Who brought Halloween to America?

The Irish brought Halloween to America. Halloween is an ancient Celtic tradition thought to date back as far as 700 B.C. in the northern rural territories of Ireland, England and Scotland.

Halloween originated from the festival once known as Samhain, which was created to celebrate the end of harvest season and the beginning of winter. The Irish who fled Ireland due to the potato famine brought the tradition over with them. They introduced trick or treating by asking the wealthy for food and by playing pranks on anyone who refused. All Halloween customs such as wearing costumes, carving jack-o-lanterns and even the colors black and orange have roots in Gaelic tradition.