What is Halloween? Is it a celebration?

Halloween (also written Hallowe'en, literally "holy evening"), also known as All Hallows' Eve or All Saints' Eve, is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and gets its name from being the evening before the Western Christian holy day of All Saints (the Eastern Orthodox celebrate All Saints' Day in June). It is largely a secular celebration but some have expressed strong feelings about perceived religious overtones.

hello tingtong,i have known about Halloween since my childhood since i am convent educated. However we did not get the info thru our school but i got it because i used to read many story books in which there were lots of references to it. It is actually a festival started by the Celtic people hundreds of years ago and celebrated by the Druids. It is somewhat equivalent to our Pitrupaksha which comes immediately after Anant Chaturdashi, ie end of the Ganesh festival and continues till the start of Navratri.For the Christians it is known as All Souls Day when on that particular day the spirits of the dead intermingle with the people of the earth.People light candles and lamps and mostly hollowed out pumpkins in which a face is cut and a lighted candle or lamp is put and fixed to the outside of the door, somewhat like the Kandeels which we fix during Divali festival. These pumpkins are known as Jack `O Lantern.On this day children dress in colorful costumes wearing masks and go from house to house saying 'Trick or Treat' and people give them sweets or money.You can read more of this in yesterdays Indian Express newspaper(31st Nov 2009) as i got this info from there and more is available in the article.

Hello my friend tingtong Ji,
I wish to bring out following comments during one of teh discussion here with me. For more you may follow this link: (response No. 16

http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/2166234.aspx?p=2
"I am glad to you got to experience a bit of Halloween in the US. Halloween dates back 2000 years to the celtic region, which is now Ireland, Great Britain, and the Northern part of France. They called Halloween Samhain, said as "sow in." It was celebrated on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, and brought in the end of harvest and the beginning of the hard winters, when many people died. They believed that between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 was a transition period for the dead, a night when their spirits roamed the earth, and they tried to keep them away by building sacred huge bon fires and sacrificing animals to appease the dead so they would cause no trouble.

When the Romans took over the Celtic area and had their own way of honoring the passing of the dead, also in late October. They honored the goddess Pomona with apples, which led to our current US tradition of dunking for apples that float in metal tubs of water.

In the 800s, the Christian influence came into play and Pope Bonaface IV declared Nov. 1 All Saints Day, a day to honor saints and martyrs, and 200 years later, another church head changed the name to All Souls Day to honor all the dead, not only saints and martyrs. They celebrated with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes of angels and such. Back then, the holiday was called Hallomas.

When European immigrants came to America, each people brought their various ways of celebrating "Halloween" with them. Once the Irish came here, Halloween took on a new tradition added with the others, and people would dress in costumes and go door to door to ask for coins or food...the beginning of what we now call in the US, trick-or-treating.

The holiday here now is secular rather than superstitious or religious, and adults and children alike dress up to celebrate with costumes, parties, games, and the children "trick-or-treat" for candies. People eat autumn foods, decorate homes and yards, and it is now one of the most popular holidays in the USA. "

May God bless You and have a great time.