As Halloween is a much-celebrated festival in the West, it will be a matter of curiosity to learn about the Halloween traditions in China, Japan and other Asian countries. Halloween, visibly being a non-Asian festival, is not like ethnic festivals which are celebrated with much enthusiasm in the Asian countries. But, in many of these countries, especially in China and Japan, the expat population makes Halloween’s presence felt with its typical Western way of celebrations.

Halloween Traditions in China and Japan

The prototype of Halloween originated in Europe as part of the harvest festival customs in the Celtic culture which later merged with the Christian tradition of commemorating the dead. The word ‘Halloween’ is Christian in origin, which is a contracted form of ‘All Hallows Evening’. For the Western world, Halloween is completely an occasion for celebration for young people and adults alike even though there are religious observances held by the churches. The celebrations mostly include funs, pranks, games, and costume parties. On the eve of Halloween, which falls annually on October 31st, the kids, young people and even the adults move from houses to houses of the neighbourhood in amusingly eerie costumes which arouse scare and laughter at the same time. The celebrators look for treats from the people of the houses in return of not playing any pranks on the latter (a ceremonial ritual called trick-or-treat). The carved pumpkin scary figures with lamps, called jack-o-lanterns are another curiosity that one usually finds in association with Halloween celebration.

This much is to be said about Halloween in general. But now let’s see what impact is made by such a ceremonial festival over the cultures exist in various Asian countries.

Halloween Traditions in China

Though Halloween is not celebrated in its full version in Mainland China, the urban areas annually celebrate Halloween on a limited scale because of the presence of expat population who got the tradition from their life in Western countries. Besides, the educational institutes in the major Chinese cities have foreign teachers from whom the Halloween traditions are imbibed by the urban kids in China.

The restaurants and bars frequented by expats and westerners in the main Chinese cities like Shanghai and Beijing usually decorated in accordance with the Halloween theme during this season. Such places usually get a ghostly adornment with pictures and shapes of monsters, pumpkin lanterns, skeletons, headstones, witches and cobwebs to intensify the festive ghostly appearance.

Halloween themed candies are distributed among the Chinese children as delicacies as part of the Halloween traditions in China. Pumpkin based dishes are also popular in China’s metropolitan restaurants during the Halloween season. In the metropolitan cities, kids and young people who were introduced to the western styled Halloween usually show enthusiasm in wearing ghastly costumes and face masks as part of Halloween costume parties.

Hong Kong, the Chinese administrative region is more acquainted to the western styled Halloween traditions than mainland China. In large residential areas, the property managers used to organize trick-or-treating events for the kids. The excess of large high-rise buildings makes door-to-door trick-or-treating a less popular tradition in Hong Kong.

Though Halloween is not ethnic Asian, one can draw parallels between Halloween and certain Chinese festivals.  According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the 15th night of the 7th month (which usually falls in August) is dedicated to the dead souls by means of a festival called ‘Hungry Ghost festival’. As per the legend, the ghosts of the dead are freed from the hell briefly in this month and they seek food and merriment from their relatives. To propitiate the dead souls, the Chinese offer food, drink and entertainment; a custom that reminds of the Halloween traditions of the west even though both the festivals are entirely of different origins.

Halloween Traditions in Japan

Halloween traditions in Japan are totally western in celebrations. Halloween is comparatively a newer tradition in Japan when compared to China, but the participation by the young people is comparatively higher in the former. For the kids in Japan, Halloween candies are the main attraction. Surprisingly, the trick-or-treat ritual is not a much popular Halloween tradition in Japan, because the Japanese culturally disapproves the idea of being a dependent of the other. For this reason, Halloween faces a slightly subdued interest from the kids compared with the overly enthusiastic approach by the young adults.

Halloween traditions in Japan mostly comprised of the ever popular costume parties (cosplays) in which young people gather in public places in ghostly and scary clothing and make-ups.  The Japanese got the Halloween wave from the 1990’s US pop-culture. For nearly a decade, it remained a secluded celebration which limitedly practised by the expats in Japan. By 2010, it became more popular with the publicly held costume parties.

Halloween in Philippines

For the Philippines, Halloween is largely a religious festival since the country being a Christian dominated one. For this reason, the rituals and customs in the Philippines differ significantly from the Halloween traditions in China and Japan. The three days which start from the Halloween eve, followed by the All Saints Day and All Souls day (November 1st and 2nd respectively), are collectively called ‘Undas’ by the Filipinos. In connection with the celebrations, Filipinos dedicate food for their buried kins.  There are special Filipino food delicacies prepared in connection with Halloween. They are mostly in the form of desserts such as Binignit, Cassava Cake, Sapin-Sapin, etc to name a few.

Halloween is an occasion of family reunion for the Filipinos as the people who are away from their hometown usually come back to join their families. On Halloween eve, the cemeteries in the Philippines turn into camping grounds by the people who are in an effort to comforting their deceased relatives.

Trick-or-treating is a practice which gets more popularity in recent times in Philippines. Formerly, kids used to visit every house and sing carols in return of treats, as part of a traditional practice called Pangangaluluwa, which is being replaced gradually by the Western-styled trick-or-treating. Attending Halloween parties and lighting candles on the doorstep to guide the souls are some of the other Halloween traditions in Philippines.

Halloween in Other Asian Countries

Halloween is also celebrated in a minuscule scale in several other Asian countries, especially in Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. Being a centre of employment in Asia, Singapore is influenced by the foreign population who dwell here and thus celebrates Halloween especially in the form of cosplay parties. The urban areas of South Korea also undergo vigorous Halloween celebrations because of the presence of the expat population. Being a tourist country, Thailand conducts Halloween costume parties in an effort to exploit the festival’s tourism potential.