By: Eliza Lincoln
Halloween is a widely known holiday filled with screams both of amusement and terror. Usually when thinking about this spooky holiday, thoughts of trick or treating and scary movie nights come to mind, but how do other people celebrate?
Originally Halloween was an ancient harvest festival, celebrated in celtic countries. Throughout the years the tradition became widespread and combined with many other celebrations.
In China a festival is held at the end of April called the Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day. This celebration takes place 15 days after the spring equinox, a date determined by the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The Qingming Festival didn't originally come from celtic harvest festivals, it is widely known as a type of Halloween festival. This is most likely due to its correlation with the dead. In rural parts of China many graves aren't located in graveyards but in auspicious places. These tombs vary depending on the family of the deceased. Families that didn't have a lot of money would have very small burials, sometimes graves would be mounds of dirt. On the other hand, wealthier families would have larger, more decorative graves. These graves could vary in size and complexity and oftentimes had flowers surrounding them.
On the day of the Qingming festival, workers get the day off to clean the graves of their loved ones. In Chinese culture this is considered one of the most respectful actions toward the deceased.
In Ireland Halloween is extremely important to many due to the fact that Ireland is where Halloween originated. Although it is celebrated in a lot of ways, anywhere from classic trick or treating to Púca festivals. Púca festivals are celebrations of the celtic folklore surrounding the holiday. The original celebration was called Samhain, which traditionally was a festival celebrating the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the new year. Now Púca Festivals are done with live street performance music and authentic processions. One of the most important traditions is the Samhain Fire. This takes place in the town Athboy: a town known for its Halloween traditions. The fire itself represents the connection of landscapes, specifically, Tara, Tlachtga, Tailteann, Loughcrew, and Uisneach, to the Púca Flame itself, which is rumored to have messages to our ancestors.
In Mexico citizens participate in trick or treating but in preparation for another celebration: Dia de los Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead. The celebration itself takes place on November 1st and 2nd where it is rumored that gates of heaven open. Traditionally this is believed to allow the deceased to return to the land of the living for a limited amount of time in order to reunite with the living members of their family. During Dia de los Muertos many people go to their loved ones' graves and create Ofrendas to offer food and drink as a welcome back to the souls. Parades also take place during this time. Mexico City's first ever Dia de los Muertos parade took place 7 years ago in 2016 inspired by James Bond movie Spectre. Released in 2015 this movie's introducing scenes feature a huge Dia de los Muertos parade. Now, many cities around the world hold parades in honor of this Mexican holiday.
Around the world people celebrate Halloween in a bunch of different ways from trick or treating to Púca fires. So next time you are with your friends on October 31st watching horror movies, think about how the many people around the world are celebrating too!
Works Cited:
Canva: Visual Suite for Everyone, https://www.canva.com/. Accessed 4 October 2024.
Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) ‑ Origins, Celebrations, Parade | HISTORY, 30 October 2018, https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/day-of-the-dead. Accessed 4 October 2024.
“Do Other Countries Celebrate Halloween?” Wonderopolis, 2 November 2016, https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/do-other-countries-celebrate-halloween. Accessed 3 October 2024.
Heyward, Giulia. “How Halloween is celebrated around the world.” NPR, 28 October 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/10/28/1130836737/how-halloween-is-celebrated-around-the-world. Accessed 3 October 2024.
Meredith, Anne. “What is Qingming Festival and how is it observed? | Tomb Sweeping Day.” Chinese Language Institute, 18 September 2024, https://studycli.org/chinese-holidays/qingming-festival/. Accessed 4 October 2024.
“Origins - Puca.” Puca Festival, https://pucafestival.com/origins/. Accessed 4 October 2024.
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