Happy Halloween 2024: History, origin and spooky quotes to share with your loved ones

It's time for the chill and thrills! Here is all you need to know about Halloween as the world gets ready for the spooky festival on October 31

Halloween costumes and decorations A street vendor walks past a shop selling Halloween costumes and decorations in Hanoi on October 29, 2024 | AFP

It's trick-or-treat time as yet another Halloween is around the corner. Pop culture has brought the spooky festival to India too and here is all you need to know about Halloween celebrated on October 31 every year.

What is the origin of Halloween?

Modern Halloween comes from the ancient Celtic celebration that was marked on the last day of harvest, when the spirits were accepted to walk on the earth. 

The name Halloween comes from All Honours' Eve or hallowed evening celebrated in medieval England, Ireland and northern France. This was the predecessor of the Christian celebration that we now know as All Saints' Day.

History

The ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain marking the arrival of winter was held on November 1. Since the preparation began the previous night, October 31 became the day for modern Halloween celebration. 

Halloween quotes

Bram Stoker's Dracula
Do you believe in destiny? That even the powers of time can be altered for a single purpose?

Linus, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
There are three things I've learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin

Max, Hocus Pocus
Everyone here knows that Halloween was invented by the candy companies. It's a conspiracy.

William Shakespeare, Macbeth
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Cool it with a baboon's blood, Then the charm is firm and good."

William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Hell is empty and all the devils are here.

Drew Carey
I see my face in the mirror and go, 'I'm a Halloween costume? That's what they think of me?'

Oscar Wilde
A mask tells us more than a face.

Stewart Stafford
Halloween is a celebration of the inversion of reality and a necessary gothic hat-tip to the darker aspects of life, death, and ourselves.

Stephen Graham Jones
Some people are born for Halloween, and some are just counting the days until Christmas.

Stephen Colbert
Halloween is right around the corner. You can tell because all the stores are decked out for Christmas

Shannon A. Thompson
She used to tell me that a full moon was when mysterious things happen and wishes come true.

Winifred Sanderson, Hocus Pocus
On All Hallow's Eve, when the moon is round, a virgin will summon us from under the ground. Oh oh! We shall be back, and the lives of all the children of Salem will be mine!

Mason Cooley
Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.

Jack Skellington, The Nightmare Before Christmas
I’m a master of fright, and a demon of light, and I’ll scare you right out of your pants

Rita Rudner
Halloween was confusing. All my life my parents said, 'Never take candy from strangers.' And then they dressed me up and said, 'Go beg for it.'

Nicholas Gordon
Halloween wraps fear in innocence, as though it were a slightly sour sweet. Let terror, then, be turned into a treat.

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