Halloween origins and how the world marks the season.
Tonight’s selection — check back for a different corner of the world each night.
Not a night to fear the dead — a night to welcome them home. Families build ofrendas covered in marigolds, sugar skulls, and the favorite foods of loved ones who have passed. The dead are believed to return for one night to visit. Grief and celebration in the same breath.
The Orthodox day of remembrance held the second Tuesday after Easter, not autumn — but the tradition runs deep. Families picnic at cemeteries, leaving food and painted eggs on graves. The dead are said to celebrate alongside the living.
A three-day festival in the town of Dan Sai where locals wear enormous, brightly colored ghost masks made from coconut husks and rice steamers. The origin is part Buddhist merit-making, part harvest revelry. Loud, weird, and joyful — the exact opposite of the somber ghost.
On the Saturday closest to November 1, Swedish cemeteries fill with candles at dusk — tens of thousands of them. From above, the graveyards glow like small cities. Quiet, cold, and beautiful.
Long before trick-or-treating crossed the Atlantic, Scottish children walked door to door in disguise, performing a song or a poem in exchange for treats. The costume was the ticket. No performance, no candy. That tradition rode the boat to America with the immigrants and became what we know today.