New York: Halloween, also known as All Hallows’ Eve, is a festival that is celebrated in the western parts of the globe on 31 October.
Halloween means holy evening or All Saints Day. In the eighth century, All Saints Day was celebrated to honour saints. The eve of All Saints Day was called All Hallows Eve which then came to be known as Halloween.
The history of Halloween dates back all the way to the Celtic festival of Samhain which used to be a harvest festival. Halloween was generally celebrated as the day that marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the cold winter approaching.
The Celtic people believed that on the eve of Halloween, the boundaries between the living and the dead got blurred and the spirits could move freely through all lands. This is also why the Celtic people began to celebrate New Years on 1 November each year.
The festival was celebrated by people wearing spooky costumes and lighting bonfires at night.
The tradition of donning a spooky attire was followed to keep ghosts away on 31 October. The night of 31 October was believed to be the night when spirits from the other world visited the living world every year.
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