Halloween (or Halloween) is an international holiday celebrated on October 31. Halloween activities include trick-or- treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting  haunted attractions, carving  jack-o'- lanterns, reading scary stories, and watching  horror movies. Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is celebrated in several countries of the  Wastern world, most commonly in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and at times in parts of Australia. In Sweden the  All Saints' official holiday takes place on the first Saturday of November.