Halloween Around the World with NYEA October 26, 2022

With Halloween around the corner, the spooky season is in full swing.  We asked our students to tell us about Halloween in their home country. While some are similar to Halloween in NYC, others have different customs to honor the dead.  Keep reading to learn about Halloween around the world from NYEA students.

“China has a traditional festival to appease the souls of the dead. It’s called the Hungry Ghost Festival. It is said that the gates of hell will open at midnight on the 14th day of the 7th lunar month and hungry ghosts will be released to find food or take revenge. So, we need to prepare some food and light incense sticks to let them peacefully move into the afterlife”. – Wenjun, China

“In Korea, most people think that Halloween is a season for some theme parks or wearing costumes. In my opinion, Koreans don’t care about the afterlife on Halloween. It is just a party for them. However, there are some ceremonies honoring deceased ancestors in Korea that are called Charye. They usually proceed in the morning of Lunar New Year and Chuseok, which is the brightest day of the full moon in autumn”. – Soohee, South Korea

“In Ecuador, Halloween is not popular. However, we celebrate the day of the death. We make a special drink called ‘colada morada’ (spiced berry, with many fruits) and we drink it with sweet bread figures. We also go to the cemetery to visit the family members who passed away”. – Rosa, Ecuador

“In my country on Halloween night, children dress up in scary costumes. Then they ring the doorbells of the people living in their village. If a person opens the door, the kids ask: ‘Candy or a spell?’ As for me, I prefer to have a party with my friends; of course, we also dress up”. – Emma, France

Do you have similar Halloween traditions? And what international traditions would you like to take part in? 

Happy Halloween!