Hogwarts and Halloween

This was mentioned in part by Pottermore, so I thought I'd bring it up.... Witches and Wizards on Halloween. This was always a feast at Hogwarts, but why? And how did most witches and wizards celebrate before the measure was taken to curtail it?


To start, we have a basic history of Halloween (link here for a basic source). Halloween was a Celtic holiday to celebrate a traveling of the dead, and supernatural/magical creatures interacting with others, later supplemented by Christian teachings to include a feast to celebrate a patron saint. To this, we have the first answer, why is there a feast at Hogwarts on Halloween, but it goes deeper than that. The magical community was going to have some rights to celebrate the holiday curtailed, but the real question is why curtail it? If witches and wizards went out for feasts on the holiday, that would be nothing of issue. However, going into head cannon territory, I think the following may have been "issues"

1. Playing tricks on Muggles: I can see this being a pastime of wizarding youths, as they play small pranks on muggles through the holiday, with the blame of it going to ghosts and the like. 
2. Meetings of local ghosts/inviting ghosts into homes. This I can see being a major issue, as I'm fairly certain muggles can see ghosts (though they are often mistaken, as a ghost is not actually there and they are instead being victimized by poltergeists) In addition, if the meeting is held in a graveyard, this is bound to bring some attention with it. 
3. Mass gatherings of witches and wizards anywhere: this is the one that the Ministry would probably want to curtail, for various reasons. As most homes probably didn't have the space, wizards may meet in locales frequented by muggles, that are especially active on that night. Even bringing children would be considered a risk, as they can perform "accidental" magic while growing up, and this could cause some alarm around muggles, especially considering that the more frightening images could startle a child into using something more potent. 

With all these being issues, the reasoning behind prohibiting celebrations in what I could only assume would be a "traditional" way would threaten the Statute of Secrecy to such an extent that the Ministry would want to interfere. Because, as we know the Ministry does not appear to interfere with wizards and witches too much on a whole, and would only take such action to ensure the continued safety of witches and wizards everywhere.

Hopefully, we will have some more details on Halloween in the magical world eventually, as well as other holidays and aspects of the world, to be revealed, eventually, on Pottermore.