万圣节（Halloween）是每年的10月31日，是西方世界的传统节日，主要流行于撒克逊人后裔云集的美国、不列颠群岛、澳大利亚、加拿大和新西兰等西方国家。当晚小孩会穿上化妆服，戴上面具，挨家挨户收集糖果。

万圣节通常与灵异的事物联系起来。欧洲传统上认为万圣夜是鬼怪世界最接近人间的时间。

这期间，各家各户都会在花园或门口挂上鬼怪、骷髅、墓碑及蜘蛛网等装饰，连电视电影都全是恐怖片。

On the evening of October 31 every year, in most US communities, you will see children in the streets, dressed in costumes,

carrying bags for candy. They will go from door to door in their neighborhoods and shout, “Trick or Treat!” According to tradition, the neighbors should give them a piece of candy (the Treat). If not, the children will play a Trick on them. Halloween is so popular in the US that most adults are ready with a basket of candy at the door. Today, the Trick part is rare — children just run to the next house if there is no Treat.

The roots of Halloween are very old. The name itself comes from a Christian celebration of all saints (or “hallows”), started in the ninth century. All Hallow’s Day is November 1; the night before is All Hallow’s Eve. But the holiday is also rooted in an older, pre-Christian festival, Samhain (pronounced “SOW-in”). As these two belief systems came together, the holiday came to be seen as a time when the boundary between the living and the dead became thinner. Those who had died could re-visit the living, either to haunt those who had wronged them, or just to visit happily with their families.

Here is some background about the common symbols of this holiday:

Ghosts and skeletons: These are references to the thinning of the veil between our world and the “other world.”

Witches, broomsticks and black cats: You will see images of witches riding on broomsticks, sometimes with or in the form of a black cat. In the Middle Ages, the idea of witches — women who had sold themselves to the Devil — grew out of the Christian belief about witchcraft (magic) and heresy. You may see witches stirring large pots; in pagan times, these were signs of abundance but now are used to suggest that witches make magic potions.

Jack-o-Lanterns: An old story says that a man named Jack loved to tease the Devil. The Devil made him wander the earth forever, carrying a lantern. Today in the US, a carved pumpkin with a candle in it is called a Jack-o-Lantern.

Apples, squash, corn, and nuts: You will see doors and tables decorated with these harvest fruits, a reference to the harvest timing of Halloween.