Halloween 2023 – Origin and meaning of Halloween festival

Halloween is a unique festival, although it has just appeared in Vietnam, every year many people participate. However, not everyone knows about the origin and meaning of this festival.
If you have ever participated in a Halloween festival, you will see one of the following extremely familiar images: pumpkins carved in strange, spooky shapes, and colorful lights. Dancing in a pumpkin like a strange lantern, shaped like a devil mask… that is the highlight of the Halloween festival.

1. Learn about Halloween festival

What is Halloween? 

Halloween is a festival held on Tuesday, October 31, 2023. The meaning of Halloween is to pay tribute to those who have passed away. For young people, this day is considered the happiest festival of the year, it carries with it mystery and appeal.
Halloween is a blend of religious rituals and ancient practices from many different cultures. During the days of the festival, people race to decorate effigies: witches, black cats, ghostly flickering pumpkins; makeup, masks, creating mannequins… This year 2023, Halloween is on Tuesday.

Origin of the Halloween festival

Halloween is a festival originating from Western countries. The word “Halloween” originates from the Catholic church, a remnant of the All Hallow Eve festival. November 1 is a holiday for Christians to express their sincerity before the gods.
However, in Celtic times, the harvest ended on October 31, the Halloween festival called Samhain (planting day), which was November 1st. According to them: at this time the god of spring and summer no longer reigns and gives way to the god of Death. When the souls of the dead return to relatives’ homes to ask for food and water, the corpses move freely. Then people dressed up as vampires or strange shapes to chase away ghosts looking for bodies.
Besides, there is also another explanation that on the night of Samhain, the Celtic people extinguished the fire not to chase away the spirits, but so that they could later go get fire at the light source called Druidic. The bodies of people possessed by spirits will be tied to stakes and burned as a warning and also to ward off souls that want to reincarnate.
The Halloween festival was later introduced to many different countries and transformed. It is also said to originate from a custom called “requiem” by Europeans in the 9th century. On November 2 every year, Christians go from village to village asking for “requiem cakes”. The more bread whoever asks for, the more souls will be helped to escape and the souls of their loved ones somewhere will go to heaven.
In the UK, Halloween night used to be called Nutcrack Night or Snap Apple Night, meaning everyone in the family lit a fire and sat down to eat fruit.

Meaning of Halloween festival

The actions and life of the character Jack at the Halloween festival have become experiences for youth to learn a lesson as humans, which is: You should not be greedy, stingy, or stingy in life; Must have charity, compassion, and know how to help those in difficulty.
You should not play with the devil because playing and interacting with the devil will easily lead to the temptation to go down a dark and sinful path. , deceit that harms people, society…)

2 Halloween activities

Decorate the house on Halloween

With Halloween approaching, to add more horror and spookiness to your home, you can refer to the following ideas for decoration.
Decorating Halloween with paper: You can skillfully shape paper items into monstrous shapes such as Devil-faced pumpkins, ghosts, masquerade masks, and spooky lanterns,…
Decorate Halloween with glass and wall decals: In locations such as walls, glass, doors,… you can decorate with decals with Halloween-like shapes such as Spider web decals, bats, pumpkins corn, demon city,…
Pumpkin decorations: Pumpkins have become a symbol of Halloween around the world. On this day, people often display pumpkins with holes cut into them, light candles inside the house, and outside the door, and children hold pumpkin-shaped lanterns to ask neighbors for candy. Nowadays you can choose beautiful and convenient rattan baskets to decorate and use as a costume accessory.
Costumes are considered the soul of Halloween parties, attendees can freely dress up as their favorite characters and shapes, but they must be as scary as possible. Many people believe that dressing up on Halloween also helps ward off and frighten ghosts, preventing them from being “possessed by their souls.”
Some simple but no less scary Halloween costume suggestions such: Witches, faceless, undead, and zombies,…

Organize Halloween games

To add more horror and drama to Halloween parties, you certainly cannot ignore popular games such as:
Trick Or Treat: Roughly translated as “Trick or Treat”, to play this game, children will wear a Halloween costume and then knock on each door to ask for candy and say “trick”. or treat”. If the homeowner sends them “treats”, usually cakes and candy, they will receive thanks and wishes from the children and vice versa, they will be “tricked” by the children if they do not receive permission from the homeowner. for “treat”.
Lighting a campfire to tell ghost stories: On Halloween, in an atmosphere full of ghosts and ghosts, lighting a campfire to tell ghost stories is one of the activities that makes many people curious and excited. In addition, in the ancient Halloween festival, lighting a fire and playing and dancing around was also a form of praying for good luck.