Halloween occurs on the 31st October every year.
It’s a night to get dressed up spookily, watch scary movies and go trick or treating!
Whether or not you’re into the scary side of Halloween or not, there are plenty ways to celebrate and have fun on Halloween! We have put together a delicious recipe collection if eating delicious, spooktacular treats is more your thing, and we’ve got information all about the origins of All Hallow’s Eve in the UK.
The origins of Halloween
Halloween is often assumed to have traversed the Atlantic from the US, but in the UK the origins can be traced back to the ancient Celts and their festival of Samhain.
Until 2,000 years ago, the Celts lived across the lands we now know as Britain, Ireland and northern France.
Predominantly a farming and agricultural population, the Pre-Christian Celts determined their year by the growing seasons. Samhain marked the end of summer and the harvest, and the beginning of the winter. The festival symbolised the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
The Celts believed that on the night of 31st October, ghosts of their dead would revisit the mortal world. In order to ward off any evil spirits that may also be at large, each village would light large bonfires.
The night or evening of Samhain became known as All-Hallows-Eve then Hallow Eve, later Hallowe’en and then of course Halloween!
Throughout Britain today, Halloween is celebrated with games such as bobbing for apples, telling ghost stories and the carving of faces into pumpkins. All Hallows Eve is now a night to dress up in a costume, trick-or-treat and settle down with snacks to watch a spooky movie or two, but the spooky traditions of where the night came from still remain.
To learn more about the history and traditions of Hallowe’en in the UK, visit Historic UK.
While the US is not the source of all our Halloween traditions and history, we can thank them for the fun of trick-or-treating!
One of the most popular activities on 31st October is carving pumpkins. Follow our guide on How to Carve a Pumpkin for how-to steps on how to pick and carve a pumpkin.
Once you’re done with your pumpkin, don’t throw anything away! Follow our 5 Easy and Delicious Pumpkin Recipes to reduce waste. Alternatively, we have more tasty Halloween recipes for you to try below.
Spooktacular Halloween Recipes
Halloween: the perfect time for spooktacularly scrumptious recipes! From recipes to use up your carved pumpkin to fun, scary cookie-monsters, we have just the bake for you!
Head of Dairy Diary; I’m passionate about producing high quality products that our customers will cherish. I’m also a mum of three and I enjoy cooking, walking, gardening and art with my family, as well as lino printing (if I find time!)
