Halloween 2026 GMT+7, falls on Saturday, 31 October 2026 GMT+7. It is a festival where places are often decorated with spooky atmospheres, such as dressing up as ghosts and placing carved pumpkins with ghost faces around. Thairath Online takes you to learn about the Halloween festival.Halloweenalong with its history that many may not have known before.
Halloween (English: Halloween) is an annual celebration in Western cultureheldon 31 October every year. It is celebrated before the Christian Catholic All Saints' Day. Nowadays, Halloween has become a popular festival in many countries worldwide.
The word Halloween in English comes from the term " All Hallows Eve " meaning "the eve before All Saints' Day" (Hallow means sacred). Over time, Halloween has evolved from a day to honor saints into a festive celebration full of fun and color every year.
It is believed that Halloween's history began with the New Year celebration of the Celts (Celt), the native people of Ireland. This was held on 1 November to honor the god of death (Samhain). The day before, on 31 October every year, the Celts believed the spirits of the dead returned to the human world, and these ghosts would try to possess the living.
To protect themselves from evil spirits, the Celts took measures such as extinguishing fires, avoiding bonfires, keeping houses dark and cold, and dressing up with masks and costumes to scare away ghosts by making loud noises. Thus, every 31 October night became a custom for Celts to dress up and frighten ghosts so that spirits and demons would not harm them. This tradition later spread to other countries and became Halloween as we know it today.
The carved pumpkin face is a familiar Halloween symbol originating from an Irish folk tale about " Jack O'Lantern ", a drunkard who tricked a demon to stay on a tree and marked a cross at the tree's base so the demon could not come down.
Jack O'Lantern made a pact that the demon would not haunt or harm him. After Jack's death, he refused entry to both heaven and hell, so the demon gave him a burning coal to light his way and keep warm on cold nights.
Jack hollowed out a turnip to place the coal inside. Villagers later imitated this by carving pumpkins hollowed to hold candles or lights, becoming the pumpkin lanterns we see today. These serve as symbols to ward off evil spirits and demons. During Halloween, pumpkins are placed outside homes to protect against harm from ghosts.
Besides the traditional beliefs passed down, Halloween 2026 features parties with spooky decorations, pumpkin carving, and costumes.
Children enjoy Trick-or-Treating, which involves dressing up as ghosts or fantasy characters, going door-to-door asking "Trick or Treat?" to choose between a playful trick or receiving candy.
There are also many other Halloween 2026 activities, such as haunted house attractions, group ghost storytelling, and watching horror movies to create a spooky atmosphere fitting the occasion.