Countdown to
Halloween
Where the harvest ends and dark begins
Today is Halloween.
363 days until Halloween, on Sunday, October 31, 2027.
Halloween is Sunday, October 31, 2027. Happens every October 31.
Halloween arrives every year on October 31, the night before All Saints’ Day. It blends ancient seasonal ritual with a thoroughly modern culture of costumes, candy, and carefully staged frights — a holiday that feels both very old and entirely of the moment.
From Samhain to All Hallows’ Eve
Halloween’s roots reach back to Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”), a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest and the start of winter, the darker half of the year. Celtic communities believed the boundary between the living and the dead thinned at this turning point, and they lit bonfires and wore disguises to keep wandering spirits at bay.
As Christianity spread across Europe, the church placed All Saints’ Day — also called All Hallows’ Day — on November 1, with All Souls’ Day following on November 2. The evening before became All Hallows’ Eve, later shortened to Halloween. Medieval customs carried the older traditions into the Christian calendar: “souling,” in which the poor went door to door offering prayers for the dead in exchange for small “soul cakes,” and “guising,” going out in disguise.
Irish and Scottish immigrants brought these practices to North America in the 19th century, where they mixed with local harvest celebrations and gradually shed much of their religious character. The carved turnip lanterns of the old country gave way to the pumpkin, which was larger, softer, and far easier to hollow out.
How Halloween is observed today
Modern Halloween centers on trick-or-treating: children in costume going house to house for candy, a ritual that spread across North America in the mid-20th century. Homes are decorated with carved jack-o’-lanterns, cobwebs, and skeletons, and front porches often become small theatrical sets.
Beyond the doorstep, the season fills with haunted attractions, horror films, costume parties, and pumpkin patches. In the United States it has grown into one of the biggest consumer holidays of the year. Elsewhere, the celebration sits alongside related autumn observances — Mexico’s Día de los Muertos in early November honors the dead with its own distinct traditions — while in Ireland and Scotland, Halloween’s birthplace, the night is still marked with bonfires, games, and guising. Wherever it lands, October 31 remains a fixed point on the calendar, which is exactly what makes it easy to count down to.
🎃 Fun facts about Halloween
- The phrase "trick or treat" first appeared in print in 1927, in a newspaper in Blackie, Alberta, Canada.
- Illinois grows more pumpkins than any other U.S. state, and most of the canned pumpkin sold in America is processed in a single town, Morton, Illinois.
- Americans spend more than $10 billion on Halloween each year, most of it on costumes, candy, and decorations.
- The jack-o'-lantern is named for "Stingy Jack," a figure from Irish folklore said to wander the night carrying an ember inside a hollowed-out turnip.
- Candy corn dates to the 1880s and was originally sold under the name "Chicken Feed."
Upcoming Halloween dates
| Date | Days away |
|---|---|
| 363 days | |
| 729 days | |
| 1,094 days | |
| 1,459 days | |
| 1,824 days |
How people mark Halloween
- Trick-or-treating
- Carving jack-o'-lanterns
- Dressing in costume
- Decorating homes and porches
- Watching horror films
- Bobbing for apples
Frequently asked
What day is Halloween?
Halloween falls on October 31 every year. It is a fixed-date holiday, so it lands on a different day of the week each year but never changes its date.
Why is Halloween celebrated on October 31?
October 31 is the eve of All Saints' Day (also called All Hallows' Day) on November 1, which is how the name "All Hallows' Eve" arose. The timing itself traces back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest.
Why do people carve pumpkins for Halloween?
The custom began in Ireland and Scotland, where people carved faces into turnips and other root vegetables to ward off spirits. Irish immigrants to North America switched to pumpkins, which were larger, softer, and widely available.
Is Halloween a public holiday?
In the United States, Canada, and most other countries, Halloween is not an official public holiday. Schools and businesses stay open, even though celebrations are widespread.