Happy Halloween!!! (2012)

Halloween also known as All Hallows' Eve is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on October 31st...the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows (or All Saints).

Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also known as "guising")...attending costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories & watching horror films.

According to many scholars...it was originally influenced by western European harvest festivals & festivals of the dead with possible pagan roots...particularly the Celtic Samhain. Others maintain that it originated independently of Samhain & has Christian roots.