Pumpkins, costumes and candy: this Saturday, October 31, 2026, Halloween returns to Nice. But behind this celebration that is readily believed to be American lies a much older history, made up of Celtic traditions, carved turnips and an astonishing return to France. This year, the evening is also accompanied by traffic restrictions for unaccompanied minors in several sectors of the city.
Before pumpkins, a celebration to welcome winter
To find the roots of Halloween, we must go back to Samain (or Samhain), an ancient Celtic festival that marked the passage from the bright season to the dark season. In popular traditions, this moment of transition was associated with spirits and the symbolic boundary between the living and the dead. Over the centuries, customs transformed and merged with other celebrations.
The name “Halloween” comes from the English All Hallows’ Eve, the eve of All Saints’ Day, celebrated on November 1st. So one should not confuse Halloween with All Saints’ Day: the two dates follow each other, but their traditions do not entirely overlap.
Why pumpkins? Originally, turnips were carved
The famous grinning lantern has not always been orange. In Ireland and other regions, lanterns were once hollowed out from turnips or other vegetables. With Irish migration to North America, the pumpkin, more abundant and easier to carve, gradually took over.
The legend of Jack-o’-lantern, a character condemned to wander with a light, fed this imagination. Today, the lit pumpkin has become the global symbol of a celebration whose roots are European.
How did Halloween conquer France?
Contrary to popular belief, the French did not discover frightening lanterns through American films. Regional traditions already existed, notably in Brittany and Lorraine, where beets were carved to give them eerie faces.
On the other hand, the modern version of Halloween — costumes, commercial decorations and candy collection — was mainly spread in France in the 1990s. Advertising, store signs, cinema and television contributed to popularizing this evening. Since then, it has become part of the calendar for many families, without replacing All Saints’ Day traditions.
In Nice, a festive night but a curfew in five sectors
For this 2026 edition, the Nice municipality has announced a curfew targeting unaccompanied minors without a legal representative, during the night of Saturday, October 31 to Sunday, November 1, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
According to information released on October 30, five sectors are affected: Ariane, Bon Voyage, Louis-Braille, the city center and the Moulins. The measure is presented by the City as a public order prevention measure, following incidents that occurred earlier in the month and excesses noted during previous Halloween evenings.
Important for families: the announcement targets unaccompanied minors; children accompanied by their legal representative are not affected by this ban. Residents are invited to consult municipal orders and their precise perimeters before going out, as the list of sectors alone does not describe all the streets involved.
A celebration that changes face, but keeps the taste of mystery
In Nice as elsewhere, Halloween now stands at the intersection of several stories: ancient beliefs, a popular celebration transformed across the Atlantic and contemporary uses, between costumes and evenings with friends. An opportunity, perhaps, to tell children that the pumpkin they are decorating today has a much more modest ancestor: the turnip.
To extend the evening on the big screen, the Jean-Paul Belmondo cinema also offers its “Ciné Frissons” programming on October 31.
Illustration: Raysonho / Wikimedia Commons, photograph made available under CC0 license (public domain).
Sources: National Geographic (origins), Institut de France (spread in France), Nice Mag (curfew announced on October 30, 2026).
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