Every autumn, the nights grow longer, the air turns colder, and the line between worlds begins to blur. Halloween has always been about more than just costumes and sweets – it’s a time to honour our ancestors, to gather in ceremony, to transform fear into celebration. This year, Katumba Halloween Carnival reclaims those deeper roots. Their theme for 2025 – “Ancestral Spirits, Ritual Fire” – weaves together the diasporic origins of carnival with the ancient pagan traditions of Samhain.
Born from rituals of remembrance, resistance, and renewal, carnival is a living space where communities gather to drum, dance, and light the darkness with rhythm and spirit. By fusing Afro-diasporic beats with the fire and folklore of Halloween, the procession becomes both a homage and a reinvention. A living ritual that connects past to present, ancestry to community, darkness to light.
Every October, Liverpool drumming and movement troupe, Katumba Transforms the Liverpool City Centre into a playground of imagination, with performances inspiring, and engaging audiences by creating big, bold, visual shows through unexpected spectacle of drums, fire, lights, dance, theatre and more.What began in 2012 as an impromptu, small gathering of drummers springing up in Liverpool City Centre for a dressed up parade on Halloween, has grown into one of Liverpool’s most anticipated annual celebrations — a fusion of carnival, culture, and community spirit.This year’s Halloween Carnival marks the grand finale of Katumba’s Black History Month celebrations, as participants from their Routes & Roots beginner sessions join the parade.
Starting at Bold Street, making it’s way through Church Street and Lord Street before culminating in an unmissable finale at Liverpool ONE, the carnival will also celebrate 10 years of Katumba – Liverpool’s leading large-scale drumming and movement organisation, renowned for creating inclusive public spectacles and community programmes that blend Afro-Brazilian, contemporary and urban influences. Join them in celebrating an incredible decade of drumming, movement, and community.
This year, there are even more ways to get involved!Every costume, every rhythm, every flicker of flame in the Katumba Halloween Carnival is created and carried by people from the local area. This year, Katumba are inviting YOU to take part in a host of workshops with a Halloween twist.Learn to: Craft everything you need for a real carnival, inspired by ancestral spirits Beat out rhythms that shake the streets alive Move, dance, and embody the energy of carnival…Then step into the procession itself!Join us at the following
FREE workshops:
Saturday 25th of October – Lantern MakingMake your very own lantern (no fire involved!) to light up Katumba Halloween Carnival – ages 5+
Saturday 25th of October – Circus Workshops
A chance to discover the magic of circus with silk ribbons, poi, juggling balls, devil sticks, hula hoop and spinning plate with Bring the Fire Project – ages 7+Sunday 26th of October – Katumba DrummingCome along to Liverpool One’s Halloween Party from 12pm and take part in a Katumba Drumming workshop – under 18’s
Sunday 2nd of November – Sounds & Sauna, An Evening of WellbeingMusic, movement and mindfulness, the best way to wind down and relax after our Halloween carnival with sound bath, mindful movement and a gorgeous wooden sauna to top it all off on the – 18+, ticketed
Book now at https://katumba.co.uk/halloween-carnival-2025/
Feel the drums. Honour the ancestors. Celebrate the spirits…
