Trick or treat
Halloween, the scariest night of the year celebrated on 31st October when people go trick or treating, dressed up and enjoy getting scared.
It is widely recognised as an American holiday, but it is believed the tradition of Halloween dates back to Britain several centuries ago, with its roots in an Iron Age Celtic festival called Samhain ( Sow-in) which means “summer end” marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. It is said at that time of the year ghosts came back to visit the living and that the barrier between the two worlds – the living world and the spirit world was thinner so that spirits could cross it.
People would also light bonfires to try to scare the ghosts away.
The name Hallowe”en” , as the apostrophe replaces the “v”, but the apostrophe has since been dropped in popular spelling.
In 1845 the great potato famine forced around one million people living in Ireland to move to the US, taking traditions like Halloween with them.
It was in America that the Pumpkin became the vegetable that we all associate with the festival, but in the UK, people used to carve turnips.