Halloween is a great excuse to dress up and eat lots of candy, but it isn’t just for us westerners. Families around the world enjoy intricate traditions about death, spirituality, and spooky celebration in the fall.
In many parts of South America, including Brazil and Mexico, people celebrate The Day of the Dead. They decorate with traditional skeletons and paint ornamental skulls on their faces. This is a day of honor and joy, to pay your respects to family members and friends who have died. Some children also have adopted the tradition of trick-or-treating. In hispanic communities, the children go door to door saying “Triqui triqui!” instead of “Trick-or-treat!”
In China, they hold the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts, which is similar to the Day of the Dead. This festival isn’t a fun celebration, but a time to give gifts to dead spirits to calm them or scare them off. During the festival, people will create folded paper TV’s and sports cars to appease the dead. Recently, Japan began celebrating Halloween in an American fashion with jack-o’-lanterns and elaborate costume parties. In Japan, people love to dress up as their favorite anime characters and pop stars.
Halloween has its roots in a European holiday known as All Hallows Day or All Saints’ Day. Many years ago, families would stay up late and eat sweet “soul cakes” while they waited for spirits. At midnight, everyone was stone silent as candles were lit to lead ghosts to an offering of wine. Trick or treating began when children would go door to door, saying prayers for the dead in exchange for soul cakes or money. Halloween is loved best in Ireland, where people dress up as other worldly ghouls, light bonfires, and watch exciting firework displays.
Halloween can mean a lot of things, depending on your families traditions. For some, its a night to play dress up. For others, it is a night of solemn prayer for the dead. Regardless of your background, one cannot help but feel the year coming to a close as the leaves fall and pumpkins are placed out on display.