Halloween: From Samhain to a Global Celebration
Every October, Halloween seems to take over the world in a familiar cloud of pumpkins, costumes, candy, ghosts, witches, and things that go bump in the night. In the United States, it is almost impossible to imagine October without it. Children go door to door asking for treats, neighborhoods compete over decorations, adults dress up for parties, and pumpkin carving becomes an annual ritual.
But Halloween did not begin with pumpkins.
Long before there were jack-o'-lanterns on American porches, October marked a much older seasonal turning point in the Celtic world. What eventually became Halloween grew out of a complicated mixture of ancient Celtic traditions, medieval Christian observances, folklore, and, much later, the influence of Irish and Scottish immigrants in North America. Today, the holiday has traveled far beyond its European roots, taking on new forms wherever it has landed.
The Celtic Beginning: Samhain
The oldest traditions associated with Halloween are generally connected to Samhain (pronounced “SOW-in”), an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. Samhain was observed around the beginning of November, particularly in Ireland and Scotland and other parts of the Celtic world.
It was more than simply a harvest festival. The transition from autumn into winter represented a movement from abundance into scarcity, from light into darkness, and from one part of the year into another. It was therefore considered a significant and supernatural time.
Later folklore associated Samhain with the idea that the boundary between the living and the dead became unusually thin. Spirits and supernatural beings could cross into the human world, while the souls of the dead might return to visit familiar places.
Fire played an important role. Communities gathered around bonfires, feasted after the harvest, and participated in rituals associated with protection and the coming winter. Some customs involved disguises or costumes, which eventually became one of the defining characteristics of Halloween.
It is worth remembering that our modern understanding of Samhain comes from a combination of historical evidence and later folklore. We cannot assume that every modern Halloween custom existed unchanged in the ancient Celtic festival. What we can see is a long cultural thread connecting seasonal change, fire, supernatural folklore, and remembrance of the dead.
From Samhain to All Hallows' Eve
As Christianity spread throughout Britain and Ireland, older seasonal traditions did not simply disappear. Instead, many customs became intertwined with Christian celebrations.
November 1 became All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day. The evening before was therefore known as All Hallows' Eve. Over time, that name was shortened to Hallowe'en and eventually to the Halloween we know today.
The Christian calendar also established All Souls' Day on November 2, a day devoted to remembering the dead. Together, Samhain, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day created a period of celebration and remembrance surrounding the beginning of November.
Medieval traditions helped shape some of the customs that would eventually become trick-or-treating. In parts of England and Ireland, poor people went from house to house asking for food, particularly small cakes called soul cakes, in exchange for prayers for the dead. Children and young people also participated in various forms of seasonal begging and performance.
In Scotland and Ireland, another tradition known as guising involved dressing in disguise and going from house to house in exchange for food, coins, or other treats. Unlike modern American trick-or-treating, the children were often expected to perform a song, joke, poem, or other trick before receiving their reward.
Before the Pumpkin, There Was the Turnip
One of Halloween's most recognizable symbols has an unexpectedly humble origin. The original jack-o'-lanterns were not pumpkins.
In Ireland and Scotland, people carved faces into turnips and other root vegetables, placing candles inside them. These lanterns were associated with Halloween folklore and were sometimes used as protective objects or carried while traveling after dark.
When Irish immigrants arrived in North America during the nineteenth century, they brought these traditions with them. They discovered that the large American pumpkin was considerably easier to carve than a turnip.
And so the pumpkin eventually won.
The jack-o'-lantern became one of the defining symbols of American Halloween, transforming an old European tradition into something unmistakably North American.
Halloween Comes to America
Halloween arrived in North America primarily through immigrants from Ireland and Scotland. During the nineteenth century, especially during and after the enormous Irish immigration caused by the Great Famine, Halloween traditions became increasingly established in American communities.
At first, celebrations varied considerably. There were parties, games, pranks, fortune-telling, storytelling, and community gatherings. By the early twentieth century, Halloween had become increasingly secular and family-oriented in the United States.
Trick-or-treating developed into the familiar American tradition during the twentieth century. By then, Halloween had become less about supernatural protection and more about community, costumes, candy, and mischief.
The United States also helped transform Halloween into the enormously commercial holiday we know today. Candy, decorations, costumes, horror movies, haunted attractions, and elaborate parties have made October 31 a major cultural and commercial event.
