Halloween Celebrations

Like most Western holidays, Halloween's origins date to pre-Christian traditions; in this case, the holiday developed out of the Celtic festival of Samhain.

Despite its ancient Irish roots, though, Halloween is considered a new American holiday by much of the world -- and it is the U.S. that lent the holiday its more modern, recognizable traditions such as costumes, trick-or-treating, and ghoulish themed parties. In fact, Halloween as we know it today didn't become a "thing" in much of the world until the late 1990s, and therefore most Halloween parties overseas don't look much different than the ones you might see stateside.

That said, All Saints' Day on November 1 and All Souls' Day on November 2 have been celebrated around the world for centuries, particularly in countries with large Catholic and Eastern Orthodox populations.