Video Credit: Health & Fitness via Youtube
Image Credit: The Peak / Edited via Photoshop
Halloween is a festival that is celebrated worldwide even though it may be named differently. It is a celebration where the living honor the dead, the time of the year that we dedicate to remembering the dead, our loved ones, the saints, the martyrs, the heroes, and other departed souls.
Most Western Countries celebrates Halloween by dressing up in costumes, sprucing up their houses and workplace with spooky decorations, trick-or-treating, divination games, playing pranks, and visiting haunted attractions, but this does not mean that other countries have the same traditions and celebratory rituals as them.
Here I would like to discuss the various amazing Halloween traditions from around the world.
✞Samhain (Ireland and Scotland)✟
Image Credit: The Wild Geese
Samhain or Samhuinn, "end of the light half of the year", is an Ireland tradition that was celebrated by the ancient Celtic people thousands of years ago. It is known to be the precursor to Halloween and is the oldest known tradition that can be linked to where Halloween started. It is a Pagan ritual celebrated on the 31st of October up to the 1st of November. It is celebrated on the end of October to show the turning of the harvest year, where harvest season ends and the beginning of the darker half of the year begins or as it is called winter.
The Celts believed that as the year turns, the day where the ending of the harvest season and beginning of winter, the veil between the living world and the other world where supernatural entities, such as ghosts, fairies, devils, angels, and more, lives, weakens and that this otherworldly beings can cross over to our world. The Celts would perform rituals, such as lighting up bonfires, dressing up in costumes, and leaving food out for the dead, to help protect and purify themselves against these otherworldly creatures.
As the year's turn, Samhain was Christianized by the early Church and has now become known as Halloween.
✞Pangangaluluwa (Philippines)✟
Image Credit: Happy Birthday World
Pangangaluluwa or Gabi ng Pangangaluluwa is a Philippine tradition to honor the dead celebrated on the 31st of October. It is the equivalent of the western festival to honor the dead known as Halloween. Unlike the traditions of Halloween in the Western Countries, where they dress up in costumes, trick-or-treating for candies, or even just a time to party, most Filipinos sees October 31st to November 2 as a three day holiday for familial activities to honor their dearly departed referred to as "Undas" or "Araw ng mga Patay" (Day of the Dead), or "Araw ng mga Kaluluwa" (All Souls' Day)
Pangangaluluwa is a Filipino tradition that is now mostly seen only in the provinces. The festival consists of groups of people, mostly children, go to different houses on the night of November 1st (All Saint's Day). They sing and ask for alms and prayers as a representative for the souls stuck in purgatory. They ask the living to pray for them so that they can move on towards heaven.
✞The Hungry Ghost Festival (Hong Kong)✟
Image Credit: trip savvy
The Hungry Ghost Festival is a Hong Kong tradition that is celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, which is usually around mid-August to mid-September.
According to traditional Chinese belief, the 15th day (Ghost Day), of the seventh lunar month (Ghost Month) is when the gates of Hell open and the restless ghosts and spirits within roams the living world. The Chinese would pay homage to their departed ancestors by ritualistically offering food, burning joss papers, burning incense, burning papier-mache form of material goods, such as clothes, gold, and others goods, as well as releasing paper boats and lanterns on water.
✞Kawasaki Halloween (Japan)✟
Image Credit: Live Japan
Kawasaki Halloween is a Japanese tradition that has started more than 20 years ago and is gaining popularity by the minute. It is celebrated at the end of October where more 4000 costumed people from all around the world gather in Kawasaki to join the biggest parade in Japan, the "Kawasaki Halloween Parade".
✞Día de Los Muertos (Mexico)✟
Image Credit: Correo
Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican holiday, celebrated on November 1 to November 2 to honor the dead. This is a family-oriented festival where families and friends gather to pray and remember deceased friends and family members.
It is believed by the Mexicans that on the end of October, the gates of Heaven will open up and allowing the souls of children to return to the living world, then on November 2, the souls of the adults will join them. An offering of fruits, nuts, turkey, hot chocolate, tortillas, water, soda, and a bread called Pan de Muerto (bread of the dead) are left on altars for weary ghosts. Family members of the deceased offer cigarettes and alcoholic drinks for deceased adults and candies and toys for children.
✞Day of Dracula (Romania)✟
Image Credit: Trip Savvy
Day of Dracula is a Romanian Halloween festivity where Romania offers tours and parties at Count Dracula's castle. On this day people from all around the world go to Bran Castle in Transylvania, the castle of Vlad Tepes also known as "Vlad the Impaler".
✞Awuru Odo Festival (Nigeria)✟
Image Credit: Wall Street Insanity
Awuru Odo Festival is Nigerian festival that is held to mark the return of the dead back to the living world. It is a festival that is held in the village of Igbo in Nigeria. It is a festival that has three stages where the spirits will stay for six months in the living world and is welcomes with ritual celebrations and festival known as Odo play. After six months, the spirits will depart from this plane and will not be back for two years.
✞Pitru Paksha (India)✟
Image Credit: Latestly
Pitru Paksha (Fortnight of the Ancestors) is a sixteen days Indian Holiday. In Hindu, it is believed that three generations of your ancestors stay in Pitru-Loka, the Hindu's belief of purgatory and that when the next generation dies, the first generation goes to heaven. The Hindus believe that during the ritual of Pitru Paksha, three preceding generations of their ancestors return to the living world temporarily to be with their families since the previous generation has gone on to heaven.
During Pitru Paksha, the Hindus offer food, such as rice, pumpkins, kheer, sweet porridge, lentils, and spring beans to their departed ancestors. After the Pitru Paksha, in order to ensure the safe return of their ancestor's soul back to the afterlife, they must perform a fire ritual known as Shraddha. If this ritual is not performed, the souls of their ancestors will not be able to return to Pitru-Loka and wander the earth for eternity
✞All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day (Worldwide)✟
Image Credit: Christianity.com
All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day is an annual Christian celebration, that is celebrated worldwide. All Sain't'sDay is celebrated on November 1, which is then followed by All Soul's Day on November 2. It is a day to celebrate the saints of Christianity who died, as well as the souls of family members. To celebrate this day, the people usually go to mass first followed by visiting the graves of their loved ones.
To get a better understanding about this holiday, here is a short video explaining the history of All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day.
Video Credit: Joe Aboumoussa via Youtube
✞One Last Thing✟
Celebrating Halloween can be a fun day to dress up, stock up on candies or even party like crazy. It can also be a solemn day to honor the dead, depending on the country, different traditions and beliefs are held by the people regarding how to celebrate Halloween. So let us respect their beliefs and traditions now that we know more about how other people honor the dead.
Hope you enjoyed this blog post and have a Happy Halloween.
✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞
If you're not a Bitlanders member yet, sign up and click here.
You can post and earn $$$.
✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞✟✞
Thank you for taking your time and reading this!
Have a good day!
Written by Eeza_1986 for Bitlanders.
