Is Hungary already conquered by Halloween celebrations?

Edenkert.hu reports that the celebration of Halloween in the Anglo-Saxon way is becoming more and more widespread in Hungary as well. But where does this tradition come from and what does it mean exactly? Let’s check out some of the facts and misconceptions.

The English word Halloween means the night before All Hallows day. It is believed that Halloween traditions originate from ancient Celtic traditions in Ireland and Scotland where the local tribes celebrated Samhain, the festival that marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. According to their belief, this is the day when the soul of the guilty, who died in the previous year and lived in animal bodies, get back to Earth. By offering appropriate sacrificies, an atonement can be achieved for these souls to tranfer into Heaven.

Based on the enduring belief,

it is on the last day of October that the borderline between the living and the dead is the thinnest.

The dead souls attempt to get back to the world. Even the Gaelic people realised this and tried to protect themselves by blowing out the fire in the fireplace in order not to attract the visitor ghosts. Furthermore, people also disguised in dreadful costumes to mislead the Evil and chase it away easily.

In America, kids go from house-to-house to play trick-or-treat by wearing costumes and asking for some sweets or they perform mischief on the homeowners. With the expansion of Christianism, this pagan tradition did not sink into oblivion, and while it originally existed only in Anglo-Saxon territories, it started to conquer the whole world.

How is Halloween celebrated in Budapest?

It is becoming more and more common, mostly among Hungarian families to take part in Halloween celebrations. Several programmes awaited the small and bigger ones in Budapest on 28 October. One of them was in Street Ráday next to Kálvin Square where

a whole street of restaurants, cafés and confectionaries awaited children playing trick-or-treat.