- 31 October every year
- Eve of All Saints' Day
- Roots in Ireland and Scotland
- US, Canada, Ireland, UK, Australia
Where it began
The name comes from All Hallows' Eve, the evening before All Saints' Day on 1 November. Hallow is an old word for a saint.
Many scholars link the night to Samhain, a Gaelic festival that marked the end of harvest and the start of winter. People lit bonfires and some wore disguises. Others point more to the Christian feasts of All Saints and All Souls, when people remembered the dead. Both threads seem to have shaped the customs.
In Ireland and Scotland people carved faces into turnips to make lanterns, and children went door to door in disguise, a custom called guising.
How it grew over time
Early medieval period
Gaelic people kept Samhain at the turn of the season with fires and feasts.
9th century
The church kept All Saints' Day on 1 November, and its eve became All Hallows' Eve.
1800s
Irish and Scottish people who moved to North America brought their Halloween customs with them.
Early 1900s
Pumpkins, bigger and easier to carve than turnips, became the jack-o'-lantern in America.
Mid 1900s
Trick-or-treating spread across American towns and suburbs.
Today
Costume parties and spooky decorations are popular in many countries around the world.
How it is celebrated in different places
United States
Porches fill with pumpkins and children in costume go trick-or-treating through the neighbourhood.
Ireland
Families light bonfires, play games like apple bobbing and eat barmbrack, a fruit bread with a ring baked inside.
Scotland
Children go guising and are often asked to tell a joke or sing for their treat.
Canada
Trick-or-treating is as popular as in the US, often in cool autumn weather.
Mexico
Halloween fun leads straight into the Day of the Dead on 1 and 2 November.
Halloween moments
Halloween today
Families carve pumpkins, decorate homes with bats and cobwebs, and children dress up as their favourite characters. Friends hold costume parties, tell ghost stories and watch spooky films.
