Halloween and the Day of the Dead in the Philippines
Halloween isn't celebrated by the older folks of the Philippines. The majority of them celebrate the Day of the Dead, which is the very next day. As far as I can tell, the only celebrations associated with Halloween itself are the costume parties.
What is the holiday called "Halloween"?
When Christians began to gain authority in Europe more than a thousand years ago, November 1st became known as "All Saints Day" or "All Hallows Day". It was the day the Christians honored the dead. The evening of October 31st became known as "All Hallows Eve" and was eventually shortened to "Halloween".
Over the years, people acquired the belief that the dead mingled with the living on Halloween, and thus starting wearing masks and costumes to hide in plain sight so that the ghosts wouldn't recognize them.
I don't how or when the "trick or treat" mantra started for kids going to house to house in search of candy, but I understand it's a predominantly American tradition. A tradition that's slowly disappearing due to malicious people sabotaging the treats with razor blades, poison and other nastiness. Children used to be treated to homemade candied apples, caramel-covered popcorn balls and other assorted things you couldn't buy in stores. Nowadays, children are discouraged from accepting anything that isn't store-bought, wrapped and sealed.
The Day of the Dead
No, I am NOT referring to the George A. Romero zombie movie from 1985. I'm referring to the holiday, called Araw ng mga Patay in Tagalog, which Filipinos celebrate on November 1st of every year. Filipinos don't celebrate Halloween like Americans do, or at least the way Americans used to. The American Halloween holiday is slowly progressing (or returning) to an adult-oriented holiday, with Halloween costumes for couples becoming more prominent in shopping areas.
The Day of the Dead is celebrated at cemeteries where tombs are cleaned or repainted, candles are lit, and flowers are offered. Entire families camp out there, sometimes for days. It's a very important holiday for Filipinos and they'll eat and drink, play card games, and even sing and dance while spending their time there. I believe it's a national holiday in the Philippines.
I will never understand the Filipino (or Spanish/Mexican, since it's celebrated in those countries as well) fascination with the dead, much less their superstitious beliefs concerning the dead among us. I prefer to deal with the land of the living. After all, it's the living people that need our help as we can do nothing for the dead.
Halloween Costumes
Unlike shopping places in the Western countries, there aren't a lot of costumes available for purchase in the Philippines. However, it seems that the availability of Halloween costumes increases with each passing year.
The last time I went to the Royal Subic store at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, I noticed they had a few costumes available (including kids Halloween costumes, although I doubt I'll see any kids wearing them in public) as well as some masks without costumes. I saw two masks that were well done, one of a demon and another of a monkey of some kind. I was thinking of prowling the streets on Halloween, scaring neighbors and passers by. My brother-in-law, Joshua, quickly discouraged me from buying any mask or costume. As superstitious as the Filipinos are, I would probably get shot or stoned to death when the people mistook me for an aswang.
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Hmm… we celebrate Day of the Dead, a.k.a. All Souls' Day on Nov 2, and we consider Nov 1 to be All Saints' Day. I guess Philippines celebrates it a day early.
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I read somewhere that some Filipinos celebrate "The Day of the Dead" on Nov 1st and "All Souls Day" on Nov 2nd, but I don't have any way to verify it. Nov 1st is still "All Saints Day" and I guess it just depends on which day is called "The Day of the Dead".
I never really understood why people celebrated Halloween. It never sat well with me, the idea of kids dressing up like witches and demons. Especially the fact that it's tied into some branches of Christianity strikes me a bit odd.
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i do understand though why the idea of halloween is catching on locally. i mean, kids get to dress up in costume, and maybe score some free candy. who'd pass that up?
i think i wouldn't allow kids to wander around without an adult though. scary. would also probably limit them to certain relatively safe places only. or maybe just have a party.
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yeah its been our tradition to celebrate halloween as the day of the dead and its actually a time of takutan sa pinas hehe
but to some like us we celebrate halloween not with takutan but with party hehe 
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So I guess, Filipinos has their own way of celebrating/observing Halloween especially Christians.
hi RT,
Great post about Halloween. It reminded me of when I used to go trick-or-treating as a kid to get candy. Seemed there was always a dentist in the neighborhood that wanted to hand out toothbrushes instead of candy, but that's another story. Anyway, your post inspired me to write about my own memories of Halloween on my blog. Thanks for the inspiration… Happy Halloween!
~Steve (aka the Trade Show Guru)
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Holloween is the one tradition in the Philippines. Sometimes we have a costume party. It so nice and we really enjoy it.
I remember in Spanish Class in high school we talked about the day of the dead. It is kind of cool and so is Haloween. Too bad they all have pagan roots!
I love Halloween parties where I get to dress up. I used to love trick or treating as a kid, but it seems to be a dying tradition. People are too scared of other people sabotaging candy to let their children go out as much anymore. Controlled Halloween parties where kids can still get candy seems to be a lot more popular these days.
"The evening of October 31st became known as "All Hallows Eve" and was eventually shortened to "Halloween"."
I've never heared that,I allways thought that It means "hello winter", in German "Hallo" is "hello"
Funny custom, but it's also not popular in our country. Yet, every nation has it's own customs and holidays…
Wow ,This is kind of a history lesson on how halloween started and it reminds me of how mexico for instance celebrates the fourth of july differently than the americans do!