When is Halloween 2011

Every year on October 31, Halloween is celebrated by people to remember their loved one’s who are no longer alive in this world.

On Sunday October 31, 2011 Halloween celebrations can be all the more fun and spooky if you can go out and celebrate this occasion in the traditional way or perhaps in an altogether different way if you wish to. Alternate names for this festival are Samhain and All Hallow’s Eve, but it is renowned world over as Halloween. The festival largely consists of secular practices though its roots can be found in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. Halloween is the time to get dressed in your spookiest best and take part in the festivities.

On Halloween 2011, you can indulge in some of the essential elements of the festival like watching scary movies, dressing up in costumes, visiting haunted and scary houses.

The festival originated in Ireland, due to the Celtic Irish belief that on October 31, the spirits of the dead could re-enter the bodies of the living.

Thus began the tradition of the living dressing up in scary and spooky costumes to drive away the spirits. The festival then gradually spread over to the United States of America and other parts of the world and now it has become a global phenomenon.
Over the years Halloween celebrations have changed a lot with local traditions and practices being included in various parts of the world. In Austria, families leave behind a lighted candle or lamp and bread on the kitchen table, before sleeping. The belief behind this is the light and bread would welcome the souls of the dead and this is known as stirring of the spirits. As part of the celebration people also decorate their house with flowers and pictures of loved ones who have passed away.