We are all very familiar with the way Halloween is celebrated in the United States, but how about the rest of the world? There’s plenty of other places that celebrate similar festivities in many different ways. Here are some of the most interesting ones:
AUSTRIA
In Austria, they celebrate for an entire week, from October 30th to November 8th, and the festivity is called “Seleenwoche”. During this week, which they call “All Souls’ Week”, they visit the cemetery to decorate the tombs of their loved ones with flowers and special red candles. Another tradition is leaving bread, water and a lit lamp on the table as a welcome to the souls of the dead who they believe come back to our world during this time.
GERMANY
Aside from the common ways to celebrate, such as costumes and trick-or-treating, a peculiar thing the Germans do is hide every knife in the house. They do this to protect their loved ones who have passed away from harming themselves accidentally or their family members when they come visit them during this time.
GUATEMALA
In Guatemala they celebrate what they call “Festival de Barriletes Gigantes”. During the 1st and the 2nd of November, they build and fly huge and colorful paper kites, which they call “barriletes”. The locals believe that the sound of the wind against the kites works as a communication channel to send messages to their loved ones who have passed away.
CAMBODIA
For 15 days, in Cambodia the celebrate a religious festival called “Pchum Ben” in their native language. In English, it is known as “Ancestor’s Day” or “Festival of the Dead”. During this period, they honored their deceased relatives of up to seven generations. It is tradition for them to visit local pagodas and offer food and alms to monks, because they believe this generates spiritual merit. They also throw small rice balls for wandering spirits.
Why do they celebrate like this? Because they think that during this two-week period, the doors to hell open up so the souls of their ancestors can come visit them and receive the culinary offerings that they make at the pagodas.
JAPAN
Even though this is a very recent tradition that did not originate with them, the Japanese celebrate this day by cosplaying. They put on their costumes and take to the streets, where there are plenty of parades, theme parties. One of the most popular places where this takes place is in Shibuya, which is a neighborhood in Tokyo.
CHINA
China celebrates a festival called “Zhongyuan”, known in English as the “Ghost Festival” or “The Hungry Ghost Festival”. They believe that, during this time, the gates of heaven and hell open and allow wandering spirits and departed ancestors to visit the living world.
Some of the ways in which they celebrate during this festivity are:
- Altars set up with food and drinks outside the houses to feed the wandering or homeless ghosts.
- Some people burn incense and paper money to provide wealth and supplies to the deceased in the afterlife.
- They lit lotus-shaped paper lanterns and float them on rives, lakes or the sea to guide and comfort lost souls.
MADAGASCAR
People in Madagascar celebrate the “Famadihana”, which translates as “The turning of the bones”. In this sacred ritual, they open their ancestral stone crypts to exhume the remains of their loved ones. They do this so they can wrap them in fresh, hand-woven silk shrouds (called “lamba mena”), and also to rewrite their names. Though it may sound sad, it is far from that. For them, it is a joyous family reunion featuring live music, traditional dancing (often with the remains), speeches (which they call “kabary”), and large communal feasts.
After reading all of that, you might be wondering, why do they do this? Well, they do it because it is their belief that ancestor spirits remain connected to the living and can only fully cross into the afterlife once the body has completely decomposed.
This, unlike Halloween, it’s not a festivity that happens every year. Typically, it takes place every five to seven years during the dry winter months.