Halloween around the World

by Jasmine Perkins

Although you may think that Halloween is a quintessential American celebration, with their jack o lanterns and trick-or-treating, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Did you know that the spooky season actually began as the Celtic festival Samhain in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man? This celebration marked the end of summer and involved dressing up as saints and building sacrificial bonfires to Celtic Deities. According to Celtic mythology, Samhain was the day in which the barrier between the underworld was thinned, allowing spirits and ghosts to travel across, therefore becoming the root of today’s scary traditions. These old customs were brought to America by immigrants from the Irish potato famine and were appropriated by the Catholic Church: eventually developing into the westernized version of Halloween we are familiar with today in the UK. Despite it being a largely American-dominated holiday, it is celebrated in different yet equally spooky ways all across the world.

In Japan, citizens abandon the child-friendly nature of trick-or-treating and take Halloween parties to the next level. Huge street parties are thrown into the early hours where people dress in extravagant and stunning costumes. These parties often feature parades, flash mobs and costume contests that further demonstrate their creativity.

In Mexico, Dia de los Muertos (The Day of The Dead) is celebrated and while it is 2 days after the 31st of October it has similar themes. The main divergence from our fear-filled day is the positive message spread during Dia de los Muertos. Colourful calaveras (skulls) and papel picados (banners) adorn the streets and people place incense, flowers and candles on altars called Ofrendas to invite dead family members back into the home. Life and death is celebrated as an overwhelmingly joyful concept.

In France, Halloween is actually controversial and not vastly celebrated. It is viewed as imported American culture and in fear of losing French cultural identity it is avoided. They do however celebrate La Touissant (All Saints Day) where Christians honour the lives of deceased family members and the saints by visiting church services and laying flowers.

In Italy, they celebrate La Festa di Ognissanti, a different version of All Saints Day, and it is growing in popularity among the youth.

In Guatemala, they honor the dead on this day by holding a giant kite festival originating from ancient Mayan traditions with colourful, handmade kites.

So the origins of Halloween aren’t as straight-forward as you may have thought and even though it is a hugely Western tradition it is slowly growing in popularity in many different parts of the world. Some countries celebrate in unique and inspired ways and some don’t acknowledge the last day of October at all. The more you know!