On what date is Halloween celebrated every year?
Answer : 31 October
Halloween falls on the night of 31 October, the eve of All Saints' Day. The date comes from the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the move into the dark half of the year.
Questions and answers: Halloween
Revise Halloween: here is a selection of questions of every level, with the answer and an explanation. To test yourself without seeing the answers, play the quizzes.
Play the Halloween quizzesVery easy
Which vegetable is most often carved into a lantern for Halloween?
Answer : The pumpkin
People hollow out a pumpkin, cut a face into it and put a candle inside: this is the jack-o'-lantern, the best-known symbol of the festival, especially in the United States.
What do costumed children mostly collect when they knock on doors on Halloween night?
Answer : Sweets
This is the trick-or-treat tradition: children go from house to house and receive sweets and chocolate. The custom became hugely popular in the United States in the 20th century.
Which famous count from Transylvania is the best-known vampire of books and films?
Answer : Dracula
Count Dracula, a vampire from Transylvania, became the model of the modern vampire in novels and films. He shuns sunlight and can turn into a bat.
What do witches ride in the imagery of Halloween?
Answer : A broomstick
In European folk imagery, witches fly on a broomstick, often to reach a night-time gathering. The pointed hat and the black cat complete the classic picture.
Which two colours are most associated with Halloween?
Answer : Orange and black
Orange recalls pumpkins and the autumn harvest, while black evokes night and death. This pair has become the visual signature of the festival in decorations and costumes.
Which pet traditionally accompanies witches in Halloween imagery?
Answer : A cat
In medieval Europe, cats, especially black ones, were linked to witchcraft and bad luck. The black cat has remained a classic Halloween symbol ever since.
Which monster is wrapped in bandages from head to toe?
Answer : The mummy
The mummy is inspired by the embalmed bodies of ancient Egypt, wrapped in strips of linen. Horror films of the 1930s made this image popular.
Easy
What is the name of the friendly little white ghost who stars in comics, cartoons and a 1995 film?
Answer : Casper
Casper is a kind ghost who would rather make friends than scare people. Created in the 20th century, he stars in cartoons, comics and a live-action film from 1995.
Which British novelist wrote the novel Frankenstein?
Answer : Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley conceived the story when she was only 18. The novel is often cited as one of the first great works of science fiction, about a scientist who brings a creature to life.
At which phase of the Moon does the werewolf transform, according to legend?
Answer : At full moon
In folklore and in films, a man turns into a werewolf when the full moon rises. This belief has no scientific basis, but it appears in almost every werewolf story.
Which Mexican festival, celebrated around 1 and 2 November, honours the dead?
Answer : Día de Muertos
Día de Muertos is a joyful festival where families build altars (ofrendas) with flowers, candles and food to welcome the spirits of departed loved ones. UNESCO has listed it as intangible cultural heritage.
In which 1993 animated film does Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discover Christmas Town?
Answer : The Nightmare Before Christmas
Directed by Henry Selick from a story and characters by Tim Burton, this stop-motion film has become a classic watched as much at Halloween as at Christmas.
Which food is said to ward off vampires according to legend?
Answer : Garlic
In Eastern European folklore, garlic is a powerful protection against vampires and evil spirits, which is why bulbs hang on doors and windows in many stories.
In which present-day country is Transylvania, the region linked to Dracula?
Answer : Romania
Transylvania is a region in central Romania, ringed by the Carpathian Mountains. Its forests and medieval castles fed the imagination behind Dracula.
Which large pot does a witch use to brew her potions?
Answer : A cauldron
The cast-iron cauldron was an ordinary cooking pot hung over the fire in the Middle Ages. Popular culture turned it into the witch's tool for stirring magic potions.
Medium
Which ancient people celebrated Samhain, the festival that Halloween descends from?
Answer : The Celts
Samhain was a major festival of the Celts of Ireland and Britain, held as autumn turned to winter. People believed the border with the spirit world grew thin, and they lit great bonfires.
According to an Irish legend, who is the Jack of jack-o'-lantern?
Answer : A cunning man who tricked the Devil
Refused entry to both heaven and hell, Jack was said to wander with a glowing coal inside a hollowed-out turnip. The Irish later made similar lanterns to ward off spirits.
Which director made the 1978 horror film Halloween?
Answer : John Carpenter
John Carpenter directed and scored this low-budget film, which kicked off the wave of masked-killer films in the 1980s. Its musical theme is still famous.
Who wrote the novel Dracula, published in 1897?
Answer : Bram Stoker
The Irish writer Bram Stoker told the story through letters and diary entries. He made Transylvania the count's homeland and fixed many traits of the modern vampire.
Which harvest crop do the tricolour (yellow, orange and white) American sweets typical of Halloween imitate?
Answer : A kernel of corn
Candy corn, created in the United States in the late 19th century, looks like a kernel of corn. First sold as an autumn treat, it became a symbol of Halloween.
What does the name Halloween originally mean, as a contraction of an English phrase?
