Halloween is celebrated every year on October 31st. Today, Halloween is a time where people dress up in costumes, go trick or treating, carve jack-o-lanterns, tell ghost stories, and watch scary movies. Where did these Halloween traditions start?
It is believed that Halloween’s origins are with the Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts were a group of tribes who originated in central Europe and migrated into western Europe. The tribes started forming as early as 1200 B.C. and shared similar language, religion, and traditions. Samhain was one of the religious festivals observed by the Celts. It was usually celebrated from October 31st to November 1st to welcome the harvest and the beginning of a cold, dark winter. In addition, the Celts believed that the barrier between the physical world and the spirit world would break down during Samhain. This allowed the ghosts of the dead to return to earth on the night of October 31st. The spirits would cause trouble and damage crops. Due to the collapse between the spirit world and the physical world, the Celtic priests, known as the Druids, made predictions about the future. These predictions would give the Celts comfort over the long winter.
To celebrate Samhain, the Druids built huge bonfires that burned crops and animals as a sacrifice to the gods. In addition to lighting bonfires, Celts would wear costumes made of animal heads and skins during the celebration. They would also get their fortunes read. Once the celebration was over, the hearth fires in their homes were lit using the fire from the bonfire. This sacred bonfire would protect the Celts during the winter months.
In 43 A.D., the Roman Empire conquered most of the Celtic territory. When the Romans ruled over the Celtic territory, two Roman festivals were combined with Samhain. The first festival was Feralia, which was a day in late October that Romans commemorated the passing of the dead. The second festival was used to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. Pomona’s symbol was the apple, which possibly explains the tradition of bobbing for apples.
Legends & Lore 
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