{"id":6843,"date":"2019-10-30T13:00:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T13:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.utalk.com\/news\/?p=6843"},"modified":"2020-10-29T17:34:50","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T17:34:50","slug":"the-spooky-season-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/the-spooky-season-around-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spooky Season Around the World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Children everywhere look forward to Halloween with glee. And why wouldn\u2019t they? They get to dress up in fun costumes, galavant about town with their friends and have all sorts of sweet treats to look forward to. In this post, uTalk’s guest blogger Brian explores festivals that are similar to Halloween and are celebrated around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might be\nsurprising to learn that customs similar to Halloween are practised all over\nthe world. And unlike our concept of Halloween, some of them are really\nterrifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the creepy masked dancers of Thailand\u2019s Phii Ta Khon<\/em> festival, to the elaborate taboos followed by ethnic Chinese during the Hungry Ghost Festival (when the gates of Hell are flung open and all manner of evil spirits and demons are believed to haunt the very streets we walk on!) to Mexico\u2019s poignant El D\u00eda de Muertos<\/em> where dead relatives and friends are lovingly remembered, to the macabre Famadihana<\/em> of Madagascar, when the decomposing remains of deceased family members are removed from the family crypt once every seven years to be cleaned, wrapped in fresh cloth and then taken for a \u201cdance\u201d around their tombs before being returned to rest for another seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phii Takhon (<\/strong>\u0e1c\u0e35\u0e15\u0e32\u0e42\u0e02\u0e19)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The people of Northeast Thailand believe that long ago, a prince who been presumed dead had returned to his people, alive and well. The people were so happy they rushed to the streets to celebrate and the noise from the celebrations was so great that even the forest spirits awoke and came to visit the living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrated for three days every year in the normally sleepy town of Dan Sai, located in the region of Isan Northeast Thailand, it is a colourful and  rowdy event. Expect to see all kinds of parades, with men dancing in creepy ghost costumes while ringing cowbells to announce the arrival of the spirits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not be\nshocked to see the ghosts carrying a giant red phalllic carving. The \u201cghosts\u201d\ndance through town showing them off \u2013 and teasing women as they go along! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hungry Ghost Festival <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Hungry Ghost Festival, called Zhongyuan Jie (\u4e2d\u5143\u7bc0) or Gui Jie (\u9b3c\u7bc0) in Chinese is celebrated on the seventh month of the Chinese Calendar, also known as the Ghost Month (\u9b3c\u6708). The Chinese believe that the gates of Hell are flung wide open during this month, and all kinds of spirits, good and bad roam the earth. Many families will offer food and drink to their ancestors who return to visit their descendants besides burning incense and joss paper (\u91d1\u7eb8), a sheet of paper specially-made to resemble money meant to be burnt as a gift to the spirits. Joss paper is burnt on street corners and food and drink are left there as gifts for the dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the main festival is on the 15th<\/sup> day of the month, many people believe that dead souls are roaming the streets all month long and certain superstitions must, therefore, be followed during this time. For example, Chinese opera performances are held all month long but spectators are warned never to sit on the special red seats on the front row. These are reserved for the spirits and the living who sit on them are doomed to be cursed by the dead. Also, avoid swimming during the seventh month as water spirits will grab hold of your legs and drag you under! Avoid staying out late, because wandering spirits might follow you home! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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El D\u00eda de Muertos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A popular\nholiday celebrated in Mexico, the Day of the Dead (El D\u00eda de Muertos) involves\nfamily and friends gathering to pray for the souls of the departed. Celebrated\nfrom 31st<\/sup> October to 2nd<\/sup> November, relatives visit graves\nand set up ofrendas <\/em>or altars bearing flowers and other decorations as\nwell as the deceased\u2019s favourite food and drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toys are brought for dead children and bottles of liquor like tequila or mezcal for deceased adults. One common decoration is the skull or calavera <\/em>which appears in the form of masks and as decorative motifs. Skulls even come in the form of chocolates and various sweets called alfe\u00f1iques<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famadihana<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Famadihana<\/em> or \u201cturning\u201d (of the dead) is a ritual\nthat takes place in the highlands of Madagascar between July and October once\nevery seven years. It is an important festival where people spend time with\ntheir loved ones, both living and dead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ancestors\u2019 tombs would be opened and the bodies are removed from their shrouds and placed on reed mats. They are then wrapped in new shrouds during which, family members might place small gifts; toys for children, cigarettes or alcohol or perfume for adults. The newly re-wrapped corpses are carried aloft and people dance with them to Malagasy tunes from a brass band playing nearby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally after dancing with the dead, the re-wrapped corpses are carefully carried back to their tombs where they rest for another seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\ud83d\udc7b Want to find out more about Halloween or spooky language topics? Check out some of the blog posts below! \ud83d\udc7b<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

English Idioms: Halloween Special<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dracula: The Fang-tastic Story of a Romanian Prince<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samhain: A Festival of the Dead<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Children everywhere look forward to Halloween with glee. And why wouldn\u2019t they? They get to dress up in fun costumes, galavant about town with their friends and have all sorts of sweet treats to look forward to. In this post, uTalk’s guest blogger Brian explores festivals that are similar to Halloween and are celebrated around … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[442,104,886,23,343,1749,725,1748],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6843"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6843\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}