Why Do We Celebrate Halloween? A Kid-Friendly Look at the Holiday Plus FREE Printables

Every October, our neighborhoods suddenly fill with pumpkins, ghosts, witches, skeletons, costumes, and bowls overflowing with candy. Children happily dress as everything from superheroes to friendly ghosts and head into the darkness in search of treats.

But have your children ever asked you why we celebrate Halloween in the first place?

The answer goes back a very long way.

Halloween has roots stretching back more than 2,000 years to ancient Celtic traditions surrounding Samhain, a seasonal observance marking the transition from the harvest season into winter. Over many centuries, those customs blended with Christian observances and folk traditions and eventually evolved into the Halloween celebrations we recognize today.

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Even some familiar Halloween traditions have interesting histories. Carving pumpkins grew out of an
older tradition of carving lanterns from vegetables such as turnips. Dressing in costumes has connections to centuries-old customs involving disguises and visiting neighbors. Our modern trick-or-treating developed much later from several traditions that gradually came together.

Of course, today's Halloween looks very different.

For most children, Halloween isn't about ancient traditions at all. It's about imagination.

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For one evening, children get permission to become someone—or something—completely different. A child can become a firefighter, princess, dinosaur, astronaut, detective, monster, or ghost.

And that's one reason Halloween can actually provide some wonderful opportunities for learning.

Turning Halloween Into an Adventure

Instead of focusing only on candy and scary decorations, parents can use Halloween to encourage curiosity.

Ask your child:

“Why do you think people started carving pumpkins?”

“If you discovered a secret passage in an old house, where do you think it would lead?”

“Would you rather explore a mysterious house or a mysterious forest?”

“If you met a friendly ghost, what would you ask it?”

There aren't necessarily right answers. That's the point.

Questions like these encourage children to imagine, predict, create stories, and think beyond what they already know.

And something that seems a little spooky can become an opportunity to practice courage. In children's stories, entering the mysterious old house, opening the strange door, or following the hidden clue allows children to experience uncertainty from the safety of their own imagination.

The scary thing doesn't always have to be scary.

Sometimes the ghost turns out to be a friend.

Let Halloween Spark Their Imagination

This Halloween, enjoy the costumes and candy. Carve the pumpkin. Walk through the neighborhood. Tell silly ghost stories.

But also take advantage of the curiosity that comes with the holiday.

Because beneath all those pumpkins, ghosts, costumes, and haunted houses is something children naturally possess:

A wonderful desire to discover what might be waiting around the next corner.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Bill Corbett is a parent educator, author, speaker, and creator of Cooperative Kids. Drawing on decades of experience raising three children and helping families build calmer, more respectful relationships, he teaches practical strategies that combine love, limits, and personal responsibility. He is the author of Love, Limits & Lessons: The Parent Toolbox and has published more than 100 books on parenting, personal growth, education, and family life. You can email Bill at bill@cooperativekids.com.