Hallowe'en

> A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkin stutter.
>
> The Great Hall on Hallowe'en, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

**Hallowe'en**, a contraction of "**All Hallows' Evening**", was a holiday celebrated by both Muggles and the wizarding world on 31 October. Typical festive Hallowe'en activities included trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, and telling scary stories. This applied to the wizarding world also, but with their own magical twist.

## History

The Culture segment of *The New York Ghost* Sunday edition published on 28 November 1926 had an article on No-Maj's Hallowe'en costume. The Wizbiz segment of the Sunrise Early Edition published on 6 December the same year from the same paper, reported that the holiday saw record breaking sales of No-Maj broomsticks.
At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, there was a feast every year on Hallowe'en, and the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year usually occurred around the same day. The Keeper of Keys and Grounds grew enormous pumpkins for the feast by magic.

### 1980s

> All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Hallowe'en ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' — 'You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then — an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing — he tried to kill you, too... But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even — but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry.
>
> Rubeus Hagrid describing the 1981 attack on the Potters, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

The attack took place on Hallowe'en 1981. It happened not even a week after Peter Pettigrew was made the Potters' Secret Keeper. Pettigrew then betrayed the Potters and gave up their location to Lord Voldemort. Having been told half of the prophecy by Severus Snape, Voldemort came to believe his mortal enemy to be Harry Potter.
Voldemort travelled to the Potters' home in Godric's Hollow and murdered James and Lily Potter, whom died protecting infant Harry. When he attempted to murder Harry, Lily's loving sacrifice allowed Harry to live and rebounded Voldemort's Killing Curse. The rebounded curse caused a shred of Voldemort's already mutilated soul to be ripped from his destroyed body.
In 1986, various frightening events plagued the school surrounding the legend of Pumpkin Johnny, a student whose head was trapped in a pumpkin from the Pumpkin-Head Jinx and would attack students with this jinx if summoned on Hallowe'en, by saying his name aloud thrice. Strange incidents included smashed pumpkins in Rubeus Hagrid's pumpkin patch, Pumpkin Johnny's face being daubed on walls with pumpkin matter, students having nightmares and students being hit with the Pumpkin-Head Jinx. Merula Snyde and Ismelda Murk dressed up as Pumpkin Johnny to prank students on Hallowe'en, but were strangely not responsible for the smashed pumpkins, graffiti or nightmares experienced by students. Rubeus Hagrid gave them the idea after recalling the tale to them and others in the pumpkin patch; however, he did not know if he had heard the tale in his childhood or simply fabricated it on the spot. Jacob's sibling later met an unidentified individual dressed as Pumpkin Johnny at Hagrid's Pumpkin Party, meaning he may have been real.
Also this year, several students including Ben Copper, Penny Haywood, Jacob's sibling, Ismelda Murk and Merula Snyde travelled to Godric's Hollow around Hallowe'en time to search for the legendary Sword of Gryffindor. There, they encountered the ghost of the goblin king Ragnuk in St Jerome's graveyard, who cursed Merula with blindness after she attempted to enter his crypt and take the sword. Jacob's sibling was able to convince him to lift the curse, after persuading him that his legacy would live on if he allowed people to view the sword.

### 1990s

> There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.
>
> Harry Potter on how facing a mountain troll made the trio friends, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

At some point after taking office in 1990, Cornelius Fudge proposed that the Ministry proposed putting restrictions on how wizards and witches were allowed to celebrate Hallowe'en, presumably in consideration to the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Stamford Jorkins, a Ministry of Magic spokesperson, defended such measures in the *Daily Prophet* by highlighting how wards at St Mungo's were busier than ever at Hallowe'en, along with him mentioning how a wizard was still in the hospital with his head back to front from a Hallowe'en prank gone wrong from the year prior. Other events included a vampire running amok one year and having to be lured away from a Muggle girl with a raw steak, and Celestina Warbeck having a cancel a Hallowe'en concert with Banshees as back-up singers.
Celestina Warbeck vocally disagreed with this proposed legislation, a move that was considered controversial on her part. Other British wizards and witches who vocally disagreed included Glinda Crook and Glinda Crook, who wrote to the *Daily Prophet* to express their dismay at such legislation. Dagbert Pips was the owner of a shop called Pumpkins R Us, which sold various types of magical pumpkins for the season.

On 31 October 1991, the first-year Charms class topic was the Levitation Charm. Later, the Hallowe'en feast was interrupted by the arrival of a Mountain Troll. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley saved Hermione Granger from the Troll in the girls' bathroom. Meanwhile, Quirrell (who let the troll in) headed for the Philosopher's Stone hidden beneath the trapdoor in the third floor corridor — but was stopped by Severus Snape.
In 1992, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Ginny Weasley, under the influence of Tom Riddle's Diary, opened the Chamber of Secrets for the first time in fifty years. The Basilisk that was released from the Chamber Petrified Mrs Norris.

## Hallowe'en feast

The Hallowe'en feast at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry occurred on the 31st of October every year. The Hallowe'en feast was usually festooned with sweets-filled pumpkins, bats, orange streamers, water snakes, goblets of coloured sweets and all sorts of Hallowe'en-related decorations. There was usually some entertainment at the end, which may have been by the Hogwarts ghosts, who popped out of the walls and did formation gliding.

It was a highly anticipated feast which most Hogwarts students looked forward to every year.

## Behind the scenes

* Hallowe'en is a very important date in the *Harry Potter* books. Either during or after the feast in the first four books something fateful happens: the troll, the Chamber of Secrets re-opening, Sirius Black's attack on the Fat Lady, and Harry Potter's name emerging from the Goblet of Fire. In the seventh book, we discover that the date, 31 October is significant, as it is the date of James and Lily Potter's death in 1981. Finally, seeing as Neville Longbottom's and Harry's birthdays are, respectively, 30 and 31 July 1980, almost exactly nine months after 31 October 1979, it is likely that both were conceived on or around Hallowe'en.

## Appearances

* *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film) (First Entire Appearance)
* *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film) Template:Deleted scenes
* *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2* (Appears In Flashback(s))

## Notes and references

1. ↑  Hallowe'en on Wikipedia
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter 10
3. ↑  (see this image)
4. ↑  (see this image)
5. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* - An Chapter 008
6. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 7
7. ↑ *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter 4
8. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2*
9. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film)
10. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2*
11. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2* - An Chapter 017
12. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire* (film)
13. ↑ *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter 17
14. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 8
15. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 17
16. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 9