Halloween is one of the scariest dates in the Christian calendar. Although the traditions have their roots in Celtic Ireland, Halloween is now more of an excuse for children to dress up and frighten each other. 

The last day in October is a date that youngsters look forward to with a mixture of glee and terror. And why not? What other holiday allows you to dress up as ghost and ghouls and scare each other witless?

The British tend to think of Halloween as a predominantly American tradition, complete with Jack O’Lanterns, trick-or-treating and the wearing of outrageous witch and goblin costumes, but the holiday has its roots in Celtic Ireland. The Jack O’Lantern, the carved-out pumpkin with a lit candle placed inside, is actually an Irish tradition, based on the legend of a man called Jack who made a pact with the devil.

According to tradition, a carved-out turnip was originally used, but Irish emigrants, who fled the potato famine of the 1840s and settled in New England, found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips, so they used those instead.

The wearing of scary costumes can also be traced back to Celtic times. October 31 once marked the Celtic new year and was believed to be a time when spirits of the dead could come back and possess the living. In order to avoid being possessed, people would don scary costumes in an effort to ward off the spirits.

The traditions were later adapted by the Romans and the Christians. In fact, the name Halloween derives from Hallow’s Eve, the night before Hallow’s Day, also known as All Saints’ Day, on 1 November.