Halloween is a major holiday on the calendar in both the United States and Canada, but all the costumes, scary movies, monsters and bite-sized candy might seem a bit overwhelming if it's your first October as a newcomer.
So what is Halloween, anyway? Do you need to do anything for it? And if you do decide to participate, what's expected from you?
Here's everything you need to know about Halloween ahead of the big day.
What is Halloween and why is it celebrated?
Halloween is an annual holiday that falls on October 31 each year. It involves dressing up in spooky costumes and handing out candy to children, or dressing up for parties with other adults.
In its simplest form though, Halloween is the one night a year when you can dress like a total monster (or whatever else you like) and no one will say anything about it.
The holiday can trace its roots back to an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain, according to the U.S. Library of Congress website. Samhain was a pagan harvest holiday, and people would dress up in costumes and light fires to keep ghosts from stealing the crops they'd just collected.
Samhain started blending with Christianity when the Catholic Church set its All Saints Day on November 1, and the costume tradition eventually became part of the night-before celebrations.
Centuries later, Halloween has become a much bigger pop-culture phenomenon in North America, and you'll see everyone from kids to co-workers to celebrities dressing up in costume for the big day.
Of course, Canada and the U.S. aren't the only countries where Halloween is celebrated; many other places around the world have adopted the day as well.
It's also best not to confuse Halloween with the Day of the Dead, the Mexico holiday marked by skeleton costumes, music and parades. That day typically comes in early November once Halloween has passed.
Why do people call it Halloween?
All Saints Day falls on November 1, so the evening before it was dubbed All Hallows Eve.
People got lazy with saying that whole name over time and "All Hallows Eve" became "Hallowe'en" and then just Halloween, as it's known today.
What are the rules of trick or treat?
Trick-or-treating is what children do on the evening of Halloween. They'll typically dress up as spooky creatures or pop-culture figures and then go from house to house on Halloween night, knocking on doors and saying "trick or treat!" for the adults who are waiting to give them handfuls of candy.
If you've got kids, you'll be expected to help them with a costume and accompany them on this door-to-door walk through the neighbourhood. You'll also want to make sure each child has a big bag or pillowcase for their candy.
How will you know which houses are giving out Halloween candy?
If the front or porch lights are on at a home on Halloween (typically from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.), that means candy will be handed out. It also means that if you don't want to hand out candy, you should make sure your front lights are dark during this time.
Handing out candy is entirely optional, although it is part of the experience of Halloween. If you plan to participate, you can buy boxes of snack-sized Halloween candy at your local grocery store so you can give out a few to each child at your door.
Trick-or-treating is typically for kids up to about 12 years old. You might see the odd teenager asking for candy as well, but adults don't go trick-or-treating.
Do I have to dress up on Halloween?
Adults can dress up while escorting with their kids on Halloween night, but it's not mandatory and you won't get candy from other adults.
However, you will be expected to dress up if you're invited to a Halloween party, whether it's at a friend's house or at a public or private venue. You might even be asked to dress up for work, though these costumes are typically more casual and involve things like a funny hat, silly shirt or easily removable mask.
Halloween parties are a big to some adults, and certain celebrities such as Heidi Klum and Kim Kardashian are known for going all-out with extremely creative costumes for their parties.
What are the most popular Halloween costumes?
Halloween is rooted in pagan traditions that trace back to the United Kingdom and Ireland, so many of the most classic costumes are inspired by monsters from British tales. That means witches, ghosts, vampires, skeletons and werewolves are all safe options at Halloween.
Superheroes like Batman, Spider-Man and Harley Quinn have become more popular in recent decades with the rise of comic book movies, so these are also good bets.
Another option is to dress up as a "sexy" version of something, and you'll see quite a few of these kinds of costumes if you go to a bar on Halloween. The lingerie company Yandy is particularly well-known for coming up with unexpectedly risque costumes, so that's one place to look if this is your vibe.
However, if I can give you one piece of advice it's this: don't dress up like someone from a different culture, especially if it means painting your face. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau once got in huge trouble for doing this, and it could get you in trouble with other people, too.
What are the top Halloween costumes of 2023?
If you want to follow the popular trends for Halloween 2023, you could dress up as something people will recognize from a recent movie or TV show, such as the Barbie movie, The Super Mario Bros. Movie or Wednesday on Netflix.
HalloweenCostumes.com released its predictions for the top costumes of the year in August, and many of them are related to recent box office hits. Here are their predictions:
For women:
- Barbie
- The Little Mermaid
- Spider-Gwen and Spider-Woman
- Wednesday Addams
- Video game characters (Princess Peach and Zelda)
For men:
- Slasher movie characters (Ghostface, Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Chucky)
- Video game characters (Super Mario, Link)
- Ken from Barbie
- Superheroes (Spider-Man, Peacemaker, characters from The Boys)
- Inflatable dinosaurs
What is a Jack-O'-Lantern?
A jack-o'-lantern is simply a hollowed-out pumpkin with a design carved into it and a light inside of it it. They're often carved into frightening faces, and are most famously depicted as a fake head for the Headless Horseman in the Sleepy Hollow legend.
Like many other elements of Halloween, the jack-o'-lantern can be traced back to the British Isles and Irish immigrants who brought the tradition over to North America centuries ago. The tradition started with carving faces into turnips for Samhain, and while some Irish still do it, pumpkins have become the gourd of choice for this in North America.
Pumpkins are a big part of fall in general, whether we're talking about pumpkin spice lattes in September or pumpkin-carving in October for Halloween.
As for the term jack-o'-lantern, that's tied to an Irish myth about a guy named Stingy Jack, per the Carnegie Center For Arts & History.
Specifics of his story vary from one teller to the other, but basically, Jack cut a deal with the devil for his soul and then repeatedly found ways to squirm out of the deal. In the end he dies and neither heaven nor hell will take him, so he's cursed to wander the Earth with a bit of hellfire contained in a turnip lantern. The Irish refer to him as Jack of the Lantern (Jack O'Lantern) and they re-create his lantern to ward his spirit away.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
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