Halloween Around the World

Trick or Treat? If you dress up on the last day of October and go knocking on someone’s door asking this question in India, Korea or France, they might not know what you are talking about.

Even though Halloween is one of the oldest holidays, it is traditionally celebrated only in some parts of the western world, mostly in the United States and Canada. Celebrating Halloween in other countries is a recent phenomenon that often just copies and modifies parts of the American tradition.

Halloween is not part of Bulgarian tradition, but in recent years people have started to celebrate it as a good occasion for a costume party. Clubs organize Halloween parties where young people go to have fun in unusual outfits. Sexy witches, nurses and little fairies dance passionately, while the cowboys, policemen and zombies drink at the bar. Some of the costumes are so odd that you wonder where someone would even buy such an outfit, but there are also some very stylish costumes. However, if you are not daring enough for this kind of clothing, you had better stay at home with some friends telling scary stories and watching horror movies.

In Japan, Halloween is celebrated mostly by children in enrichment English courses as part of culture and language education. Children wear costumes and go to their own homes where their parents are waiting for them to come and ask “Trick or treat?” Sometimes, college students have a dinner party on Halloween. Since they try to do it as the Americans do, the stores in Japan are full of Halloween-themed products, but just for commercial purposes. Other than that Japanese people don’t do much for Halloween, because it is not part of their culture.

Halloween is also not a Jamaican holiday, but recently it has started to emerge as a good reason to have fun. Like in the other countries, people put on masks and go to a Halloween party, but the difference is that parties in Jamaica are outside in open areas. They are organized by party promoters and announced through the media. A lot of young people enjoy loud music, alcohol and dancing under the black and orange decorations, but is that the real Halloween spirit?

Peruvians celebrate Halloween the same way Americans do, with the exception of how they decorate their homes. Although it is not part of the Peruvian calendar, people dress up and kids go out asking for candy. The curious thing is that Halloween is similar to another Peruvian holiday called Día de la Cancion Criolla (The Day of the Peruvian Song), and both celebrations merge. This brings confrontation between adults and young people who neglect the national tradition trying to copy a foreign celebration. The following day is a holiday too. People go to cemeteries to visit their dead relatives and bring some flowers.

Posted by DENICA YOTOVA on Oct 20 2011. Filed under Leisure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.