Harry Potter Halloween - Ireland

From spooky stays at luxurious hotels, decadently tasty treats and devilish cocktails, we take a look at how to celebrate the scariest time of year in style.

Whether you’re looking to have a haunting afternoon tea experience, sip on wickedly tasty drinks at some of the best bars in the world, or stay at a spooktacular hotel this All Hallows’ Eve, we’ve picked out a selection of Halloween events that are sure to deliver some hair-raising moments.

When most of us think of Halloween, it’s likely that haunted houses, trick-or-treating and vast amounts of candy corn spring to mind.

However, the history of the spooky holiday dates back some 2,000 years to an ancient harvest festival called Samhain, which translates to ‘summer’s end’ in Gaelic.

Although historians are unsure of the exact nature of the pagan festival, it is known that Samhain was an annual communal meeting held at the end of the Celtic year to mark the start of wintertime.

At the time it was believed that spirits of the dead would return on Samhain as the veils between the two worlds would be at their thinnest.

Large bonfires were lit to celebrate and remember loved ones, with Celts wearing animal skins and sacrificing crops and animals for the spirits. Masks were said to be sported, too, to scare off or trick unwelcome spirits, who the Celts feared would destroy crops.

Later, in the Middle Ages, the Catholic holiday All Hallows Day (more commonly known as All Saints Day) became known as All Hallows Even – and was later turned into Hallowe’en.

A time when Christian saints and martyrs were honored, it became practice to light bonfires and go door-to-door receiving treats in exchange for prayers for the dead. Later in Ireland, the day was marked with prayers and communal feasting.

Over time it is thought that the customs of Samhain and All Saints Day have combined to create the modern-day Halloween we have today, which sees countries all over the world celebrating with an endless array of events, from visits to haunted houses in the States to trick-or-treating in Australia.

We’ve picked out a selection of treats taking place all over the globe that’ll leave you feeling wickedly stylish this Halloween – from spooky stays at luxurious hotels, dark delicacies to sink your teeth into, and ghostly cocktails and parties to enjoy under the looming full moon.