The word Halloween is a shortening of All Hallows’ Evening also known as Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve. Traditional activities during Halloween include trick-or-treating, bonfires, costume parties, visiting “haunted houses” and carving jack-o-lanterns. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century.

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops.

Halloween for me is associated with colorful trees, cool autumn days, bunches of pumpkins and Halloween decorations everywhere.

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