By Greg Vega 
Trick or treat! From many front doors they look at you again and smile mischievously: radiant pumpkins with badly carved masks. The American custom of “trick or treat” has long been practiced in Germany.
But where does this scary day really come from? Why do young and old wear clothes on the last day of October? Why do children ask for sweets? An overview of why Halloween is more than just commercials – or at least it was once.
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Where does Halloween first come from?
First the Halloween custom goes to the Celts festival. At that time, European peoples differed only between two seasons: summer and winter. The end of summer fell on October 31 and was also known as the New Year’s celebration among the Celts Samhain.
Back then the Celtic people saw summer as the time of life and winter as the time of death. For New Year celebrations, there was a legend that the dead are looking for the souls of those who should die in the coming year. To avoid the demons of the dead, you can disappear or disguise yourself as dead.
Most descendants of the Celtic people can be found today Ireland. When most of them emigrated to North America in the 19th century, the custom of the horror festival spread throughout the Pacific.
The name Halloween is derived from the English word “All Hallows Eve” (All Saints’ Day). To create an understanding of the festival in Christianity, at least a direct link was made. There are also ongoing debates as to whether Halloween has always been a Christian holiday.
Halloween 2021: The scariest day of the year
Halloween has nothing to do with Reform Day. Nevertheless, this Christian holiday three years ago brought an advantage to many horror party lovers: October 31 was the first public holiday of 2018 in Lower Saxony, Shelswick-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Hamburg and Bremen. But this year everyone can expect a day full of pumpkins and pumpkins: because this year Halloween is coming on Sunday.
What has pumpkin got to do with Halloween?
When the leaves change color in the fall, supermarket shelves are also filled with a specific vegetable: pumpkin. But why do we associate orange balls with Halloween? This tradition goes back to the legend of the villain Jack, who is said to have made fun of the devil. As a result, when he died, he was denied access to both heaven and hell.
As a guide in the dark, the devil gave Jack a turnip and glowing coal. In stories the tuber turned into a pumpkin over time. So, many centuries after the creation of this legend, people wanted to put a glowing pumpkin on the terrace and name it “Jack O’Lantern”. According to legend, it is supposed to ward off evil spirits.
Halloween – trick or treat
Evil spirits, demons, the dead – why do we send our children around the house for years on this creepy evening? The tradition of collecting sweets goes back to what is called the soul cake. It is also said to be the invention of the Celts. It is not clear today why people baked sweet bread.
According to tradition, it was also used to appease evil spirits. But there are also stories of the game that the recipient of the burnt bread will die next year. Not so bad, today we drop business sweets in baby baskets.
That’s why Halloween is always criticized. Because now there is not much in the real defense against demons. Kids, but not adults, love to dress up as horror characters on the last day of October. This year, the Netflix series “Squid Game” is especially in the clothing center.
But Halloween is incredibly popular in the American celebrity world. Not only at parties, they tried to outdo each other (at least before the epidemic): the costumes of stars like Angelina Jolie or Heidi Klum are becoming more and more unusual every year. Klum also took a picture of his own Halloween on this Halloween Instagram.
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But people in Germany are also involved in exaggeration. Not only personally, but also in scary places on the last weekend of October. Not only is Eurobark Rust near Freiburg celebrating Halloween, but some rides at Hansa Park in northern Germany have been turned into a scary backdrop.
And for those who want to be scared on screen, the horror film “Halloween Kills” hit theaters just in time last week. Or you can stay at home and serve sweets – as the Celts once did.