Halloween facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Halloween |
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Jack-o'-lantern, one of the symbols of Halloween
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| Also called | All Hallows' Eve All Saints' Eve Samhain |
| Observed by | Western Christians & many non-Christians around the world |
| Celebrations | Trick-or-treating/guising, costume parties, making jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, divination, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, fireworks displays |
| Observances | Church services, prayer, fasting, and vigils |
| Date | October 31 |
| Related to | Samhain, Hop-tu-Naa, Calan Gaeaf, Kalan Gwav, Day of the Dead, All Saints' Day (cf. vigils) |
Halloween is a fun celebration that happens on the night of October 31st. It's celebrated in many countries, but it's super popular in the United States and Canada.
During Halloween, people enjoy many festive activities. These include trick-or-treating (also called "guising"), going to costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, and lighting big bonfires. Other fun things are apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling spooky stories, and watching horror films.
October 31st is the evening before a special Christian holiday called All Hallows. Halloween traditions have been shaped by old Celtic harvest festivals and ancient customs.
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The History of Halloween
The holiday of Halloween has a long and interesting history. It mixes old traditions from different cultures.
Ancient Roots
Long ago, there was a pagan holiday called Samhain. This holiday was celebrated by the Celts, who lived in areas like Ireland and Scotland. Samhain was sometimes called the Day of the Dead. People believed that on this day, the souls of dead people might come back to Earth.
To protect themselves from any harmful spirits, people took special steps. This is thought to be how some of our Halloween customs started.
Costumes and Traditions
Before the 1900s, people in parts of Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scottish Highlands, and Wales wore costumes during Samhain. Wearing costumes might have been a way to hide from these spirits or fairies.
In Ireland, people would go around before dark, collecting food for Samhain feasts. Sometimes, they wore costumes while doing this. In the 1800s, a person dressed as a white mare would lead young people door-to-door to collect food. If a household gave them food, they hoped for good luck.
In Scotland, during the 1700s, boys would visit houses asking for wood for the Samhain bonfire. These old customs might be where the modern tradition of trick-or-treating came from.
Jack-o'-lanterns
Making jack-o'-lanterns for Halloween also has roots in Samhain and Celtic beliefs. In the 1800s, people in Ireland and Scotland made lanterns from turnips. They sometimes carved faces into them. These lanterns were used to light the way at night. They may also have been used to represent spirits or to protect homes from them.
Christian Influence
Halloween was also influenced by Christian holidays. These include All Saints' Day (also known as All Hallows) on November 1st and All Souls' Day on November 2nd. These days were for honoring saints and praying for those who had recently passed away.
All Saints' Day was first celebrated in the year 609. It was originally on May 13th. In 835, Pope Gregory IV moved it to November 1st, which is the same date as Samhain. Some people think this change was influenced by Celtic traditions.
Halloween Symbols
Over time, many special symbols and items became linked with Halloween.
The turnip was traditionally used in Ireland and Scotland for Halloween. But when people moved to North America, they started using the native pumpkin. Pumpkins are much softer and bigger, making them easier to carve than turnips. Now, pumpkins are available everywhere for this purpose.
Modern Halloween images come from many places. These include old customs, scary books like Frankenstein and Dracula, and classic horror movies.
Things from the autumn season are also very common. These include pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows. Homes are often decorated with these symbols around Halloween.
Trick-or-Treating and Guising
Trick-or-treating is a popular Halloween activity for children. Kids dress up in costumes and go from house to house. They ask for treats like candy or sometimes money. They usually say, "Trick or treat?" The "trick" is a playful threat to cause mischief if no treat is given.
In Scotland and Ireland, this tradition is called "guising." Children in costumes go door-to-door for food or coins. This practice was recorded in Scotland in 1895. Masqueraders with lanterns made from carved turnips would visit homes for cakes, fruit, and money. Guising in North America was first mentioned in 1911. A newspaper in Kingston, Ontario reported children going "guising" in their neighborhood.
Old Halloween postcards from the early 1900s often show children. However, they usually don't show them trick-or-treating.
Halloween Costumes
Halloween costumes traditionally look like spooky figures. These include monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. Over time, costume choices grew to include popular characters from books and movies, celebrities, and common types like ninjas and princesses.
