Halloween
The origin:
Halloween has its origins in Ireland: Since around 700 BC, the Celts celebrated "Samhain", one of their most important festivals, on October 31st. They celebrated their harvest, the start of the cold season and the beginning of a new calendar year. The Celts also believed that on this day the underworld was open and that an encounter between the living and the dead took place.
To scare away evil spirits, people dressed up in frightening costumes and haunted the streets even at night. Large fires were meant to keep evil spirits away. Small gifts ("treats") were placed in front of the houses to appease the spirits and prevent them from committing evil deeds.
In the 9th century, the church referred to the pagan festival as "All Hallows Eve", the evening before All Saints Day. This later became the modern word "Halloween". Since the 19th century, Halloween, brought to America by Irish immigrants, has become increasingly popular. The most well-known custom is that children dressed up in scary costumes go from house to house and, with the words "trick or treat", ask the residents to give them candy, otherwise they will play tricks on them. Today, the Halloween custom has spread almost all over the world.
Copyright: gardnerian.de
The pumpkin:
The custom of hollowing out and carving pumpkins also goes back to stories from Ireland. When an evil man named Jack died, God denied him access to heaven. But Jack was not welcome in hell either. With a piece of coal that he placed in a hollowed-out turnip, he set out to find a place where he could stay.
From this legend, people derived the belief that a burning piece of coal in a turnip had the power to keep the devil and evil spirits away. In the USA, the local pumpkin was larger and easier to work with than turnips. So it replaced the turnip as the Jack O'Lantern - as the carved pumpkin is called in English-speaking countries.