Halloween Day 2023: Date, history, significance and celebration
Halloween Day 2023: Halloween is on October 31. Here's all you need to know about the date, history, significance and celebration of Halloween
Halloween 2023: That time of the year again when people across the world and of any age group trick or treat and prefer to chill out with friends drinking pumpkin spiced drinks as the festival of Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve has something for all ages and is an annual celebration of all things spooky and fear inducing. On this day, children and adults around the world completely flip the normal rules of polite society and indulge in their more primitive selves as Halloween is one special occasion during which people are encouraged to let their freak flag fly high!
Date:
Every year, Halloween is celebrated on October 31. A day before All Hallows' Day is known as All Hallows' Eve, which came to be shortened to be known as Halloween.
History:
Halloween dates back to the medieval times when it was celebrated for a completely different reason. How does Halloween get its spooky connotations? Let’s surf its history for the answer.
Halloween, in the modern world, is celebrated by dressing up as fictional characters, performing cosplay and stuffing oneself with candies and pumpkin pies. However, this dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain which was regarded as a harvest festival.
Some theories suggest that the festival of Samhain has its roots in paganism. It was believed that on the day of Halloween, the lines between the living world and that of the dead would get blurred hence, the spirits would visit their loved ones.
While some people prefer to decorate their homes and cook delicious dishes to welcome the spirits of their ancestors, they also try to ward away evil spirits by lighting bonfire and dressing up as demons and witches to avoid being recognised.
Significance:
On this day, children dress up and visit other homes for trick or treating. People also decorate their homes with spooky as the primary theme, play dress up with references from pop culture, and attend Halloween-themed parties with their friends. Carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns is another important attraction of this festival.
Celebration:
Halloween is celebrated with a whole lot of grandeur and pomp all across the world. This festival also brings with it a lot of activities and rituals – pumpkins are carved into jack-o-lanterns, children visit their neighbourhood houses for trick or treating.
Trick or treating is the ritual where children dress up as their favourite fictional characters from books and movies and visit other houses for candies, or for performing a harmless mischief. Halloween is also the time of the year when people let their freak flag fly high.
They dress up as ghosts, witches, demons and fairies and attend parties. People also enjoy sips of pumpkin spiced drinks with their friends.