Halloween 2021: Know date, history, significance and celebration of Allhalloween

New Delhi | Jagran Lifestyle Desk: The spooky festival, Halloween 2021, is around the corner, and people are busy preparing for the festival. Also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve, the festival was traditionally celebrated to mark the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the winter season. However, Celtic people dedicate this day to remembering the deads as they believe on the eve of Halloween the boundaries between the living and dead get blur and spirits move freely through all lands.

Halloween 2021: History

The word Halloween or Hallowe'en dates back to 1745 and is of Christian origin. The word Hallowe'en means "Saints' evening". The spooky festival is celebrated every year on October 31 to remember the dead and mark the beginning of the winter season. Traditionally, people visit the church to pray for the dead and light candles on their graves. However, some historians believe that it is linked with Samhain, which means Summer's End.

Halloween 2021: Significance

The ritual of knocking on people's doors and saying 'trick or treat' started in the 16th century in some European countries. There was a belief that people dressed in spooky costumes were saving themselves from evil spirits.

Halloween 2021: Celebrations

People on this day decorate their houses with spooky stuff such as artificial skeletons, etc. Also, since October is known as pumpkin season, so people in the United States carve it into a spooky face and decorate it in their garden with some lightings. On this day, people binge-watch horror movies with their friends and family, light bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, play pranks, visiting haunted attractions and tell scary stories. Together they also, make candies to distribute among children.

Several Christians abstain from meat on Halloween's eve and eat certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes.