Like many modern holidays, Halloween has its roots in very old religious festivals. The main influences are the Roman festival Feralia (a day when Romans celebrated people who had passed), the Celtic holiday Samhain (when the Druids celebrated ghosts returning from the dead) and the Catholic All Saints Day and All Souls Day (which may have been created in an attempt to replace the Celtic holiday with something sanctioned by the Pope). The celebrations of All Saints Day and All Souls Day were called Hallomas.

These traditions spread from Europeans to the Americas where the celebrations took on some new elements, such as dancing and singing. In the mid-1800s, Americans began dressing up in costumes. They would go door to door and ask for food, which was the beginning of trick or treating.

The trick or treating tradition did not become the modern version we know now until around the 1950s. It was a way of prevent tricks from being played on people in the town and an easy, cheap way to get the whole community involved in Halloween..

Like any other festival Halloween is also inspired by various traditions which are passed on from one generation to another. Being celebrated on October 31, Halloween festival is an amalgamation of ancient Celtic practices, Roman and Catholic religious rituals with European folk traditions. Since time immemorial it is believed that on Halloween's day dead can return to the earth, because of this belief ancient Celts light up bonfires and wear such costumes to ward off roaming ghosts.

One of the Halloween traditions is that of Trick or Treat when children dressed in different costume go from house to house and ask of candy or even money. Here trick refers to a sort of “threat” to do some mischief if no treat is provided. This practice dates back to the Middle Ages.

Ancient roots of this festival owes to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts who used to live 2000 years ago in the area is now the United Kingdom, northern France and Ireland. They used to celebrate their New Year on November 1. This day also symbolizes end of harvest and summer and beginning of cold winters.