But the basic ingredients are remarkably old: dress up, light a fire, tell a scary story, eat something special, and remember the dead.
Halloween Around the World
Halloween is now celebrated in many countries, although it does not look the same everywhere. In some places, the American version—with costumes, pumpkins and trick-or-treating—has become popular. In others, Halloween exists alongside much older local traditions concerning ancestors, spirits and the dead.
And in some countries, Halloween is relatively new or remains a minor celebration.
There is no single worldwide Halloween.
Instead, there are dozens of local versions, each shaped by the history and culture of the people celebrating it.
Ireland: Where the Story Begins
Modern Ireland still has a particularly strong connection to Halloween because of its relationship with Samhain.
Children dress in costumes, parties are common, and trick-or-treating takes place, but Halloween also retains distinctly Irish traditions. Bonfires remain part of some celebrations, and traditional foods such as barmbrack, a fruit bread associated with Halloween, have long been part of the season.
Ireland has also embraced large-scale Halloween festivals. The city of Derry, for example, hosts one of Europe's largest Halloween celebrations, complete with parades, performances, fireworks and elaborate decorations.
Scotland: Guising and Fire
Scotland shares the Gaelic roots of Halloween, and some of its traditions remain distinct from the American version.
Historically, Scottish children practiced guising, disguising themselves and visiting houses in exchange for food or money. But there was a catch: instead of simply asking for candy, they were expected to entertain their hosts with a song, joke, poem, or trick.
Turnip lanterns were also traditional, meaning that the original Scottish Halloween landscape would have been filled with glowing carved turnips rather than pumpkins.
Today, Halloween in Scotland combines these older traditions with modern costumes, parties and trick-or-treating.
The United States: The Halloween We Know
If there is one country most associated with modern Halloween, it is the United States.
American Halloween is a spectacular combination of old folklore and modern entertainment. Neighborhoods fill with carved pumpkins, fake spiderwebs, skeletons, and inflatable decorations. Children dress as everything from witches and vampires to superheroes and movie characters.
Trick-or-treating is the centerpiece for many families, while older children and adults often celebrate with parties, haunted houses, costume contests, and horror movies.
The American version of Halloween has also become one of the country's great opportunities for communal play. For one night, ordinary houses become haunted mansions, adults become monsters, and children can knock on a stranger's door demanding candy.
Canada: Halloween Across the Border
Halloween is also deeply established in Canada, where many of the familiar North American traditions are practiced: costumes, trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving, parties, and elaborate decorations.
Its history is closely connected to the movement of Halloween traditions from Ireland and Scotland into North America. Today, Canadian Halloween largely resembles American Halloween, although regional traditions and celebrations vary.
England and Wales: Halloween Beside Older Traditions
Halloween is celebrated in England and Wales, particularly through parties, costumes, decorations, and trick-or-treating. But the holiday exists alongside other autumn traditions with their own histories.
One of the most famous is Bonfire Night, celebrated on November 5 to commemorate the failure of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. Bonfire Night involves enormous fires, fireworks, and public gatherings.
The two holidays have sometimes become culturally associated because both involve darkness, fire, and autumn celebrations, but they are historically separate traditions.
Mexico: Halloween and Día de los Muertos
Mexico is an especially interesting example because Halloween and Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, are often treated as though they are the same holiday.
They are not.
Día de los Muertos is a distinct Mexican tradition with roots in Indigenous Mesoamerican practices and centuries of Catholic influence. It takes place primarily on November 1 and 2 and focuses on remembering deceased family members and welcoming their spirits.
Families may build ofrendas, or altars, decorated with photographs, candles, flowers, and foods associated with the deceased. Cemeteries may become places of gathering, remembrance, and celebration.
Halloween is also celebrated in parts of Mexico, particularly in cities and among younger people, and children may participate in trick-or-treating. But Día de los Muertos is not simply "Mexican Halloween." It has its own history, symbolism, and meaning.
The Philippines: A Blend of Traditions
The Philippines has its own long-standing traditions surrounding All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, while American cultural influence has also introduced Halloween-style parties, costumes, and decorations.
In some rural communities, a tradition called pangangaluluwa has been compared with the older European practice of souling. Children dress or disguise themselves as souls of the dead and go from house to house singing in exchange for food or treats.
At the same time, many Filipinos observe November 1 and 2 by visiting cemeteries, cleaning family graves, and spending time with deceased relatives in a tradition that is much more focused on remembrance than spooky entertainment.
