Halloween, or Halloween, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31.

Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses", carving ack-o!-lanterns, reading scary stories and watching horror movies. "rish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to #orth $merica in the nineteenth century. Halloween has its origins in the ancient %eltic festival known as &amhain. 'he term Halloween is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both "even" and "eve" are abbreviations of "evening", but "Halloween" gets its "n" from "even") as it is the eve of "$ll Hallows! *ay",+,- which is now also known as $ll &aints! *ay. Halloween costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. %ostumes are also based on themes other than traditional horror, such as those of characters from television shows, movies and other pop culture icons.