Dressing up in costumes and "guising" was common in Ireland and Scotland by the late 1800s. Costumes became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 1900s, for both adults and children. The first mass-produced Halloween costumes appeared in stores in the 1930s. This was when trick-or-treating became popular in the United States.
Halloween costume parties usually happen on or around October 31st. Often, they are held on the Friday or Saturday before Halloween.
Halloween Foods
Halloween happens around the time of the apple harvest. So, candy apples (also called toffee apples outside North America) and caramel apples are common treats. These are made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup. Sometimes, they are also rolled in nuts.
Long ago, candy apples were often given to children. However, this practice became less common because of rumors. People worried that some individuals were putting things like pins or razor blades in the apples. While a few such incidents did happen, they were very rare and never caused serious harm. Still, many parents believed these stories because of the news. At the peak of this worry, some hospitals even offered free X-rays of children's Halloween candy to check for tampering. Almost all the known cases of candy tampering involved parents who harmed their own children's candy.
One tradition that continues in modern Ireland is baking a barmbrack. This is a light fruitcake. A plain ring, a coin, and other small charms are baked inside. It's said that if you find the ring, you will find your true love in the next year. This is similar to the tradition of king cake at the festival of Epiphany.
Here are some foods often eaten around Halloween:
- Barmbrack (Ireland)
- Bonfire toffee (Great Britain)
- Candy apples/toffee apples (Great Britain & Ireland)
- Candy corn, candy pumpkins (North America)
- Caramel apples
- Caramel corn
- Colcannon (Ireland)
- Fun candy shaped like skulls, pumpkins, bats, or worms
- Pumpkin, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread
- Roasted pumpkin seeds
- Roasted sweet corn
- Soul cakes
Cool Facts About Halloween
- The English word 'Halloween' comes from "All Hallows' Eve." This was the evening before the Christian holidays of All Hallows' Day (All Saints' Day) on November 1st and All Souls' Day on November 2nd.
- The Christian custom of baking and sharing soul cakes for all christened souls, known as 'souling,' might be the start of trick-or-treating.
- Most American Halloween traditions came from Irish and Scottish immigrants.
- Trick-or-treating wasn't a common practice in North America until the 1930s.
- Trunk-or-treating is a popular way to trick-or-treat now. Children get treats from car trunks parked in places like church or school parking lots.
- The yearly New York's Village Halloween Parade is the biggest Halloween parade in the world! More than 60,000 people in costumes join in, and two million people watch it. It's even shown on TV around the world.
- The American tradition of carving pumpkins was first linked to harvest time in general. It didn't become specifically tied to Halloween until the mid-to-late 1800s.
- In 2018, a report said that 30 million Americans were expected to spend about $480 million on Halloween costumes for their pets! The most popular pet costumes were the pumpkin, followed by the hot dog, and then the bumblebee.
Images for kids
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The word appears as the title of Robert Burns' "Halloween" (1785), a poem traditionally recited by Scots.
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An early 20th-century Irish Halloween mask displayed at the Museum of Country Life
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Snap-Apple Night, painted by Daniel Maclise in 1833, shows people feasting and playing divination games on Halloween in Ireland.
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The annual New York Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, is the world's largest Halloween parade.
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At Halloween, yards, public spaces, and some houses may be decorated with traditionally macabre symbols including skeletons, ghosts, cobwebs, headstones, and scary looking witches.
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Decorated house in Weatherly, Pennsylvania
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An automobile trunk at a trunk-or-treat event at St. John Lutheran Church and Early Learning Center in Darien, Illinois
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Halloween shop in Derry, Northern Ireland, selling masks
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In this 1904 Halloween greeting card, divination is depicted: the young woman looking into a mirror in a darkened room hopes to catch a glimpse of her future husband.
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Children bobbing for apples at Hallowe'en
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Image from the Book of Hallowe'en (1919) showing several Halloween activities, such as nut roasting
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Humorous tombstones in front of a house in California
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Pumpkins for sale during Halloween
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A jack-o'-lantern Halloween cake with a witches hat
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The Vigil of All Hallows' is being celebrated at an Episcopal Christian church on Hallowe'en
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Halloween Scripture Candy with gospel tract
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Votive candles in the Halloween section of Walmart
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Belizean children dressed up as Biblical figures and Christian saints
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Halloween display in Kobe, Japan
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See also
In Spanish: Halloween para niños
