Halloween
October 31 · Level 10 · #100 of 2238
Halloween is the evening before All Saints' Day and a celebration of costumes, spooky stories and sweets. Its history brings together Christian observances and autumn folk traditions from Ireland and Britain, with many familiar customs developing further in North America.
How it is celebrated: children go trick-or-treating, friends throw costume parties and households decorate with cobwebs and carved pumpkins. Horror films and haunted attractions offer a little carefully staged fright.
Jack-o'-lanterns were not always pumpkins. People in Ireland and Scotland carved frightening faces into turnips before pumpkins became the familiar choice in North America.