Hello! We're Sam and Sam!

We will be discussing how people celebrate Halloween in Belgium.

In Belgium, Halloween isn't that important. We don't get a day off. Some people do decorate their house or porch with pumpkins, jack-o'-lanterns or skeletons, but definitly not all.

There's unfortunately an unwritten age limit. You problably won't see someone above the age of 12 going from door to door, saying "Trick or treat!" Some teens might hold a Halloween party, but as far as we know, it doesn't get crazy. You might see a group of teenagers going from door to door, laughing a lot, because even though it's fun, they're probably a bit embarressed about the fact that they dressed up.

Talking about Halloween costumes, one thing we've definitly noticed is that when you're on the internet, you might see some pictures or videos about Halloween in the U.S., and we noticed that they dress up as emojis, their favourite celebrities, or a sexy 'blank' (here you can put a cat, a nurse,...). However, in Belgium this is not the case. Here people tend to dress up as something 'scary'. You'll see witches, wizards, zombies, mummies or vampires. Generally, besides giving candy to kids, people don't give gifts to one another.

 

(Sam1) We don't really  celebrate Halloween at my house. And there are no people at all who go trick-or-treating in my street. However, I do go on a Halloween-tour where you walk down a path in the forests and have to solve puzzles, all while people in costumes try to scare you.

 

(Sam2)At home, we don't celebrate Halloween at all. No decorations, not even candy. We would have to give kids an apple or something. Now I'm sure some people in Belgium have Halloween traditions, but none that I know of.

 

Now some facts about Halloween!

Did you know?

- People originally hollowed out turnips instead of pumpkins, but in some countries turnips didn't grow so they would use pumpkins instead.

- They believed that on the night of Halloween ghosts would come to the land of the living, and thought that the turnips would keep them away.

- It is believed Halloween has been around for 6000 years

- A person with a fear of Halloween has samhainophobia.

- Harry Houdini, possibly the most famous magician in history, died on Halloween night in 1926.