Where does Halloween come from? | children’s week

Especially in Great Britain and Ireland, Halloween has a long tradition. For the Celts who lived there around the year 0, the new year began on November 1. And it wasn’t necessarily a party …

The Celts believed that on New Year’s Eve the door to hell opened a little. This allowed the good spirits to emerge, but also the bad ones. To drive away these evil spirits, people dressed in the scariest way possible. With horrible masks, they put all the ghosts to flight.

Via America …

Later, fewer and fewer people believed that ghosts were coming to visit Earth on October 31. But the creepy dressing habit stuck. In fact, it has spread. When many Irish people moved to the United States in the 1800s, they took Halloween with them. As a result, the party also became a hit in America. It appears more and more often in American series, films and games.

… In the Nederlands

Because we watch a lot of American TV and movies in the Netherlands, the party has come to us. And that’s not insignificant: for traders, it’s a great opportunity to sell lots of stuff. So storefronts are full of gadgets weeks in advance. Do you really need all those pumpkins, cobwebs, and masks? Maybe not, but Halloween itself seems to be here to stay.