Children celebrate Halloween by dressing up and trick-or-treating, but adults celebrate Halloween with cocktails and creative costumes. Halloween wasn’t always about scary sights and parties though. Halloween is the shortened version of All Hallows’ Eve, which is the evening before All Saints Day (November 1). All Hallows’ Eve wasn’t always celebrated on October 31. The day actually fell on May 13 up until the 7th century CE.

We celebrate Halloween on October 31 because of the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain, which was celebrated on the same day. This is considered the first root of Halloween. The Gaelic festival observed the boundary between the world and the dead. Other cultures celebrate this idea as well, including Jewish people during Yom Kippur. The acknowledgment of the dead during the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain is where Halloween gets its “haunted” energy.

During Samhain, the Celtic people would dress in costumes to disguise themselves from ghosts. They also had feasts and made lanterns out of gourds (much like today’s jack-o’-lanterns). Samhain also included games, like apple bobbing and fortune-telling. As the years went on, these traditions made their way to the United States. Children dressed up in costumes and trick-or-treated, going door to door asking for soul cakes. This treat was similar to a biscuit and was baked as a way to celebrate All Souls’ Day on November 2. Eventually, during the early to mid-1900s, houses passed out candy, rather than soul cakes, and modern-day trick-or-treating was born. Now, adults get in on the fun by throwing their own parties, complete with costumes, games, booze, and candy.

You can celebrate Halloween at Coastal Kitchen this year! On Halloween, visit our restaurant and bar at 12 East Main Street, Bay Shore, New York, 11706. We hope to see you this Hallows’ Eve!