Halloween is celebrated on October 31st, with many places celebrating the entire month with related events. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holiday All Saints' Day, but is today largely a secular celebration. Basically, like most holidays, it has been so overcommericalized that many people don't even know where the holiday came from or why-just that it is a lot of fun.
The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes[2] regarded as the "Celtic New Year".[3]
The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces. Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames. Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual.
Trick or treating came later, with children dressing up in costumes and going around neighborhoods to receive gifts of candy or money, with the "threat" of mischief if a treat wasn't provided. In some places, such as Ireland and Scotland, children still practice "guising", which is performing a little song, or skit to earn the treats. Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses. In my own experience, I rarely see ghosts, witches and other ghouls-instead, I see character after character. My own boys are being Leonardo, the TMNT, and SpeedRacer this year. Last year they were Shaggy and Scooby Doo, before that a boxer and a bear....you get the idea.
Halloween is not celebrated in all countries and regions of the world, and among those that do the traditions and importance of the celebration vary significantly. Celebration in the United States and Canada has had a significant impact on how the holiday is observed in other nations. This larger North American influence, particularly in iconic and commercial elements, has extended to places such as South America, Europe, to Japan under the auspices of the Japanese Biscuit Association, and other parts of East Asia.
Christians seem split down the middle on their views of Halloween. Roman Catholics view Halloween as having a connection to christianity and is even celebrated in many parochial schools, with parades where the kids can dress up in their costumes and have a party. Some other groups of Christians reject the holiday since they believe it endorses paganism and therefore shouldn't be recognized.
Kids dressing up in cute costumes, getting free candy, and having fun- purely evil, right? I think Halloween is like any other holiday- evolved so far from the roots it came from, that people understand it is just a good time and not to be taken seriously. After all, just because you are Christian and keep the Christ in Christmas doesn't mean you don't visit Santa at the mall and set out milk and cookies for him. It's ok to let kids use their imagination and be filled with wonder. As they grow up and began facing the realities of life, the simple pleasures of childhood will remain with them.
For more specifics on how other countries celebrate Halloween, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_around_the_world And more info on Halloween:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween
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