For most Americans, Oct. 31 includes haunted houses, costumes and mountains and candy. However, the Halloween spirit has crept its way over oceans and borders and is no longer a purely “American” cultural phenomenon. The idea of carving pumpkins, dressing up and trick-or-treating has piqued the curiosity and participation of many foreigners. While some countries are implanting the Americanized Halloween tradition into their home countries, others are sticking to their own holidays and rituals. 
Ha Truong, Vietnam
“We are not exactly sure about this holiday; we know about it through television. The younger kids in school who are learning English are also learning American culture, therefore some of the younger generations try to replicate the American culture. It isn’t really that big, but some people choose to dress up, but their costumes aren’t sexy like they are here; they are more scary like monsters and ghosts. We have a similar holiday to Halloween that takes place at the end of the lunar calendar, which is the equivalent to late June in America. On this holiday, we celebrate the dead by worshipping inside our homes. We put food outside, and people go around to each house and take some food.”
Jade Joseph, South Africa
“Halloween is not big in South Africa, and no one knows the history behind it. The only way that people know about it is through television shows and movies. The younger generations are the only ones that will sometimes wear costumes for Halloween, and they might have indoor costume parties. The people that do dress up tend to wear costumes that represent American culture, for example, my friends were things like Shrek or Lil’ Wayne. No one in South Africa goes trick-or-treating because it is too unsafe to have little kids walking around at night. Also, all the homes are surrounded by walls or locked security gates. It isn’t possible to walk up to someone’s door to ask for candy in South Africa.”
Ariel Lissman, Israel
“We have all heard about Halloween in Israel, but no one really knows the story behind it and why it happens. We know that is it going on in America, but this holiday is not practiced in Israel. Instead, during March we have a holiday called Purim and everyone dresses in costumes, but we dress up as characters from a biblical story. Our reason for dressing up is not related to death, it is in relation to a story in the Old Testament and it has turned into a parade and a celebration.”
Mim Harrison, Australia
“Growing up, Halloween was just an American tradition. Nowadays, it is becoming a bigger thing. Since I grew up in the country on a farm, there wasn’t a huge opportunity to go trick-or-treating because all of our neighbors were at least five kilometers away. There was one house in my hometown that would decorate for Halloween, and kids would go trick-or-treating there. Everyone in the town thought this was kind of weird, and people were actually kind of hesitant to send their kids there because they thought the house was so creepy. Since moving to the city, I have noticed that Halloween is much more popular and more celebrated in terms of costumes and parties and such. But this is definitely because of the American influence; it’s not something we came up with on our own. In high school, my friends went trick-or-treating just for fun and as it turned out, people were pretty generous, but you could definitely tell that they were not expecting any trick-or-treaters.”
Kiana Vakil-Gilani, Iran
“We know about Halloween in Iran. The people in the bigger cities that are more
familiar with Western culture know more about this American holiday than others. In the capital of Iran, Tehran, the younger generations will have costume parties, but no one dresses promiscuously like they do in America. Everyone dresses very scary with masks and in all black. However, we celebrate our ‘Halloween’ on the last Wednesday of the year. This holiday is called “Chahar Shanbeh Soori.” During this day, people dress up as religious leaders with fake facial hair and head-pieces. We go trick-or-treating to get candy, but we also get silverware and cans to make noise with while we walk in the streets.”
Sho Ito, Japan
“We don’t really celebrate Halloween in Japan, however it is highly commercialized. There are a lot of companies trying to sell the idea of Halloween. We don’t dress up or trick-or-treat; we just know that it’s happening elsewhere. Halloween season is the same as Christmas and Valentine’s Day — we know these things are going on, but we don’t know why. In junior high school, our English textbooks had a section about Halloween and we all thought it was something really cool, but we didn’t know how to celebrate it. I love Halloween in America; it’s the only time of year that you can be somebody else.”
Sanja Palavra, Bosnia
“In Bosnia, we don’t celebrate Halloween on Oct. 31, but there is another holiday that we have that is very similar to Halloween and it is called “Maskare.” This day takes place in February, and everyone dresses up in costumes. The costumes are the same as what you would see in America at Halloween ­­— people dress as devils, clowns, belly dancers, etc. The city has a big costume parade, and little kids go around and ask for candy. But as for Oct. 31, no one in Bosnia recognizes this holiday or participates in it; we just wait until February to celebrate our own special day.”
Rafael Norwood, Mexico
“There are many American influences that exist in Mexico, but when it comes to Halloween, we know about the tradition, but we still keep our own tradition in Mexico. Our version of Halloween takes place on the first and second of November. We cook certain foods to honor the dead and also go to grave sites and prepare an altar to remember family members who have passed away. Nov. 1 is the day to remember children who have died, and Nov. 2 is the day to remember adults. Sometimes individuals will dress up but will only dress as skeletons using face paint to resemble the dead.”
Mike Myrhed, Sweden
“Halloween is very commercialized in Sweden; ­it’s really just people trying to copy the U.S. No one really goes trick-or-treating, but the younger generation dresses up and the kinds of costumes are similar to what you see in the U.S. But overall I would say we are not that into it; it is not that big of a holiday in Sweden.”
Elina Salinikova, Estonia
“In Estonia, kids watch a lot of American cartoons, so many of them celebrate Halloween the way America does. But there is actually a special day of celebration called “Mardipaev,” known as St. Martin’s Day. On this day, kids dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating. Since this day is in the middle of winter, most of the costumes consist of kids piling on layers of their warmest clothes. During this day, there are festivities similar to those of the American Halloween, but also sledding because it is in the winter. It’s funny because the “treats” can include meat from an extra cow that a farmer has butchered for the special occasion. Overall, American Halloween is the overwhelming popular tradition (that it is) because of the influence of American television and movies in Estonia.”
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