Allehelgensaften

Allehelgensaften in Denmark is 31 October’s pumpkin-lit evening of costumes, candy rounds and heavily decorated parks.

Widely celebrated with jack-o’-lanterns, spooky decorations, amusement park transformations and trick-or-treating.

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Opens Oct 31, closes Nov 1 · 48 hours

what Allehelgensaften is

Allehelgensaften, or Halloween, is marked on 31 October in Denmark, although it is a newer custom than older autumn traditions such as Fastelavn and the church observance of Allehelgensdag. The celebration is most visible in towns and suburbs, where supermarkets sell carving pumpkins, costume make-up and large bags of sweets through October, and homes put fake cobwebs, skeletons and glowing jack-o’-lanterns by the front door. In Copenhagen, Tivoli Gardens is especially associated with Halloween, covering the park with pumpkins, themed lights and spooky attractions. Other amusement parks, shopping centres and local venues around Denmark also run Halloween programmes, so the event often starts well before the evening itself.

On 31 October, children often spend the afternoon dressing up as witches, skeletons, vampires, ghosts or zombies, and families carve pumpkins before lighting them at dusk. Trick-or-treating takes place in some neighbourhoods, especially on villa streets where decorated houses show that visitors are welcome; children may knock and say slik eller ballade before being given small sweets. Because the custom is not equally established everywhere, many Danish families choose organised events at schools, leisure clubs or amusement parks instead of going door to door. Food is usually party food and candy rather than one fixed Danish Halloween dish: bowls of mixed sweets, popcorn, cupcakes, hot dogs, and sometimes homemade pumpkin soup or pumpkin cake.

what you'll learn5 domains

The pack has 36 words spread across these domains.

Useful phrasesWords and short expressions people use when greeting neighbours, admiring costumes or asking for sweets.

Day timelineVocabulary for what happens on 31 October, from afternoon pumpkin carving to evening rounds and parties.

Spooky décorNames for jack-o’-lanterns, cobwebs, skeletons, lights and other things seen outside Danish homes and parks.

Costumes masksWords for the outfits, face paint and accessories children and adults wear to Halloween events.

Where it happensVocabulary for villa streets, front doors, amusement parks, schools and other common Halloween settings in Denmark.

the run — three rounds, about three minutes, unlimited practice

Round 1 · MatchPair the word with its meaning. Six pairs, one attempt each.

Round 2 · SpellType the word you hear, accents and all. Beginners see the meaning and complete the word instead.

Round 3 · MeaningSix questions on what happens at Allehelgensaften and what it is called.

how scoring works

How you are ranked

1AccuracyEvery correct answer counts the same. Anything you leave unanswered counts as wrong.

2Time, only to break tiesTime is read only when two people have the same accuracy. It never beats a better score.

For example

1100%3:41Marta

2100%4:02Joan — same score, slower

397%2:10Núria — fastest, still third

Two separate boards

BeginnerAdvanced

Same words in both. Beginner gets more help: matching and completing. Advanced listens and spells it out unaided. Pick it in practice; it locks when you take the scored run.

One scored run

Practise as often as you like, all year. The scored run happens once, while the competition is open, and cannot be retaken.