Halloween Day 2024: Meaning. History, Facts, All You Need To Know

If we turn the pages of history, it feels as if Halloween went through a troubled past coupled with sinister beliefs and harrowing superstitions. However, if we look at today, the situation is completely the opposite. From people dressing in spooky attires to attending horror-themed parties to playing pranks to whatnot. Today, the occasion has become a carnival of laughter and joy among people, making it more of a commercial affair. So, by observing the turn of events, it wouldn't be wrong to say that the nature of the occasion has boiled down to become spoofy rather than spooky in the past.

Every year, Halloween Day is celebrated across the globe on 31 October. Traditionally, the day marks the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, in which people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. It was believed that on this day, departed souls returned to their homes. Samhain (pronounced as “sow-win” in Gaelic) is a religious festival that marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the darker half. Celebrated between October 31 and November 1, Samhain revolves around people remembering their departed friends and relations. Currently, Halloween day is celebrated across the globe especially in North America and Europe as a non-religious festival. Usually observed as a holiday, people celebrate it by attending parties, wearing spooky costumes or by lighting Jack-o’-lanterns (carved out lanterns made from pumpkin) among many.

History of Halloween Day

The history of Halloween Day dates back to the ancient festival of Samhain. This day observed the end of the harvesting season and the commencement of cold winter, which was often associated with human death. Following this day, Celts celebrated their new year on November 1. The Celts are a group of Indo-European people who were spread across the present-day Ireland, United Kingdom and France about 2000 years ago.

The festivities also revolved around Celtic priests or Druids building huge bonfires, in which people came forward to burn crops. While offering animals as sacrifice to Celtic deities, the Celts celebrated the occasion by wearing bizarre costumes consisting of animal heads and skins. In addition to this, they also attempted to make future predictions as well.

By 43 AD, a major part of the Celtic territory was occupied by the Roman empire. During their 400-year rule, Romans infused two festivals from their beliefs with the traditional celebration of Samhain. The first one is known as Feralia, which was celebrated to honour the dead (Celebrated in late October) while the second was a day to honour Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruits and trees.

Halloween: The American Connection

At the time of colonisation, the celebration of Halloween was limited to New England due to rigid protestant belief. However, it was much more common in Maryland and southern colonies. During the course of time, an American version of Halloween started to emerge, thereby slowly losing its religious importance. This was mainly due to the culmination of customs involving various European ethnic groups as well as red Indians. The first celebrations in the region included ‘play parties’. These were public events, which were held to celebrate the harvest.

Interestingly, during the second half of the 19th century, America witnessed a flurry of new immigrants. These included the Irish refugees who came in millions escaping the Irish Potato Famine. The Irish community were instrumental in propagating and popularising the celebration of Halloween across America. The Irish Potato Famine aka Great Hunger, was a dark period in Ireland that lasted between 1845-1852. The crisis was marked by massive crop failures in the country caused by disease called late blight. The disease destroyed the edible roots or tubers of the potato plant. Close to about 1 million Irish lost their lives forcing many to leave their homeland as refugees.

Trick-or-Treating

The custom forms a crucial part of the Halloween tradition wherein children dressed up in spooky costumes go from door to door in return for treats in the neighbourhood. The practice implies that if the neighbours refuse to give them anything, the children would play tricks on them. Though, this is not their intent, the custom brings chuckles and smiles in everyone’s face making it a unifying experience.

Halloween Parties and its recognition as a holiday

During the 1920 and 1930s, Halloween completely lost its religious importance, thereby becoming a community-centred holiday later on. Though it’s mainly directed at young people, the festival revolves around parades and town-wide parties. In fact, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived leading to a community-oriented celebration. Currently, Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday in America after Christmas. People here spend about $6 billion annually.

Movies to watch this Halloween

Scary Halloween movies have enjoyed a history of commercial success in the Box office. Among them one such movie is Halloween (1978), which amassed more than $70 million worldwide. Other movies include slasher films like Scream, Nightmare on the Elm Street and Friday the 13.

Facts about Halloween

1. A big money minter

As per National Retail Federation (NFR), consumers in the US spent $12.2 billion in 2023 as compared to record-breaking $10.6 billion in 2022. It also reported a participation rate of 73% as compared to 69% in 2022. In a nutshell, Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday in the US after Christmas.

2. Fastest time to carve a pumpkin

Stephen Clarke a resident of New York holds the Guiness World Record to carve a pumpkin in 16.47 seconds. He achieved this feat in 2013. The jack-o'-lantern or the carved pumpkin lantern is required to have a complete face, which includes eyes, nose, mouth and ears.

3. Connection with black and orange

As per Library of Congress, the colours of black and orange can be traced back to the Celtic festival of Samhain. The orange represents the harvest season while black represents the coming darkness and the winter.

4. Halloween’s association with vandalism

In 1933 Halloween became so destructive in the US that many cities considered banning it. This was witnessed at a time, when the US was undergoing the Great Depression.

Halloween and its sultry affair with stock market

What if we told you that Halloween and the stock market share a great bonding with each other. Well, among the investor community, there is a market-timing strategy known as the Halloween Strategy. The theory says that stocks perform better from October 31 (Halloween) till May 1 as compared to the rest of the year. Investors who subscribe to this theory buy stocks in November, hold it for 6 months and sell it in April. They typically pick defensive stocks. Defensive stocks are the shares of the companies that have reported stable earnings and consistent dividends. They shouldn't be confused with defence stocks, which are the shares of those companies involved in the manufacturing of weapons and ammunition.

To support the hypothesis of the Halloween Strategy, there is considerable evidence in the records. For instance, in the US, if any investor keeps a 5-year horizon while using this strategy, he will be successful in beating the market more than 80% of the time. Similarly, if he maintains a 10-year time frame, the success rate is more than 90%.

Interestingly, the Halloween effect has also been observed in US stocks from the period between 1970 to 2017 and 1991 to 2017. The Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) data for the aforementioned period says it all. If we take the period between 1970 to 2017 into consideration, the returns given during November to April stands at 6.9%, whereas between May and October it’s 1.5%. Additionally, If we take the period between 1991-2017, the return rate during the November-April time frame is at 6.8% while it's only 2.1% from May to October. Here’s a look at the graph.

However, it should be noted that these strategies are mere theories and do not guarantee favourable returns to the investors. The phenomenon has also failed to attract a convincing explanation from the experts. In fact, several researchers have argued against this hypothesis by putting forth past examples of market crashes. Notably, the Black Monday Crash is one such event that took place in 1987 on October 19, which happened to be on Monday. The collapse wiped out nearly 20% of the investors’ wealth from the US markets. Similarly, the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund, sent shockwaves across the US economy by bringing the financial ecosystem to its knees. In both these events, the federal government had to step in to avert the financial crisis.

Halloween in India

Though it’s not widely observed in India but due to increasing influence of western culture primarily through movies and social media, the popularity of the festival has increased over the years. Several pubs as well organisers conduct Halloween themed parties, games and similar activities.