Halloween - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

# Halloween

### From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Halloween is a holiday. It is on the night of October 31.

Jack-O-Lantern, a symbol of Halloween
Halloween-Pumpkin

It is celebrated in many English speaking countries. Children wear costumes. They go to people's homes. The people give them candy. Children say "Trick or treat!" to ask for candy. This comes from a threat. It means, "Give me a treat or I will play a trick on you." Children today usually do not do the tricks if they do not get treats. But some children still do mischief (playful pranks or things to make fun of people like putting toilet paper in trees or writing with soap on windows).

In these countries Halloween is about ghosts, witches, goblins, and other scary things.

## [edit] Origins

The word Halloween is from Hallowe'en. This is a contraction of All Hallow's Eve. All Hallow's Eve is the day before the Catholic holiday All Saints holy day. All Saints holy day was once called All Hallows. This was short for All Hallowed Souls. Hallowed means holy.

This holiday All Saints holy day was made by Christian missionaries. It was the same day as a Pagan holiday. The missionaries came to areas where Pagans lived. They tried to make the Pagans believe in Christianity. So they made some Pagan holidays into Christian holidays.

The Pagan holiday that All Saints holy day replaced was the Day of the Dead. Many Wiccans and modern Pagans celebrate the Day of the Dead. This is a happy holiday (even though it says 'Dead'). It is the day that the souls of dead people come back to Earth. So in Pagan religions it is not about scary things. It is about being with (remembering) family or friends who have died.

Many Lutheran churches celebrate a holiday on October 31st called The Reformation. This holiday celebrates when Martin Luther put some arguments on a church door. (He did not really put the arguments on a real door, but sent them by mail to important church people, and literally put them on their door.) These arguments led Luther's church to break away from the Catholic church.

What is missing here is that the traditions of 'All Saints Day' originated far elsewhere from our western ideal. The day in many cultures is often refered to as the "day of the dead" where Spirits not collected from the harvest night before, are left to roam freely. Beware all ye' who tread in the open that day!!

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Category: Holidays

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