There are a multitude of ways different cultures celebrate Halloween. Not all of these celebrations are directly related to religion; some are simply based on culture. Since most celebrations are not known by many people, here is a brief overview:

Día de Los Muertos
One of the most popular among these different holidays is Día de Los Muertos. Día de Los Muertos is celebrated in Latin America, Mexico, and Spain. It is used to honor the dead by setting up photos on altars and bringing food, liquor, and other things their family members loved in life. This celebration lasts for two days starting the night of November 1st and ending on November 2nd.

Guy Fawkes Day
Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated in England and has little to do with Halloween. Most of the English stopped celebrating Halloween because Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation began to spread. Since followers of this new religion did not believe in saints, they didn’t have a reason to celebrate the eve of All Saints Day. On the evening of November 5th all of England light bonfires, burns effigies, and sets off fireworks.

Samhain
Samhain is a pagan festival that originated from the ancient Celtic tradition of welcoming the harvest and ushering in the dark times (Daylight savings). Celts and Pagans believed during this time the barriers between the physical world and the spirit world would break down. Since they believed this barrier was breakable they prepared offerings and dressed up as animals and monsters so they weren’t kidnapped by fairies (Sidhs). Samhain is normally celebrated from the evening of October 31st till November 1st. While not many people celebrate Samhain anymore, it is still a very popular holiday.

How Ireland celebrates Halloween
In Ireland Halloween is celebrated as much as it is here in America. The people of Ireland light bonfires and kids dress up and go trick-or-treating. After spending the evening trick-or-treating neighbors join together and go to parties and do many fun festivities such as bob for apples, playing snap-apple, and do treasure hunts with candy or pastries as “tresure.” Snap-apple is a game where you tie an apple onto a string and hang it from a door frame or tree and players try to bite the apple.