HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL

Halloween 2025 Atmosphere: When the world “excites” before the spooky festival 

There are only a few days left until Halloween 2025 – one of the most vibrant and anticipated festivals of the year. The festive atmosphere has begun to spread everywhere: from the orange-black street corners, to the shops displaying pumpkins, masks and creepy but creative costumes.

In particular, this year Halloween falls on Friday, October 31, 2025 – promising a holiday that lasts the entire weekend, making the atmosphere even more bustling.

1. What is Halloween?

Halloween is an abbreviation of the phrase All Hallows' Eve, which means the night before All Saints' Day (also known as the Devil's Road Festival). More than 2000 years ago, Halloween began to become an annual festival held on October 31 of the Gregorian calendar every year. This is considered a holiday, the happiest festival of the year with mysterious and attractive games for everyone, especially the young.

Even more special, Halloween is not an ordinary festival. Halloween is a mixture of religious rituals and ancient customs of many different cultures. If in the past, Halloween was only held in Catholic Western countries, today it has become an annual cultural event that people around the world look forward to.

2. Origin of Halloween

The Celts were a diverse group of tribes, clans and peoples of the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in Europe. The Celts recounted that: Every year on November 1, the people of this region would celebrate the Samhain festival (a festival named after a god who had the ability to call the souls of the dead back to the earth). That was the earliest origin of Halloween. This ritual marked the end of summer and welcomed winter. At the same time, it was also a ritual to commemorate Samhain - the deceased leader of the tribe.

Celtic festival of Samhain

The Celtic people considered this day to honor the harvest, marking the transition to winter. They believed that October 31 was also the day when hell opened its gates, the boundary between death and life was very blurred. Therefore, they often turned off the fire to make the house cold and dark as if there were no living people, then dressed up as dead people, ghosts and demons to walk around the living area to drive away the souls from the other world.

Until Saint Patrick and his missionaries came to the Celtic living area, this holiday was less celebrated. However, later, the churches changed this holiday into a festival with many Christian influences.

In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III decided to move the feast of All Martyrs (May 13) to November 1 and called it All Saints' Day. On this day, people would organize Samhain activities and the night before All Saints' Day was called Halloween. In 1840, following the Irish immigration to America, Halloween was also introduced. Gradually, following the integration trend, Halloween became a popular festival all over the world.

 3. The meaning of Halloween

Remembering the Dead

Halloween is celebrated first on the eve of All Saints Day (1-11) and ends on All Souls Day (2-11). These are three consecutive days celebrated with the meaning of honoring saints who have or have not yet ascended to Heaven.

In addition, this day also has the meaning of remembering deceased relatives. On Halloween, the souls of the dead will be allowed to visit their families. Roman Catholics believe that prayers on earth will help the souls cleanse their sins and return to God soon.

Exorcism

The Celts believe that October 31st is the day when hell opens, the boundary between death and life is easily crossed. So they often turn off the fire to make the house cold and dark as if there are no living people, then together dress up as dead people or devils, go around the living area to chase away the souls from the other world.

Besides, according to Irish legend, there was a young man named Jack. When he was alive, he was very greedy, often hid money, did not give alms to anyone, so when he died, his soul was not allowed to go to heaven. He also could not go to hell because when he was alive, he played with the devil so the devil did not capture him.

Before that, a devil came to destroy a residential area, unfortunately the alarm was raised, so the people came to ask the monks to bring holy objects to "curse" and "lock the doors", so the devil was captured. Soon after, Jack realized that it was the devil he often played with and tried to remove the "evil curse" to make way for the devil to escape. The devil wanted to repay Jack for saving his life, so he promised Jack that he would not take his soul to hell.

Later, when Jack died in an accident but was rejected by heaven, he went to hell. But the devil did not let him in because of his previous promise. At that time, the devil saw that Jack was lonely and miserable, so he took some hot coals and put them in the pumpkin and gave them to him to warm up. Perhaps that is why pumpkins became a symbol of Halloween.

FUN ACTIVITIES IN HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL

Pumpkin is considered a symbol of Halloween.

Despite its barbaric and horrifying color, Halloween is still a holiday filled with interesting and unique activities. Let's take a look at some popular games that people around the world celebrate on this day.

Hopefully, the above article has helped you understand what day is Halloween? What day is Halloween 2025? Learn more about the origin and meaning of Halloween. Wish you a fun and happy Halloween.