Like Christmas and Easter, Halloween is a holiday inspired by old pagan holidays.
Trick-or-treating, the custom of children in costume going door-to-door to extort a piece of candy playfully, traces its origins to the Gaelic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest and the commencement of winter. It was believed that the separation between the worlds of the living and the dead was thinnest during Samhain. These spirits from the Otherworld would be given offerings to appease them and gain good fortune during the winter. Eventually, people would disguise themselves as these visitors, looking for treats, lest some misfortune (or trick) befall the living.
Fast forward to today, and it’s now a holiday where kids dress up as Spider-Man or a KPop Demon Hunter and get candy. It’s also a time for adults to let their hair down, party, and dress up in costumes, too. There’s also Day of the Dead, a holiday traditionally celebrated in Mexico but also popular in the US, given the large Mexican-American community.
