Halloween is not a big holiday in Australia, in fact it not been a holiday at all before recently. Yesterday (Halloween) I answered the door to the first "trick or treaters" in my life unfortunately I was ill prepared for this momentous occasion and had no treats to offer and had to shamefully reject there request (which left me feeling really bad). I am just wondering how big is Halloween in your country and if there is any interesting Halloween story’s out there.

It's huge. Only second to Christmas. I think I heard some would be pranksters last night outside my window, but nothing though. 8)

It is big, and not just for the little ones - starting in the early afternoon, parents bring the smallest kids around, and as it gets later the trick-or-treaters get older and older. Many of the malls now have trick-or-treat programs, because people are nervous about the safety of the candy collected...(razor blades, poisons, drugs...)

The night before Halloween is Gate Night - that's when the local delinquents prowl around egging cars and houses and smashing pumpkins.

Hallowhat? Heh, seriously, Halloween is just an excuse for people having costume parties here. Kids usually ask for candies on January 1st, though.

Here we had trick or treaters for the first time as well. A total of six found the way to our door. (which is infinitely more than previous years. So I guess it's kind of on the rise. In some parts of the Netherlands and Belgium children celebrate Saint-Martin a couple days later, which has similar themes with paper lanterns and going around asking for treats. I guess those two holidays are kind of merging.

We were well prepared for trick or treaters, even though we hadn't expected any to show up. My parents recently came back from the states, so they still had a lot of decorations and stuff.

January 6th here, it's called Driekoningen (Three King's Day). We appear to have imported Halloween too, but it's hardly more than a word we're getting accustomed too.

Hah! Down here, kids leave their shoes out and the Three Kings leave presents in 'em.

Aha, that's our Sinterklaas (not Santa Claus!) on 6th December. He has black helpers, so not very good to cover up our colonial past.

Although originally they were supposed to be chimney sweepers. ;)

It seems everybody forgot that, because in 2006 they gave their faces all kinds of colours and told children they had fallen through the rainbow, just to avoid the racial issue (which never was a problem really, who started that fuzz?)

http://images.fok.nl/upload/061129_272_kleurpiet.jpg

Fok?

Yes, it's the Dutch version (pronounciation actually) of the English swearing word, but it can be used in even more situations than in English, because it has a gentler meaning as well despite the vile connotation.

PolloDiablo writes for the games section of the site.

Um, we're not seeing anything but a Fok.nl logo. I think you can't hotlink the image. :p

Uh, but why do I see it then... changed to text.

That's Nikolaus here, he's accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht. Good children get chocolate or gingerbread in their boots, while the bad are supposed to be beaten by Knecht Ruprecht's birch rod. ;-)

That day is called Heilige Drei Könige (Holy Three King's) here, but only a holiday in certain (catholic) states of Germany. But don't know if there is anything celebrated during the day - at least for non-catholic people like me outside churches. ;)

For Halloween, well, it was imported too. And while you see pumpkin heads and sometimes costumed children (latter though rare), I've never heard of a trick-or-treat here.

By the way, October 31 is a public holiday in some states of Germany (i.e. where I live), but it hasn't anything to do with Halloween. It's the Reformation Day celebrated since 1667. Nothing special though, at least for a non-protestant like me. ;)

Halloween had been gaining ground down here in Mexico for the past few years - at least until this year.

I live in Baja California. The state is next to the Us of A, and it has a high crime level. There's drug traffickers all around, and there was a threat made by some people claiming that they would be driving around the streets and kidnapping children on that day.

Because of that, -there were almost no trick or treaters- last night. Almost nobody gave away candy, either.

We celebrate the Day of the Dead tomorrow (November 2nd). It's... a tough time in my household but we manage, somehow.

All Soul's Day isn't really a celebration here. It is a holiday and people go to cemeteries to visit their relative's graves. But we don't have parties and stuff.

Day of the Dead has some cool but disturbing figurines associated with it.

... Disturbing? That?

... Are you kidding? ^^;

That is really amazing. I've never heard about Day Of THe Dead prior to playing Grim Fandango. It really fascinated me with the subject and I have to say it's the most unusual and wickedly splendid festivities I know.

Now, excuse me, I'll have a shot of Tequila for all those who are not with us anymore and be right back to playing Fallout.

Halloween managed to sneak its way into Uruguay about 10 years ago. However, this year was the first I ever heard of actual "tricks" being done to the houses of those who wouldn't give candy (they would just throw some flour around, nothing too serious), so I guess you could say it's on the rise here as well.

My daughter and her generation have it as a mandatory tradition (she's seven), but older local "Johnny Six-pack'ers" love to go on rants about how these gringos are invading our culture with their own festivities that have nothing to do with us and blah blah blah... Like it didn't happen before, what with us celebrating Christmas the wintery northern way when December is smack down in the middle of summer down here :P

Oh, and religious groups of all kinds will spam the hell out of us in these days with their BEWARE HALLOWEEN IS A DEVIL'S CELEBRATION propaganda.

As for november 2, down here is the same as in Brazil, from what Chirinea says: A pretty grim date when people just go to the cemetery to leave flowers and stuff; no partying or anything for the like.

My brother got infected by the JEEBUS virus so he's just like that.

As for partying during November 2, is it that weird? Really? We Mexicans are messed but, but come on. :p

I'm a christian, but the year we sent our daughter to a catholic school they gave her such a heavy-hitting speech regarding the evils of Halloween that she came home crying (they even went as far as telling the kids that witches murdered children that night --I mean they were talking to five year olds there, dammit! o__O; and people say *I* am a crook...), so we told her that she shouldn't pay attention to such garbage, we basically gave her kind of a brief lesson on fanaticism and how to steer clear from it :P


Apparently it is pretty weird, but just for the record, I am of the thought that the mexican way of living it is way more healthy than ours. I for one would like people who loved me to remember me with crazy colored parties after I'm gone.

