Halloween

Halloween or Hallowe'en (/hlwin, -oin, hl-/; a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening"),

[6]
also
known as Allhalloween,
[7]
All Hallows' Eve,
[8]
or All Saints' Eve,
[9]
is a yearly celebrationobserved in
a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It
initiates the triduum of Allhallowtide,
[10]
the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the
dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed believers.
[11]
Within
Allhallowtide, the traditional focus of All Hallows' Eve revolves around the theme of using "humor and
ridicule to confront the power of death."
[12]

According to many scholars, All Hallows' Eve is a Christianized feast initially influenced
by Celticharvest festivals,
[13][14]
with possible pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic Samhain.
[8][15][16]
Other
scholars maintain that it originated independently of Samhain and has solely Christian roots.
[17][18]

Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related "guising"),
attendingcostume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple
bobbing, visiting haunted house attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watchinghorror
films. In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows' Eve, including
attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain
popular,
[19][20][21]
although in other locations, these solemn customs are less pronounced in favor of a
more commercialized and secularized celebration.
[22][23][24]
Because many Western Christian
denominations encourage, although no longer require, abstinence from meat on All Hallows'
Eve,
[25][26]
the tradition of eating certain vegetarian foods for this vigil day developed, including the
consumption of apples, colcannon, cider, potato pancakes, and soul cakes.
The word Halloween or Hallowe'en dates to about 1745
[29]
and is of Christian origin.
[30]
The word
"Halloween" means "hallowed evening" or "holy evening".
[31]
It comes from a Scottish term for All
Hallows' Eve (the evening before All Hallows' Day).
[32][33]
In Scots, the word "eve" is even, and this is
contracted to e'en or een. Over time, (All) Hallow(s) Eve(n) evolved into Halloween. Although the
phrase "All Hallows'" is found in Old English (ealra hlgena mssedg, all saints mass-day), "All
Hallows' Eve" is itself not seen until 1556.