A night of spooky magic and people dressed up in ghostly costumes means that tonight is Halloween Night.
As ghouls and monsters, carrying pumpkin lanterns, go trick or treating and tell ghost stories, in today’s more modern times, the tradition will see spooky outfits being worn to scare away any evil spirits lurking in the shadows of the celebrations. In countries like America – where the growing tradition was taken to by the Irish in the 19th century - when many immigrated - people will be treating the occasion as part of their holiday season, trick or treats, pumpkins and spooky costumes very much the order of the night, with the evolved into sweets and chocolate now ‘front-and-centre’ for the celebrations.
The tradition is said by many to date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, 2,000 years ago. The Celts believed that Samhain (pronounced sow-ain) was the day in the year when the gap between our world and the spirit world was blurred, making it easier for the spirits of the dead to return.
Tonight, though, children will be carving faces into the pumpkins, hollowing out its inside and placing candles into them to create the ghoulish lantern for a night of spooky frolics for all the family.