Japan: Halloween Becomes a Parade
Halloween arrived relatively recently in Japan and has developed in a distinctly Japanese direction.
Rather than being primarily a children's door-to-door holiday, Halloween has become strongly associated with costumes, themed events and enormous public gatherings. Tokyo's Shibuya and Kawasaki, among other places, became particularly famous for Halloween crowds and elaborate costumes.
Japanese Halloween also illustrates how traditions can be adopted without necessarily carrying the same religious or historical meaning. For many participants, Halloween is an opportunity for cosplay, creativity, parties and seasonal entertainment.
Germany: Halloween Meets Autumn Festivals
Halloween has become increasingly popular in Germany, particularly among children and young adults. Costumes, parties, pumpkins and decorated homes are increasingly familiar sights.
At the same time, Germany has its own autumn traditions, including Erntedank, the harvest thanksgiving, and a variety of regional customs surrounding All Saints' and All Souls' observances.
Halloween therefore exists as one celebration among several autumn traditions rather than replacing them.
Romania: Dracula and Halloween
Romania has become particularly associated with Halloween tourism because of the international popularity of Dracula.
The connection is largely literary and commercial rather than an ancient Romanian Halloween tradition. Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula placed Transylvania firmly in the popular imagination as a land of vampires, castles, and supernatural danger.
Modern Halloween events in Romania sometimes lean heavily into that imagery, particularly around Bran Castle and Transylvania.
It is a fascinating example of how Halloween has become flexible enough to absorb local folklore—and sometimes folklore that was itself reshaped by outsiders.
DID YOU KNOW? Halloween Is a Multi-Billion-Dollar Candy Holiday
The traditions surrounding Halloween may be centuries old, but the candy business is decidedly modern.
Americans are expected to spend $4.1 billion on Halloween candy in 2026 alone. That's part of an estimated $13.5 billion in total Halloween spending in the United States this year.
And Americans really do love their Halloween sweets. The National Retail Federation estimates that 96% of people celebrating Halloween plan to purchase candy.
Looking at actual confectionery sales gives us another sense of the scale. Halloween chocolate and candy sales reached approximately $7.4 billion in 2024, accounting for nearly 18% of all U.S. confectionery retail sales that year.
So when you reach into that trick-or-treat bowl for one more miniature chocolate bar, you're participating in a tradition that has evolved from ancient harvest rituals into a multi-billion-dollar industry.
The ghosts may be ancient. The candy business is very modern.
From the Dead of Winter to a Night of Candy
Perhaps the strangest thing about Halloween is how much it has changed while keeping the same basic fascination.
Samhain marked the transition from harvest to winter. Medieval Christians used the season to honor saints and remember the dead. Irish and Scottish communities carried old customs across the Atlantic. Americans turned turnips into pumpkins and soul cakes into candy. Japan transformed Halloween into a massive costume celebration. Mexico maintains its own traditions of welcoming and remembering the dead.
The costumes changed.
The food changed.
The names changed.
The meaning changed.
But the season still arrives at the same time of year, when the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer.
And perhaps that is why Halloween has survived so many centuries.
At its heart, Halloween is a celebration of the threshold: between summer and winter, life and death, the ordinary and the supernatural, the familiar and the unknown.
For one night each year, we turn out the lights, light a candle, put on a mask, and tell stories about what might be waiting in the dark.
Then we give the kids some candy and call it a holiday.
Sources and further reading
National Retail Federation. “Halloween Spending Expected to Reach Record $13.5 Billion in 2026.” 2026.
https://nrf.com/research-insights/holiday-data-and-trends/halloween
National Confectioners Association. “Consumers Turn to Chocolate & Candy at Halloween.”
https://candyusa.com/cst/consumers-turn-to-chocolate-candy-at-halloween/
HISTORY. “Halloween: Origins, Meaning, and Traditions.” Updated September 25, 2026.
https://www.history.com/articles/history-of-halloween
Library of Congress. “The Origins of Halloween Traditions.”
https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2021/10/the-origins-of-halloween-traditions/
Ireland.com. “Uncover Halloween’s Origins in Ireland.”
https://www.ireland.com/en-us/things-to-do/themes/culture/halloween-in-ireland/
Smithsonian National Museum of American History. “Día de los Muertos.”
https://americanhistory.si.edu/dia-de-los-muertos
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