Festival of Halloween Held in Countries Outside of the United States

Like Halloween in the United States, countries like China, Japan, the Philippines and Mexico have their festival to express fear and honor to the dead. According to the books “Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life” by Jack Santino and “The Ghost Festival in Medieval China” by Stephen F. Teiser, these countries observe the festival as a day for family gathering rather than a day for partying.

In China, “The Festival of Ghost” is on the July 15 in the solar calendar. It is believed the door of Hell would be opened for one day and all the ghosts of the dead would come back to the earth for a short time. Traditionally, Chinese people would burn mock-money and make an altar with food as offerings to the ghost. The ghosts who have a home to return to would go home and accept offerings from their families. For the ghosts without a home to return to, they might harm living human or animals, so people would employ Taoist masters to practice rituals to calm these ghosts.

Daniels Hou, a computer science sophomore from China, said, “It is a serious festival, but the communist government doesn’t encourage people to practice it because it is considered as superstition.”’

Japan also has a similar festival named “Setsubun,” or the bean throwing festival on February 3. It is a day to depart from the evil spirit and to wish for good fortune to the family. The normal practice would be for the father in the family to dress up like a ghost while children throws soybeans to the ghost and say, “Oni wa soto. Fuku wa uchi,” or “Ghost departs and happiness in.”

Japanese people would eat a special sushi roll named “Eho maki,” or lucky direction roll, while facing east. Fujika Kinjo, a communication sophomore from Japan, explained the norm in eating this sushi is that “we cannot talk until we eat the whole thing,” as it is the way to exchange blessing. She said Japanese people also eat the same number of beans as their age to receive blessings for the year.

“Araw ng mga Patay,” or Day of the Dead, is celebrated in the Philippines on November 1. As a Catholic dominated country, customarily the Filipinos would visit the cemetery with flowers and clean the tombs. At night, they party and drink at the cemetery.
Kit Alfonso Nadado, an English dducation sophomore from the Philippines, said that it is a religious and cultural festival. “This celebration has been practiced for a long time that it has been embedded in the culture as well.” He said his family observe the day by visiting the cemetery and clean the tombs, but they “skip the party and drinking part.”

Mexico separates the festival “El dia de los muertos,” or All Saints Day, into two parts: the “Day of the Innocents” on November 1 and the “Day of the Dead” on November 2. It is an annual ceremony gathering family and friends to remember and honor the deceased, and also a time for the spirits to be with their families to act out a remembrance of their humanness. It is believed the spirits of the dead would return to their families and communities, and they should be greeted with foods, beverages, or any other worldly pleasures.

“I remember I’d wear costume and go out with other children. [It is] like trick-or-treating in the U.S., but instead of getting candy, we get money,” said Maciel Dioselin Romero, a peace-building senior from Mexico. “It is such a beautiful tradition that brings my family together.” She shared what she liked to eat for the festival. ‘“Pan de muerto’ is a sweet bread in which the dough on top is shaped to look like bones and adorned with red sugar to symbolize blood. We eat this with Mexican hot chocolate or other Mexican beverages like ‘Atole’.”

See this article on Ke Alaka'i