Halloween Around the World

Everybody remembers his or her first Halloween. You were dressed up in a silly ghost suit, a sheet with two tiny holes for eyes. You saw scary demons, devils, witches, and wizards roaming the streets of your neighborhood. There were haunted houses, haunted hayrides, pumpkin carving festivals and parades. And the candy- always the candy.

Not every country has these devilish delights. Halloween, in fact, started not as an amusing holiday but as a somber one. The original Halloween was a Celtic festival called Samhain. Samhain was a harvest festival in which the boundary between the living and the dead dissolved and spirits caused plagues, locusts, and crop failures. Instead of trick-or-treating, there was slaughtering and mad dancing. The tradition spread to different parts of the world; today, there are a wide variety of celebrations. Some are joyous, like the American Halloween, while some are still deadly serious.

Consider Japan, for example. In Japan, Halloween (called the Obon Festival) is not a night for parties or costumes, but a memorial service for the dead. Lanterns are placed near bodies of water to guide souls back to their families, who mourn and celebrate their deceased relatives. While there are festivities, the holiday has serious overtones.

In Mexico, the holiday is more exuberant. Picnics are often held at the graves of relatives, and fireworks are set off. Children run around asking for coins and candy.

In Scotland and Ireland, the countries where Halloween originated, modern celebrations focus on jack o' lanterns. There's a legend often told in the northern UK about a man called "Stingy Jack", who was forbidden from entering Heaven. He now wanders the earth with a lit turnip to light his way.

The English do not have a Halloween celebration on October 31^st. Instead, they celebrate Guy Fawkes' Day. Fawkes was a Catholic terrorist who in the early 17^th century tried to blow up the English Parliament. On Guy Fawkes' day, effigies of Fawkes are burned throughout England.

In India, Mahalaya is celebrated on September 27^th. While the holiday involves dead spirits, it focuses more on morality for the living. On Mahalaya, you are supposed to try to eliminate trivial, earthly delights from you life and focus on your spirit. It is a day not of celebration but of contemplation.

What can we learn from the variety of Halloween rituals across the world? Many holidays, Halloween included, are often seen as trivial compared to more serious, religious holidays. However, Halloween was created for a reason: it expressed the fear of scarcity and the desire for plenty of a harvest-based civilization. Today, we share the same emotions that motivated the ancient Celts. We fear the hopelessness of a bad harvest, whether it is economic, marital, filial, or agricultural. We, just like the Celts, need Halloween.

Sources:

Darlene McFarlane, "Halloween Celebrations Throughout the World". http://www.socyberty.com/Holidays/Halloween-Celebrations-Throughout-the-World.50877

"History of Halloween-Around the World". http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=727&display_order=5&mini_id=1076