--- title: Halloween 2016: Why It Started, How Halloween Costumes Began description: Halloween, celebrated every year on Oct. 31, is linked to the old Celtic festival Samhain, which marked the start of winter. canonical: https://time.com/4539688/halloween-2016-costumes-history/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-30T16:00:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:19:28.060Z article:section: History og:title: This Is How Halloween Became a Holiday og:description: It's connected to ancient traditions involving the dead og:url: https://time.com/4539688/halloween-2016-costumes-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb896317f513e01b/6988aaf7e20a87f4c8a92e1a/halloween-holiday-history.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: France, Haute Savoie, Annecy, Halloween. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is How Halloween Became a Holiday twitter:description: It's connected to ancient traditions involving the dead twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb896317f513e01b/6988aaf7e20a87f4c8a92e1a/halloween-holiday-history.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is How Halloween Became a Holiday by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Oct 30, 2016 4:00 PM UTC  France, Haute Savoie, Annecy, Halloween. France, Haute Savoie, Annecy, Halloween.Fred de Noyelle—Getty Images/Photononstop RM by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Oct 30, 2016 4:00 PM UTC The [Halloween](http://time.com/tag/halloween/) we know today—a holiday in which fun-seekers [don costumes](http://time.com/3549068/vintage-halloween-photos/), knock on strangers’ doors for [candy](http://time.com/4536560/halloween-candy-map/) and embrace all things spooky—was born out of ancient traditions meant to appease the dead. Historians say Halloween, celebrated every year on Oct. 31, is linked to the old Celtic festival Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest season and the start of winter. People began dressing in costumes to disguise themselves from spirits, whom they believed came back to life to kill their crops. They also went door to door to ask for food and “soul cakes” to offer the ghouls in exchange for mercy. Watch the video above to learn more. Halloween 2016: Why It Started, How Halloween Costumes Began ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4539688/halloween-2016-costumes-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4539688/halloween-2016-costumes-history/"},"headline":"This Is How Halloween Became a Holiday","datePublished":"2016-10-30T16:00:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:19:28.060Z","description":"It's connected to ancient traditions involving the dead","url":"https://time.com/4539688/halloween-2016-costumes-history/","keywords":["Holidays"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb896317f513e01b/6988aaf7e20a87f4c8a92e1a/halloween-holiday-history.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb896317f513e01b/6988aaf7e20a87f4c8a92e1a/halloween-holiday-history.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"France, Haute Savoie, Annecy, Halloween.","caption":"","creditText":"Fred de Noyelle—Getty Images/Photononstop RM","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4539688/halloween-2016-costumes-history/","name":"This Is How Halloween Became a Holiday"}}]}] ```