditions known nowadays were revived around the 1950s, and are considered to be for the whole family and not only for children, as almost half of all Americans carve a pumpkin and decorate their yards for Halloween. All in all, the holiday with its ancient history certainly goes beyond the stereotypes depicted in movies.