Halloween is celebrated every October 31, the eve of All Saints’ Day. Behind the costumes and the candy there is a long history: a Celtic end-of-harvest festival, a Christian vigil and Irish emigration to the United States, which turned it into the celebration known today in most of the world.
Where Halloween comes from
Its best-known ancestor is Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”), the Gaelic festival that in Ireland and Scotland marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of the dark half of the year. It was held between October 31 and November 1, and people believed that on that night the boundary between the living and the dead grew thin. Bonfires were lit and some people wore disguises.
The Church set All Saints’ Day on November 1, and the night before became All Hallows’ Eve. The Scottish contraction of that phrase gave us the word Halloween.
In the 19th century, Irish and Scottish emigrants brought their customs to the United States. There the festival became a popular and commercial celebration, and from there it spread to the rest of the world through film and television.
Pumpkins, costumes and trick-or-treating
- Pumpkins came later. In Ireland and Scotland people carved turnips and other roots into lanterns. In America the pumpkin was bigger, easier to hollow out and plentiful in autumn, so it replaced them.
- Trick-or-treating has medieval roots. In the practice of souling, poor people went from house to house around All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day and received food in exchange for praying for each family’s dead.
- Costumes come from the custom of hiding from spirits, or imitating them, on Samhain night, and from the masked visits of the eve in Scotland and Ireland.
Halloween is not the Day of the Dead
They fall on nearby dates, but they are different celebrations. Mexico’s Day of the Dead (November 1 and 2) has pre-Hispanic roots and honors the dead with altars, offerings, food and marigolds; UNESCO recognizes it as intangible cultural heritage. Halloween comes from the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon tradition. In Mexico both coexist: Halloween on the 31st, and the altars from November 1 to 2.
Halloween in Spain and Latin America
Halloween itself is not a public holiday in any Spanish-speaking country. In Chile, October 31 is a holiday for a different reason: the National Day of Evangelical and Protestant Churches (Law 20.299). In many countries it is also called Noche de Brujas (Witches’ Night), and in cities it is celebrated mostly with costume parties and children asking for candy in apartment buildings and malls.
Ideas for Halloween night
- A horror movie marathon: make a list with classics and a film from your own country.
- Carve a pumpkin and use the flesh for a soup or a pie.
- Keep the decorations simple: cobwebs, candles and orange lights are enough.
- Themed recipes: witch fingers (sausages with almonds), puff-pastry mummies or pumpkin-shaped cookies.
- Share the countdown with your friends so nobody is late for the party.
See also how long until the Day of the Dead, which starts the next day.