That's my biggest problem with such fanatics... They want to believe in that stuff? Fine. But don't complain when your kids get messed up because of how you raised' em.

(For the record, I have no problem with Christianity, Catholicism, etc. It's the morons that get to me.)


Oh we only do this on the 2nd... but we tend to have Mariachi bands at funerals, so who knows. :p

"I like God, it's his fan club I can't stand" =P

Burn the heritic! Die blashpemer!

I would of though that someone would create a game with the word "Blasphemy" by now. Well, since Heretic and Infidel are already on the list.

No Halloween is officially celebrated in most SE Asian countries. Tropical countries are creepy enough as it is at night.

Here in Western Canada we're effectively a cultural outpost of the USA, so Hallowe'en has been with me since time immemorial...

something about this year made it the year of the pac-man-pumpkins. (Actually no, a google images search will turn up many more from previous years.)

Where I live there isn't that many trick or treaters so we don't worry about it that much. The town next to us though actually had Halloween one day early because of a high school football game....woo hoo *twirling my finger sarcasticaly*. It was all good though, especially since kids could go trick or treating one night and go 5 miles into the next county the next day and trick or treat again, LOL.

Halloween is not celebrated in Israel. We have a holiday called Purim, in the beginning of spring, during which people walk around in masks and costumes and it's okay to play pranks, to scare each other and even to get drunk. Actually, if you're religious you have to get drunk, to the point you can't tell friend from foe. A rare occasion to walk around and to watch orthodox dudes drinking themselves into oblivion.

Here in China, Halloween is becoming more popular. There is however nothing more soulless than a Chinese Christmas - everything is full of Christmas trees and idiotic smiling Santa pictures, everywhere records are playing unbearably cheesy Christmas songs - but people have no idea whatsoever what Christmas is about, they do it because it's Western and therefore must be hip.

That has to be one of the top-5 coolest things to witness in this world before one dies =D

We don't celebrate Halloween here (although for clarification you should ask Dancin' Fool, Tallinn is very different from where I live) but St. Martin's Day is coming up and it's similar to Halloween in many ways. Boys (yes, St. Martin's Day is for males) go from door to door dressed in unusual costumes/old clothes (it was more common in the past, these days people go for Halloween-ish image)/masks, sing songs and beg for gifts. After receiving the gifts, "mardisandid" wish good luck and leave.

When I used to live in a village I celebrated St. Martin's Day every time, but after moving to town I stopped. Mainly because most of the population consists of Russians and they're not into the whole thing, which more often than not results in you getting flamed to the depths of hell when you start singing that "Oh, please let us Martinians in, Martin, Martin" song.

No Halloween in Tallinn too, other than perhaps couple of individuals carving a pumpkin and perhaps teenagers doing a school party with Halloween themes. I doubt that Halloween will get big in Estonia - might get in Tallinn where the people have been cutted off from the land and it's spirit, but still it would be too soulless for people to have continuous interest in it.

But instead we St.Martin's Day and St.Catherine's Day both in November. One is for boys and one is for girls - at least traditionally, these days it don't matter really. Personally I prefer St.Catherine's Day myself. There's a very bad vibe in the air in the first half of november - I don't like this period much, all these dead people and magic rituals involved with them, but starting from St.Catherine's Day, the aura is getting better and softer.

Our St.Martin Day is different from the more catholic version. We don't call it St.Martin's Day, but just Martin's Day and there's no talk of Jesus or saints (and never has been). Martin is just a friendly spirit, that when allowed to enter blesses that home and it's family. The boys take the role of Martin and then beg around to be allowed to enter so they could bless (or not if treated badly) people for the winter. This days it's just our version of Halloween, but thanks to these elements, there's still this original pagan flavour left to it that makes me feel a bit uncomfortable during this period. Not because I don't like it, I do like it, but it really feels "dark" during this period.

We also celebrate All Soul's Day by leaving food for the dead. It's the day when the gates of netherworld open up and our ancestors come to visit us. If we don't treat them nice then they will tear our souls back into Hell!! I made this last part up actually. But leaving food before the door (or window if in apartment), or just a candle is a thing that people still do as a gesture that is just nice.

Oh, please let us Martinians in, Martin, Martin" song.

Doesn't really translate this way. "Laske Mardil sisse tulla" on ainsuses, seega on see "Please let Martin inside, Martin, Martin".

That's strikingly similar to our Day of the Dead, which was reportedly practiced by the people who lived here before the Spaniards came and destroyed the country - er, "civilized" us. :p

One hundred Spaniards. It takes only one hundred Spaniards (numbers vary).

And I felt pretty bad to be part of a civilization stupid enough to be imperialized by a two-bit Dutch merchant group for 350 years. :p

Hey! That's our proudest historical achievement! Don't mock that! :)

There are a few similarities. Even our folklore has more elements of shamanism-ancestors-spirits of nature-magic songs than is typical for europe. So there is some spiritual kinship with Native Americans (and possibly other indigenous people).

For example this is a Sami song (Sami - a finno-ugric people living in north Finland). If you couldn't see the singer, it would be possible to confuse this with a native american song. So there are similarities.

Halloween in New York is when everyone opens their closets and goes:

"Oh! What a surprise! Who knew I had thigh high latex boots?"