What is an annual holiday in some parts of the world, celebrated on 31 October, that has its roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints?
Culture of the United Kingdom and much celebrated holiday in Scotland and Ireland on the night of 31 October. The name "Halloween" is first attested in the 16th century as a Scottish shortening of the fuller "All-Hallows-Even", and according to some historians has its roots in the Gaelic festival Samhain, when the Gaels believed the border between this world and the otherworld became thin, and the dead would revisit the mortal world. In 1780, Dumfries poet John Mayne makes note of pranks at Halloween; ""What fearfu' pranks ensue!"", as well as the supernatural associated with the night, ""Bogies"" (ghosts). Robert Burns' 1785 poem "Halloween" is
All Saints' Day established in the East. The feast of All Saints, on its current date, is traced to the foundation by Pope Gregory III (731–741) of an oratory in St. Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world", with the date moved to 1 November and 13 May feast suppressed. This fell on the Celtic holiday of Samhain, which had a theme similar to the Roman festival of Lemuria, but which was also a harvest festival. The Irish, having celebrated Samhain in