Figures dressed up as witches or skeletons, cheekily grinning pumpkins and lots of ghosts: October 31st is a haunted day. But where does the festival of horror actually come from? And how long has it been popular in Germany? Find out everything you need to know about Halloween and what makes this night so special.

Pagan origins or Christian invention?

Halloween is a bit of both. The origins of Halloween can be found in pre-Christian Ireland. There, the Celts celebrated Samhain - a festival that is similar in meaning to today's New Year's Eve. Samhain is one of the four major Irish-Celtic festivals. It was believed that people had access to beings from the mystical "Other World" on these days. Today, Samhain is still celebrated, for example by followers of the Wicca movement.

According to Celtic mythology, the dead set out on the evening of October 31 to search for the living who would die in the coming year. To keep the evil spirits at bay, people dressed up and took on the form of hideous monsters. The gifts left on the doorstep were intended to appease the spirits.

The name Halloween is much younger than the festival itself and originated during the Christianization of Ireland. The church referred to the pagan festival on the evening before All Saints' Day as "All Hallows Eve", which over time became "Halloween". It is also interesting to note that October 31 is celebrated as Reformation Day in parts of Germany.

From Ireland to America and back to England

It was Irish emigrants who brought the Halloween tradition to the United States. Especially on the east coast of the USA, where most emigrants from the British Isles had settled, these traditions fell on fertile ground and were expanded over the decades. It was not until the 1990s that American Halloween traditions found their way back to the "Old World". The spooky fun was particularly popular in England: today, the spooky festival is celebrated extensively in all regions of England. For some years now, Halloween has also been very popular in Germany.

Creepy carnival

Today, Halloween is above all a good reason to have a great party. And with the wide range of sweets and drinks smiling at you from the store shelves, this is no problem at all. Modern Halloween is not meant to scare away ghosts or be contemplative, because the focus here is on fun. So you can confidently reach for brain-shaped jelly and bat chocolate. The right decorations are also needed to make the party a success: Black cloths and cobwebs look particularly authentic. Trick-or-treating is popular with children. The little ones go around the houses in costume and threaten to play pranks if they are not given sweets. Adults also like to wear costumes, although the range has expanded enormously in recent years. People no longer just turn up to Halloween parties as witches or ghosts - just think of popular series and films and the creative costume ideas that result from them.

So what about the pumpkin?

The custom of carving lanterns out of pumpkins on Halloween goes back to an old Irish legend. A villain called Jack O is said to have once lived in Ireland. He tricked the devil and captured him so that he could no longer get in his way. When Jack O died, he was denied access to heaven. But the devil didn't want him in hell either. However, this time the devil showed mercy and gave Jack O a turnip and a piece of glowing coal. Jack was to use this to wander through the darkness and find a place where he could stay. Although the legend mentions a turnip, it soon became a pumpkin thanks to the abundance of available pumpkins in the United States.