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Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of its original title "All Hallows' Evening"),also known as All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the eve before the Western Christian feast of All Hallows. According to some scholars, All Hallows' Eve initially incorporated traditions from pagan harvest festivals and festivals honoring the dead, particularly theCeltic Samhain; other scholars maintain that the feast originated entirely independently of Samhain.
Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also known as "guising"), attending costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

HistoryEtymology
The word Halloween was first used in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows'-Even ("evening"), that is, the night before All Hallows' Day.[10] Although the phrase All Hallows' is found in Old English (ealra hālgena mæssedæg, mass-day of all saints), All-Hallows-Even is itself not seen until 1556.[10]
Pre-Christian influences
The Halloween holiday iscommonly thought to have pagan roots, even though the etymology of the word is Christian.[11] Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain,derived from the Old Irish Samuin meaning "summer's end".[11] Samhain was the first and the most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Irish and Scottish[12] calendar[13][14] and, falling on the last day of autumn, it was a time for stock-taking and preparation for the cold winter months ahead.[11] There was also a sense that this was the time of year when the physical and supernaturalworlds were closest and magical things could happen.[13][14] The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on Samhain eve. [15] To ward off these spirits, the Gaels built huge, symbolically regenerative bonfires and invoked the help of the gods through animal and perhaps even human sacrifice.[11] In the Western Isles of Scotland the Sluagh, or fairy host was regarded as composed of thesouls of the dead flying through the air, and the feast of the dead at Hallowe'en was likewise the festival of the fairies.[16]
Christian influences

Snap-Apple Night (1832) by Daniel Maclise.
Depicts apple bobbing and divination games at a Halloween party in Blarney, Ireland.
Halloween is also thought to have been heavily influenced by the Christian holy days of All Saints' Day (also known asHallowmas, All Hallows, and Hallowtide) and All Souls' Day.[17] Falling on November 1 and 2 respectively, collectively they were a time for honoring the saints and praying for the recently departed who had yet to reach Heaven. Pope Gregory IV ordered its church-wide observance in 837.[18] By the end of the 12th century they had become holy days of obligation across Europe and involved suchtraditions as ringing bells for the souls in purgatory and "souling", the custom of baking bread or soul cakes for "all crysten christened souls".[19] It was traditionally believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, and All Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving onto the next world.[20] To avoid beingrecognised by a soul, Christians would wear masks and costumes to disguise themselves, following the lighted candles set by others to guide their travel for worship the next day.[20] Today, this practice has been perpetuated through children guising (trick or treating).[20]
In Britain the rituals of Hallowtide and Halloween came under attack during the Reformation as Protestants denounced purgatory...