Halloween Facts

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it should be spelled ‘Hallow-e’en’ as the name is a contraction of ‘All-Hallow-even’.
The date of October 31 was chosen as it was the last day of the year in the old Celtic calendar in which the year began on November 1. The 1^st of November is All Saints Day.
Halloween had its origins in the pagan Celtic festival of Samhain marking the final harvest of the year.
Ghoulish costumes were worn to frighten away spirits of the dead looking for bodies to possess.
The magician and escapologist Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926…
…and Mussolini became prime minister of Italy on Halloween in 1922.
The first four Halloween films were released just before Halloween. The closest to the day was Halloween II, released on October 30, 1981.
The mask the killer wore in the first Halloween film was a Captain Kirk death mask from Star Trek sprayed white.
Irish immigrants introduced pumpkin carving in the US. In Europe, turnips had been used.
In the USA, an estimated $7bn a year (£4.3bn) is spent on Halloween celebrations.
And the last of our Halloween Facts is – the Día de los Muertos is not the same as Halloween. In fact, it is a celebration of life not death. It originated in Mexico. Read more here.

Here are some ways of saying Happy Halloween in other languages:

Russian: С праздником Хэллоуин

Spanish: Feliz Halloween

Dutch: gelukkig halloween

German: Fröhliches Halloween

Polish: Wesolego Halloween

Portuguese: Feliz Dia das Bruxas

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