Halloween
October 31, 2006

Halloween is set on the evening of October 31. In some religious books it is known as All Hallows Eve, a somber evening before the festivities of All Saints Day on November 1st. Halloween came from old pagan practices. In the British Isles, the ancient Celts believed that on October 31st, Saman, the lord of the dead, called forth evil spirits to terrify the populace. To counter this, the Celtic druids created large bonfires to ward off these evil spirits.

Halloween is celebrated as a popular evening of fun and games, with parties, masquerades, weird decorations and merrymaking. The Halloween party is not just for children but adults too. Houses are decorated with figures of ghosts, goblins, witches and jack-o-lanterns which are pumpkins carved into funny or scary faces and lit up with candles in the hollowed out centres. Bobbing for apples is the most popular traditional game.

Children put on weird and funny costumes, go around to their neighbours’ houses, ring the doorbells, and say “Trick or Treat” as the doors open. Most of these children are given “treats”, in the form of cookies, candies and apples. But there are the rare occasions when kids are given bad “treats”, which is why parents should inspect all “treats” before they are eaten. Sometimes, children would play pranks on neighbours who do not give them treats, at times causing vandalism and destruction of property. Such attempts are now seldom, due to increased vigilance of the police and neighbourhood watches.

Nowadays, Halloween is celebrated with new and exciting ideas such as games and costumes that follow the trends of that particular year.

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