This Saturday the 31st is Halloween. While the holiday originates from the USA, it is popular all over the world these days.

Halloween means Hallows Eve (the eve before the Day of the Dead, on the 1st of November), and its origins are Celtic. 2,500 years ago the Celtic people from what is now the UK celebrated New Years Eve at the end of the summer, not in December, and for them this day was the 31st of October. For some reason, the Celts thought that on this day the spirits would come out of their tombs and walk the earth. To scare off the spirits, people decorated their houses with bones and other scary objects that would ward off the spirits. 

Nowadays, Halloween is most celebrated in Anglo-saxon cultures where people dress up like monsters and fantasy creatures and do Trick-or-Treating.  Most homes, as you may have noticed, put a Jack-o-lantern outside on the doorstep.

Halloween is now popular in many other countries thanks to movies and TV shows that have shown this fun holiday. Really, it is pretty fun to dress up like a witch, a zombie, or a vampire! If you don't feel like dressing up you could always just get together with friends and watch horror flicks.  The Shining, The Exorcist, Poltergeist, Chucky...!