Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Holy Halloween Batman!!

Sorry... the title just seemed more fun. In this blog, it has been my endeavour to make observations on the cultural differences I have seen in my travels etc. Here are my Halloween observations:

Oman - No Halloween

Korea - Growing Halloween. This holiday (is it a holiday?) has become more and more popular, but mostly as an adult festivity. Adults in Korea (mostly foreign and some nationals) hold huge parties and dress up. Most kids do not Trick-Or-Treat, although lots of the foreign kids find a way to do that in their smaller communities or schools.

Canada - Kids Trick-Or-Treat and adults have parties. There are pumpkins carved and outside the houses and some decorations. It's fairly innocent with some pranks and fireworks.

USA - Um... wow... the decorations are insane. They are taking over the stores, the yards, the houses (but not the schools... no Halloween there). There are pumpkins carved everywhere, kids talk non-stop about their costumes, and packets of candy have been in the stores since the end of August. It is almost as huge (commercially) as Christmas is at home in Canada.

1 comment:

AprilMay said...

Girl, Lance and I just about fell over when we returned to the states! I mean, this Halloween decoration craze really took off in the 3 years we were gone. It. Is. Insane. I remember Target had Halloween stuff up in September and I actually asked an employee about it! It freaked me out.
I have some pumpkins outside. I refuse to do anything else!
PS...I'm sorry about your car!
PPS...Parents in America don't spoil or support teachers nearly as much as they do in Korea. They spoil and support their children instead. ;)