Halloween Coloring Pages

A Lively Festival on October 31st

Halloween is a festival every year on October 31st.
People display pumpkin lanterns, dress up as monsters or witches, and visit neighbors' houses to get treats.
People enjoy it in many countries around the world, like the US, the UK, and Ireland. It is also famous in Japan now with fun costume parades through town and store decorations!

It Started as a Celtic Festival

Halloween is said to come from a festival called Samhain. It was celebrated by the Celtic people who lived long ago in Ireland and the UK.
For the Celtic people, October 31st was the last day of the year. They believed that on this night, the border between the world of the living and the spirits became thin, and the spirits of loved ones came back home to visit.
However, they also believed bad spirits came along, ruining crops and spreading sickness.
So, people dressed up in scary costumes to make the bad spirits think they were friends and stay safe. It is said this is how dressing up in costumes got started!

Lanterns Were Made from Turnips First

When you think of Halloween, you think of the Jack-o'-lantern, a carved pumpkin lantern with a face.
This comes from an old Irish tale. It is about a tricky man named Jack who could not go to heaven or hell after he died. He had to keep wandering dark roads with a light held inside a hollowed-out turnip.
Because of this story, people in Ireland and Scotland used to make lanterns out of turnips! When people moved to the US, they started using big pumpkins that were easier to carve. That is how today's lantern became popular.

"Trick or Treat!"

On the night of Halloween, children in costume visit nearby houses and shout, "Trick or Treat!"
This means, "Give me a treat, or I will play a trick on you!"
The people living there smile and give them treats. In the US and Canada, some houses turn on their porch lights or set out pumpkin lanterns to show children, "Please come to our house!"

Orange and Black Are the Colors of Halloween

If you want to make it look like Halloween, try using lots of orange and black.
Orange is the color of pumpkins and autumn harvests. Black is the color of the long autumn nights.
If you add just a little purple or yellow-green to these two colors, it will look magical and exciting!

Ghosts Are Cute Even if You Leave Them White

For pictures of ghosts, we recommend leaving their bodies white.
Instead, color the area around them with light purple or light blue. That will make the white ghosts float right out!
Of course, you can make colorful ghosts with pink or light blue too. If you color the things they hold—like hats, candy, or lanterns—with bright colors, they will look very happy!

For the Night Sky, Make the Area Around the Moon Bright

In pictures with a full moon and a witch, try coloring the sky dark blue or purple.
Here is a secret trick: color just around the moon a little lighter. It will look like the moon is glowing!
Color the moon yellow or cream. For the witch, black cat, and bats that overlap with the moon, use black or dark colors. They will stand out clearly like shadows!
For the stars, yellow looks great, but leaving them white is pretty too.

Make the Eyes and Mouth Glow on Your Jack-o'-Lantern

Imagine a candle glowing inside the pumpkin's face.
If you color the holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth with yellow or light orange, and color the pumpkin skin dark orange, it will look like light is shining from inside!
If you add a slightly darker color over the pumpkin's vertical lines, it will look nice and round.

"Halloween" means "the night before a holy day"

The name Halloween comes from a shorter way of saying "All Hallows' Eve" in English.
In the Christian religion, November 1st is "All Saints' Day," a time to honor all saints. The night before, on October 31st, is the "Eve."
It is just like how the night before Christmas is called Christmas Eve.

Japan's Halloween started with a parade in Kawasaki

Town-wide Halloween events spread in Japan fairly recently.
It is said to have started with a costume parade in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, back in 1997. People held it to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a movie theater by the station.
Only about 150 people joined the first parade. Many people did not know about Halloween yet, but more people joined every year. This helped Halloween costumes become popular all across Japan.

Why black cats and bats appear so often

Black cats and bats show up a lot in Halloween pictures, don't they?
Long ago in Europe, people believed that black cats were friends of witches. They thought black cats helped witches, or that witches even turned into black cats!
Bats are creatures that fly around at night. It is said that they became linked to Halloween night because they flew around autumn bonfires to eat the bugs drawn to the light.