No trick or treating: Halloween is cancelled for England's high risk areas

FILE PHOTO: A man wears a face mask as he walks past a Halloween display in a shop window following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Liverpool, Britain, October 7, 2020. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Trick or treating during Halloween is banned in the areas of England in the highest level of COVID-19 lockdown, a junior minister in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government said on Tuesday.

Asked by LBC radio if trick or treating - a tradition in which children go from house to house asking for goodies or threatening a trick - was banned, junior business minister Nadhim Zahawi said: "Sadly - tier three - you can't"

"It's a tough thing," Zahawi said.

FILE PHOTO: Children pick pumpkins and squashes ahead of Halloween at Cammas Hall Farm in Hatfield Broad Oak, Britain October 26, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Couldridge

Halloween, celebrated on Oct. 31, dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain when people would try to ward off ghosts. Some of the traditions of the festival were incorporated into Catholic vigils such as All Hallows' Eve.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Paul Sandle)

FILE PHOTO: An employee wearing a face shield sorts Halloween masks at a "Perfect Parties" shop, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Leighton Buzzard, Britain September 23, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Boyers