Valentine One: Halloween Party Ideas

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Halloween Party Ideas

Celebrations Trick-or-treating/guising, costume parties, making jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, divination, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, fireworks displays

ObservancesChurch services,[2] prayer,[3] fasting,[1] and vigils[4]

Related toSamhain, Hop-tu-Naa, Calan Gaeaf, Kalan Gwav, Day of the Dead, All Saints' Day (cf. vigils)

Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening"),[5] also known as All Hallows' Eve,[6] is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows (or All Saints) and the day initiating the triduum of Hallowmas.

According to many scholars, it is a Christianised feast originally influenced by western European harvest festivals, [7] and festivals of the dead with possible pagan roots, particularly the Celtic Samhain.[6][8][9] Others maintain that it originated independently of Samhain and has Christian roots.[10]

Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also known as "guising"), attending costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.