Answer : The eve of All Saints' Day
Halloween comes from All Hallows' Eve, the eve of All Hallows' Day (All Saints' Day); in Old English, hallow means saint. The name was shortened over the centuries.
Which orange flower covers the altars of Día de Muertos in Mexico?
Answer : The marigold (cempasúchil)
The cempasúchil, a type of marigold, is called the flower of the dead. Its bright colour and scent are said to guide souls to their families' altars.
According to European folklore, which metal can harm or kill a werewolf?
Answer : Silver
Silver is thought of as pure and able to repel evil, so a silver bullet or blade is the classic weapon against werewolves, in legends and in films alike.
Hard
Which actor played the creature in the 1931 film Frankenstein, directed by James Whale?
Answer : Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff, made up by Jack Pierce with a flat head and neck bolts, became the definitive image of the creature. He played the role again in two sequels.
Which 15th-century prince of Wallachia bore the nickname Dracula, later borrowed by Bram Stoker for his vampire?
Answer : Vlad III
Vlad III, known as Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Țepeș), ruled Wallachia in the mid-15th century. His father was nicknamed Dracul, hence Dracula, 'son of Dracul'; Stoker borrowed the name for his fictional count.
What was the medieval British custom called in which people asked for cakes in return for prayers for the dead, a forerunner of trick-or-treating?
Answer : Souling
Around 2 November, poor people went door to door in England and received soul cakes in exchange for prayers for the souls of the dead. It is one of the forerunners of trick-or-treating.
Which German director made Nosferatu, the 1922 silent film inspired by Dracula?
Answer : F. W. Murnau
Murnau shot Nosferatu, a loose adaptation of Dracula in which the count is named Orlok. This landmark of German Expressionism shaped the history of fantasy cinema.
Which sweet bread is traditionally placed on Día de Muertos altars?
Answer : Pan de muerto
Pan de muerto is a sweet, brioche-like bread, often flavoured with orange and dusted with sugar, decorated with shapes recalling bones. Families share it and place it on the ofrenda.
Which Celtic festival, held around 1 May and opening the bright half of the year, is the counterpart of Samhain?
Answer : Beltane
Beltane opened the bright half of the year just as Samhain opened the dark half. Both were marked by great fires and by the idea that the spirit world drew closer.
Which British poet launched, in 1816 at the Villa Diodati near Geneva, the ghost-story challenge from which Frankenstein was born?
Answer : Lord Byron
Kept indoors by bad weather, Lord Byron proposed that his guests, including Mary Shelley and John Polidori, each write a supernatural tale. Mary came up with Frankenstein, and Polidori wrote The Vampyre.
Which immigrants, arriving in huge numbers in the United States in the mid-19th century, did most to popularise Halloween there?
Answer : The Irish
Fleeing the Great Famine of the 1840s, hundreds of thousands of Irish people reached the United States with their Samhain and Halloween customs (bonfires, games, lanterns). The festival then spread and was reshaped.
Expert
Which Mexican engraver created around 1910 the Calavera Garbancera, ancestor of La Catrina?
Answer : José Guadalupe Posada
Posada drew this elegant skeleton in a big hat to mock people who denied their roots. Diego Rivera later popularised her as La Catrina in a mural of the 1940s.
What is the name of the ship that carries Count Dracula from Varna to England in Bram Stoker's novel?
Answer : The Demeter
The schooner Demeter leaves Varna and runs aground at Whitby with its crew missing and the captain tied to the helm. The chapter, told as a ship's log, is famous.
Who wrote Carmilla, a vampire novella published in the early 1870s, well before Dracula?
Answer : Sheridan Le Fanu
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu wrote this tale of a young female vampire, often cited as an inspiration for Stoker. It appears in the collection In a Glass Darkly, published in 1872.
Which abbot of Cluny introduced, in the late 10th century, the commemoration of all the faithful departed on 2 November?
Answer : Odilo of Cluny
Around 998, Abbot Odilo asked all Cluniac monasteries to pray for the dead the day after All Saints. The custom later spread to the whole Latin Church.
Which actress plays both Mary Shelley and the Bride in the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein?
Answer : Elsa Lanchester
In the prologue of James Whale's film, Elsa Lanchester plays Mary Shelley, then returns as the creature's Bride with her towering hair and white streaks. Her screen time is short but iconic.
In what year was the first edition of the novel Frankenstein published, anonymously?
Answer : 1818
The novel appeared on 1 January 1818, anonymously, with a preface by Percy Shelley. Mary Shelley published a revised version in 1831.
What does the Gaelic word Samhain literally refer to?
Answer : The end of summer
The term comes from Old Irish and is linked to the idea of summer's end. It opened the dark half of the Celtic year, when the days grow shorter.
Who took the producers of Nosferatu to court for infringing the rights to Dracula?
Answer : Bram Stoker's widow
Florence Stoker won a ruling in the 1920s ordering the copies of Nosferatu destroyed, but a few prints survived. That is why the film still exists today.