When is Halloween?
Halloween is on 31 October every year, the evening before All Saints' Day on 1 November. Its roots go back to the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest and the start of winter, when the boundary between the living and the dead was believed to be thin.
Today Halloween is celebrated with costumes, carved pumpkins (jack-o'-lanterns), trick-or-treating and parties, especially in the United States, Canada, Ireland and the UK, and increasingly elsewhere. It is followed by the Day of the Dead in Mexico on 1 and 2 November.
Planning tips
Costume shops and pumpkin patches are busiest in the last two weeks of October. When Halloween falls on a weekday, many communities hold parties and parades on the weekend before; check the table below to see which day it lands on.
Halloween dates for the coming years
| Year | Date | Day of the week |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | October 31, 2026 | Saturday |
| 2027 | October 31, 2027 | Sunday |
| 2028 | October 31, 2028 | Tuesday |
| 2029 | October 31, 2029 | Wednesday |
| 2030 | October 31, 2030 | Thursday |
| 2031 | October 31, 2031 | Friday |
Frequently asked questions
Is Halloween always on 31 October?
Yes, Halloween has a fixed date. Some towns move trick-or-treating to a nearby evening when 31 October falls on a Sunday, but the holiday itself doesn't move.
Is Halloween a public holiday?
No. Schools and businesses are open, although 1 November (All Saints' Day) is a public holiday in many European and Latin American countries.
The countdown runs to midnight at the start of the day in your own time zone. Dates of religious and lunar holidays can differ by a day between countries.