How the Halloween custom came to Germany

How the Halloween custom came to Germany Halloween 2021 is on 31 October. The day now also has its significance and plenty of customs in Germany. Today is Halloween 2021. The day is also increasingly celebrated in Germany. And in some federal states it is even a holiday - for a different reason. By Allgäuer Zeitung 31.10.2021 | Stand: 08:14 Uhr Today is Halloween 2021 and many dressed-up children will once again parade around the houses this Sunday asking "trick or treat?". Where does Halloween actually come from? Is it called Helloween or Halloween? What customs are there on this day, which is even a public holiday in some federal states? And - what does Corona actually mean for Halloween 2021? Date: When is Halloween 2021? As always, Halloween falls on the night of 31 October to 1 November, i.e. from Reformation Day to All Saints' Day. Halloween: What does the name mean? The name is actually related to All Saints' Day, which is celebrated by Catholics on 1 November. In English, this holiday is called "All Hallows". The evening of 31 October is called "All Hallows Eve". Over the years, this has been shortened to the name Halloween - with an "a", not an "e". Where does the custom of celebrating Halloween come from? Several customs of different origins are mixed together around Halloween. The early origins of the Halloween custom probably go back 2500 years to the Iron Age. At that time, the Celts in large parts of Central Europe aligned their calendars with the agricultural cycle of vegetation and celebrated their turn of the year with the festival of Samhain on the evening of the eleventh full moon of a year. The Celts believed that on this evening the dead come back to earth to visit their relatives. They used lights to show the way to the spirits of the deceased. The Irish later changed the custom. They were afraid of the dead and dressed up in gruesome masks to scare off those very spirits. The custom of hollowing out pumpkins and then carving gruesome masks from them probably goes back to the legend of Jack O' Latern. According to tradition, the Irish village blacksmith, a drunkard and good-for-nothing, had managed to escape hell by a trick. When he knocked on the gate of heaven, however, it remained closed to him. So he was condemned to walk between heaven and hell as a ghost, equipped only with a piece of glowing coal in a turnip. Irish emigrants brought the legend of Jack O' Lantern to the United States and Canada. There, the turnip eventually became a hollowed-out pumpkin and the eerie legend was soon adopted by the children of other immigrants. After the Second World War, the custom of celebrating Halloween with masks and pumpkins came back to Europe from North America. How long has Halloween been celebrated in Germany? Halloween has been increasingly celebrated in Germany for a good 20 years now - commercialisation included. On the night of 31 October to 1 November, i.e. All Saints' Day, many people dress up to celebrate at spooky parties. Children go from house to house asking for sweets - "trick or treat" is their "threat". This custom of "trick-or-treating" again has its roots in Christianity. According to tradition, in the ninth century AD, young people went from door to door on the day of All Souls' Day begging for so-called soul cakes. In return for this gift, they prayed for their donors and their deceased. If they received no gifts, they cursed the house. How much business is behind Halloween? In 2015, the German confectionery industry turned over around twelve million euros with vampires, pumpkins and ghosts made of fruit gum or chocolate - 20 percent more than the year before. In addition, it is estimated that another 20 million euros per year are spent on costumes, decorations and other Halloween-related products. In the USA, Halloween spending is said to have reached a record high of 9.1 billion dollars in 2017. However, spending around Christmas in 2018, for example, was more than a trillion dollars. Is Halloween a holiday in Germany? No, Halloween itself is not a public holiday in Germany. However, 31 October, on which the festival falls, is in parts of Germany. In several federal states, Reformation Day is celebrated on this day. What do the rising Corona numbers mean for Halloween and its customs? In 2020, politicians and the police advised against going door to door on Halloween. This year, the custom is sliding back a bit towards normality. "There is no ban prohibiting Halloween," explains Dominic Geißler, spokesman for the Schwaben Süd/West police headquarters. "However, it is advisable to follow the AHA rules: Keep your distance