Halloween for kids - everything you need to know

The origins of Halloween, traditions and most popular costumes.

Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated on 31st of October. It originated from the ancient Celtic festival called Samhain. The festival took place about halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.

This day marked the end of harvest season and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. 

The Celts, who lived 2000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, United Kingdom and Northern France celebrated Samhain on 31st of October. 

They believed that on that night boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred and therefore could be more easily crossed by ghosts of the dead allowing interactions between humans and spirits. 

On that night when doors between this world and the otherworld were open Celts believed that spirits such as fairies, demons, and other creatures also travelled through the earth.

During this time of year, hearth fires in family homes were left to burn out while the harvest was gathered.

After the harvest work was completed, celebrations began. Celts joined with Celtic priests who were also called Druids to light a community fire. 

At Samhain, during the presence of the otherworldly spirits, Celts believed that it was easier for the Druids to make predictions about the future. These prophecies were an important part of the festival and source of comfort and direction for the Celts during the long, dark winter.

So to commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic spirits. 

At Samhain, it was also believed that the spirits needed to be satisfied to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink were left outside for them. 

The souls of the dead were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Celts prepared feasts, which the souls of dead were encouraged to attend and a place set at the table was offered for them. 

Later tradition involved participants going from house to house engaging in silly acts in exchange for food and drink. These acts were possibly inspired by an earlier custom of leaving food and drink outdoors as offerings to supernatural beings, which then likely inspired today's trick-or-treating. 

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads, skins or masks, which were a way to either imitate of disguise themselves from spirits. Games were also a big part of the festival and often involved nuts and apples.

When the celebration was over, the participants took a flame from the sacred bonfire back to their home to relight the hearth and to help them during the coming winter. 

Over time Samhain festival merged with All Saints Day on 1st of November and All Souls Day on 2nd of November and created the modern day Halloween. 

Halloween is celebrated on 31st of October in several Western countries. It involves activities such as trick-or-treating, costume parties, carving pumpkins into a Jack-o-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, as well as watching horror films. 

Some of the most popular Halloween costumes include: witch, skeleton, ghost, superhero, pirate and monsters. 

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