On that night,children wear funny costumes and enjoy visiting their neighbours, who give them sweets and snacks . If not, the children play a trick on them. People have parties and everyone has fun . Halloween is a very old festival. Over two thousand years ago , people in europe hated winter because the weather was cold and dark , and they did not have enough food . On october 31,people lit big fires and wore costumes to frighten away evil ghosts . People were also frightened of evil witches who did bad things . There were also good witches, however , and at halloween , they had big parties to which thousand of ordinary people came as well . Peolple danced , got married , ate a lot , and talked about magic and medicines . Even today there are real witches in Europe and the US , though they do not usually wear the witch's costumes that lots of little girls like to wear on halloween night.