Halloween – Ghosts and ghouls come to party in Koh Samui

Halloween, the 31^st of October, is an annual holiday that is traditionally celebrated with trick-or-treating, costume parties, visiting places believed to be haunted, telling scary stories and carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns.

Halloween is linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin, ironically only one letter different to the name of this island. The name of the festival historically kept by the Gaels and Celts in the British Iles is derived from Old Irish and roughly translated means summers end.

The word Halloween is first attested in the 16^th century and represents a Scottish variant of the full All-Hallows-Even, that is the night before All Hallows Day.

The carving of jack-o-lanterns comes from the custom of carving turnips into lanterns as a way of remembering the souls held in purgatory. The imagery of Halloween is derived from many sources, including national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature and classic horror films.

Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children, who go from house to house dressed in costume to ask for treats such as sweets or small amounts of money. If no treat is forthcoming the child performs a trick such as telling a ghost story. This custom dates back to the middle ages and resembles the late medieval practice of ‘souling’ when poor folk would go door to door receiving food in return for prayers for the dead.

Halloween is not celebrated in all countries and regions of the world but luckily for the residents of Koh Samui there are few parties going on where you can have fun, dress up and look SCCCARRRRRYYYYY!!!!!

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