Do you want to know a bit more about Halloween?

Halloween is a feast celebrated on the night of October 31st. It has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced “sah-win”). This festival of Samhain was a celebration of the ending of the harvest season in Gaelic culture.

Samhain was a day used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and get ready for winter. They believed that on October 31st , the borderline between the world of the living and the world of the dead would somehow overlap and the dead would come back to life and cause chaos; making people sick or damaging their needed crops. Therefore, people would light bonfires and wear costumes to scare away roaming ghosts.

Over time, Halloween developed into a community-based event which is child-friendly. Activities such as trick-or-treating bonfires, costume parties, visiting “haunted houses” and carving jack-o-lanterns take place during that day. In a number of countries around the world, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people continue to get guided into the winter season with gatherings, costumes, sweet treats and masks which were worn trying to mimic the evil spirits or appease them.

The name Halloween (originally spelled Hallowe'en) is a contraction of All Hallows Even, meaning the day before All Hallows Day (known nowadays as All Saints Day), a Catholic holiday commemorating Christian saints done since the early Middle Ages on November 1st.

A jack-o'-lantern is a carved pumpkin, associated with the holiday of Halloween. In a jack-o'-lantern, the top is cut off to form a lid and the inside flesh is then taken out; a monstrous or comical face, is carved out of the pumpkin's rind to expose the hollow interior. Then a light source (such as a normal candle or an electric one) is placed in before the lid is put back; creating various colors and flickering effects. It is common to see jack-o'-lanterns on doorsteps and as decorations prior to and during Halloween.

Trick-or-treating means going from house to house searching candy and other goodies. It has been a popular Halloween tradition in the United States and other countries for more than a 100 years. Possible ancestors to the modern-day trick-or-treating have been identified in ancient Celtic festivals, early Roman Catholic holidays and even medieval practices.

There are many things in the media which represents Halloween and one of the is film Trick or treat an 1986 American horror film  done by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. Another one could be the famous 1993 series named Addams family written by Paul Rudnick. They are a close-knit extended family with decidedly macabre interests and supernatural abilities. However, Halloween has not just gone into films, it has also arrived to many game applications like Hay Day or Clah of Clans where new updates are made every time the date gets near, they change the music and some of the images that appear. Moreover, when talking about television programs, when the 31st of October arrives, each channel makes a special Halloween TV programming; showing series and films such as The Blair Witch Project, Haunted Houses, Fear the Walking Dead or American Horror Story. On the other hand, on radio programs, songs such as Thriller (Michael Jackson) or, Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield) are heard in order to create a creepy atmosphere.