Halloween in Indonesia !

Like most expatriates far from home, parents in Indonesia make an extra effort during special holidays to recreate traditions from home for their children. Halloween is no exception and is widely celebrated amongst the expatriate community in Indonesia, particularly amongst North Americans. Explaining Halloween If you have troubles explaining Halloween to Indonesians, it may be helpful to think of Halloween in terms of something that is similar in Indonesia. I have heard of no direct historical tie to Halloween in Indonesia. s colonial history. However, a Halloween-like religious/cultural event in Indonesia is Nyepi, which is celebrated by Hindus in Bali. The night before Nyepi, the Hindu New Year, Balinese leave their homes and make a lot of noise all through the neighborhood and community, to scare away the evil spirits. The next day, Nyepi, Balinese must stay inside their homes, not doing any work, cooking or making any noise that would invite the spirits into their home. So, if an Indonesian friend asks you to explain Halloween, you may find it easier to point out the similarities with Nyepi than to describe how the pagan origins of this holiday turned into the candy-seeking, costume-wearing party that it is nowadays.

Halloween Facts: All about Pumpkins

This time of year, it's all about pumpkins. Carving them, decorating with them, and using them in recipes. Everyone does it as part of the Halloween tradition, but does anyone really know why? Let's take a look!



Carving jack-o-lanterns is a tradition that dates back to the Celtic tradition of Samhain, which was the night when dead souls came back to earth in search of bodies. The jack-o-lanterns, lit from within by burning lumps of coal, served to ward away evil spirits but welcome the spirits of loved ones. Jack-o-lanters were originally carved from gourds or even turnips, until the discovery of North American pumpkins. The pumpkin that we use today to carve jack-o-lanterns was indigenous to the western hemisphere. In 1584 a French explorer noted his discovery of "large melons" or "ponpions"--pumpkins. Pumpkins are now grown all over the world on six continents, except for Antarctica of course!

What is Halloween ?

WHAT IS HALLOWEEN REALLY ALL ABOUT???

Have you ever thought about this? Have you ever asked yourself, "Who in the world ever thought of the idea of walking around in weird costumes, trick-or-treating, and/or putting a carved-out pumpkin in your window?"

You will agree with me that Halloween is really one of the strangest days in the year, is it not? Perhaps you wonder how the celebration of such a day ever got started. In this pamphlet I would like to answer this question for you!

WHERE AND WHEN DID THE HALLOWEEN CUSTOMS ORIGINATE?

The many customs we have today in relation to Halloween have their origin in the religious practices of the Romans and the Druids, therefore dating back many centuries. The Romans worshipped various gods, and on October 31, a special feast was held in honor of Pomona, goddess of the fruit trees. Later the Druids, an ancient order of Celtic priests in Britain, made this feast an even more extensive celebration by also honoring Samhain, lord of the dead. This was normally done on November 1 and it was therefore decided to conveniently honor both Pomona and Samhain on October 31 and November 1.

These Druids believed that on the night before November (October 31), Samhain called together wicked souls or spirits which had been condemned to live in the bodies of animals during the year which had just transpired. Since they were afraid of these spirits, they chose October 31 as a day of sacrifice to their gods, hoping they would protect them. They really believed that on this day they were surrounded by strange spirits, ghosts, witches, fairies, and elves, who came out to hurt them. In addition to this, they also believed that cats were holy animals, as they considered them to represent people who lived formerly, and as punishment for evil deeds were reincarnated as a cat. All this explains why witches, ghosts, and cats are part of Halloween today.