![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ireland_013-1.jpg\" "\\"Ireland_013")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In North America, Halloween marks a night where ghosts, goblins, ghouls and witches roam the streets in search of candy.\u00a0 While these traditions have become the Halloween norm, the holiday dates back nearly 2,000 years to the traditions of the Celtic New Year, Samhain<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 On this day, Celts lit bonfires and hollowed out turnips for the autumn festival, practices that would eventually give way to the customary carving of pumpkins.\u00a0 Translating in Irish Gaelic to <\/span>summer\u2019s end<\/em>, the early celebration of Samhain<\/em> signified the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter; a time believed by Pagans when the spiritual world blurs with the living. \u00a0The Celts left food offerings at their doors to attract positive spirits, and wore masks to deter the bad ones.\u00a0 Traditions in Ireland<\/a> persist on this ancient holiday where Halloween is celebrated much as it is in the United States with costumes, games and trickery.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Las calaveras catrinas<\/em>, or “elegant skulls,” at a Dia de los Muertos<\/em> celebration in San Diego.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n In Mexico, Latin America and Spain, Halloween is celebrated as \u201cEl Dia de los Muertos<\/a>,\u201d a playful remembrance of those who have passed.\u00a0 Festivities begin on October 31, as families welcome the spirits of the dead back to their earthly homes with private altars, colorful decorations and food.\u00a0 Celebrations culminate on November 2 as relatives gather at the gravesites of loved ones on what is called All Souls\u2019 Day to honor the souls that have departed by decorating their graves.<\/p>\n Like many other European nations, Germany is no exception in that Halloween was adopted in the early 1990s as a marketing ploy for children\u2019s toys and candy.\u00a0 France<\/a> was the first to adopt the holiday in 1982 when a Parisian restaurant called The American Dream<\/a>\u00a0brought the American celebrations to the French.\u00a0 The holiday eventually caught and surrounding nations would follow suit in the years following.\u00a0 Today, German children travel door to door in search of candy chanting \u201csweet or sour\u201d and parents hide their knives to avoid harm from the descending spirits.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Remember the 5th of November with fireworks in the UK.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n The English have been celebrating a proximal holiday known as Guy Fawkes Day\u00a0for centuries.\u00a0 Each year on the evening of November 5, bonfires are lit and fireworks are set off throughout England<\/a> to observe the day that an infamous British traitor was executed in 1605.\u00a0 With the spread of the Protestant Reformation and the disintegrating belief in saints, the English stopped celebrating All Saints\u2019 Day (Halloween) and instead included some of the Hallow traditions on this November day.\u00a0 In some parts of England, children walked the streets asking for pennies \u201cfor the guy,\u201d a Guy Fawkes tradition that has almost completely disappeared.<\/p>\n Explore the story of evolving tradition on your favorite Explorica tours:<\/strong><\/p>\n Britain & Ireland Tours<\/a><\/p>\n France Tours<\/a><\/p>\n Germany & Central Europe Tours<\/a><\/p>\n Spain & Portugal Tours<\/a><\/p>\n Mexico Tours<\/a><\/p>\n Latin America Tours<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Celtic origins of Halloween In North America, Halloween marks a night where ghosts, goblins, ghouls and witches roam the streets in search of candy.\u00a0 While these traditions have become the Halloween norm, the holiday dates back nearly 2,000 years to the traditions of the Celtic New Year, Samhain.\u00a0 On this day, Celts lit bonfires Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[360,167,358,359],"class_list":["post-3190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-explorica-news","tag-dia-de-los-muertos","tag-fall-festivals","tag-halloween","tag-international-holidays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3190"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3206,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190\/revisions\/3206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/1378485_10201658210610122_1921250648_n.jpg\" "\\"1378485_10201658210610122_1921250648_n\\"")
Fall Fiesta: The Day of the Dead, November 2<\/h1>\n
To America and back again:<\/h1>\n
European adaptations of Halloween<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/iStock_000006677641Small.jpg\" "\\"Fireworks\\"")
Proximal holidays: Guy Fawkes Day, November 5<\/h1>\n