Ancient celts celebrated samhain on October 31 to November 1 to mark the end of harvest, and in the 8th Century the christian church merged with the festival and November 1 became all saints or all hallows day with the rest of November a month to remember all the dead.
People dressed up to resemble the dead or carried harvest vegetables such as turnips which were carved into faces. During the 19th Century, celtic immigrants brought the festival’s traditions to America. Halloween or hallows eve became a secular celebration of horror and is associated with the macabre