Soon, it will be that time again. Children go around the houses to collect sweets. But where does Halloween come from?
Irish tradition gave rise to Halloween as we know it today. The Celtic festival “Samhain” is celebrated there, which means “end of summer.” At that time, it was believed that on this night, the gates to the underworld were open, and the spirits of the deceased returned to visit their relatives. Lights were used to show the way to the spirits.
Later, the Irish changed their needs and began dressing up in fear of the dead to scare them off. Irish immigrants brought the custom of celebrating the night before All Hallows’ Eve to America, and the English “All Hallows Evening” became “Halloween. The “trick or treat” custom also developed there. On Halloween, costumed children knock on doors demanding candy. In the 1990s, the Halloween custom came to Central Europe. Since then, Halloween parties have been celebrated every year on October 31, and children go in scary costumes from door to door to get candy.
- source: vienna.at/picture: Bild von Jill Wellington auf Pixabay
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