Halloween

Halloween is celebrated on October 31 every year. It is a fixed-date cultural celebration in the Gregorian calendar, observed primarily in Western countries on the eve of All Saints' Day.

Halloween is an annual celebration with origins in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of summer and the beginning of the dark winter. Today it is a primarily secular cultural event featuring costumes, trick-or-treating, jack-o'-lanterns, horror-themed entertainment, and haunted attractions.

Halloween is most prominently celebrated in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. It has also grown significantly in Japan, Germany, and France. Ireland and Scotland, where the Celtic roots of Samhain originated, have long cultural ties to the holiday.

Halloween is not a public holiday in any country. Schools, businesses, and government offices remain open on October 31. It is a cultural and commercial celebration, with most activities taking place in the evening.

Halloween traditions include children dressing in costumes and going trick-or-treating, carving jack-o'-lanterns from pumpkins, decorating homes with spooky themes, attending costume parties, telling ghost stories, and watching horror films. In Ireland and Scotland, bonfires and traditional games like apple bobbing are still popular.