So, What is Halloween?

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31st. People celebrate it with Halloween parties and kids going house to house to trick-or-treat. People celebrate it in the US and other parts of the world, like the United Kingdom and Canada.

How Halloween is celebrated today goes back to when ancient pagans believed October 31 was the day the boundary between the living and the dead dissolved. Since the dead could cause harm to those who are living, people would go out into the streets wearing costumes and masks to ward off the evil spirits.

But that was then, and now, we simply do it for fun. Weeks before Halloween, people would go out and buy costumes. The most popular ones are skeletons, ghosts, vampires, witches, and devils. If you have the time, you can make your own costume based on a television show or movie.

One study shows that more than half of the American public surveyed plan to buy a costume for Halloween, even if it costs $10 more than it did last year. This means sales will reach more than $6 billion, up from a little over $5 billion last year.

People in the Halloween spirit will also put up decorations in their homes like carved pumpkins, skeletons and candles.

At parties, aside from food and drinks, people play several games. The most common is dunking, or bobbing, for apples, in which participants pick up apples floating in a tub or large basin using their teeth.

Another is eating syrup-coated scones hanging from a string. Again, you have to eat it without using your hands.

If you don’t want to go to a party and do something daring, try going with a few friends and visiting a haunted house. Many people don’t do this literally when they can have fun at a theme park with something special for the occasion.

The favorite fruit during Halloween is the apple because it comes during the wake of the harvest season. You can eat it plain or mix it with sticky syrup and nuts.

Other countries celebrate Halloween differently. In most Asian countries, people put out food and water, as well as a lantern, so those who have departed will have something to eat, drink and a lighted path as they travel the earth during Halloween night. In Czechoslovakia, people place chairs by the fireside on Halloween night. Each chair represents a living member and those who have passed on. The Swedes simply give students a day off and employees a shortened workday.

But most countries pay homage to the dead during Halloween. In fact, the day after, November 1, is All Saints’ Day, while the 2nd is All Souls’ Day. This commemorates those in purgatory, with the hope that they will be cleansed of their sins so they may go to heaven.

For most children and adults, Halloween is simply a time to have fun with friends and family. They can go around collecting candy by moving from one house to the next, while the grown-ups go to a party with lots of food and drinks.