By Evelyn Niederer

Where did Halloween come from?

• Halloween dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), first celebrated almost 2000 years ago.

• The Celts lived in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, and celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Thank goodness things are different today!

How do we celebrate Halloween in New Zealand?

Halloween is not as popular in New Zealand as in other Western countries and in the past has not generally been celebrated here. However, in the last 20 years Halloween has slowly become popular with some retail outlets actively promoting Halloween costume sales in recent years. As a result more and more children are participating in “trick or treating” each year.

A New Zealand girl

A kiwi family ready to go trick or treating!

Tradition: Dressing up! Many costumes include; witches, zombies, pirates, devils, ghosts,

skeletons….

BOOOOO!!!

Corn evil Horror Maze

Near the town where I live in New Zealand there is a maze (corn) field. The workers dress up in scary costumes and scare the visitors!

Tradition: Watching scary moviesNew Zealanders watch scary movies from other countries such as America and the UK. Here is a scary/comedy film made in New Zealand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jK6hJ-xmYg