Halloween in Spain

Halloween in Spain definitely surprised me! I thought that it wasn’t such a big holiday here, but people, especially younger kids, go crazy for Halloween! However, one major difference was that Halloween in Spain is not about trick-or-treating at all, which is basically the main way we celebrate the holiday in America.

A little bit of cultural context: In Spain, your home is your most sacred place. It is rare for Spanish people to invite others over to their homes, even if they have known them for years! People meet with their friends and family in restaurants/bars, which explains why there are so many in Spain. Here's an example: In the four months when I was in Granada, the only people who came over were my host sister's friend she has known forever and my host mom's brother. That being said, the idea of strangers just coming and knocking on your door to ask for candy is very off-putting to Spaniards. Some teachers in my school expressed how weird they thought it was that people actually go trick-or-treating in America, and they thought it was so rude. It makes sense that Spanish people don't go trick-or-treating when you know the context!

Although they do not trick-or-treat, kids still love Halloween! In the weeks before, kids at my school had been learning Halloween words, making Halloween crafts, listening to Halloween music, and decorating the classrooms. They were very excited! They also love dressing up in costumes, and not just any costumes. They love dressing up in scary, bloody, creepy costumes. The most popular costume at my school this year was demon (I'm not kidding). Even the first grade teacher painted her entire face to look like a scary demon!

Another really popular costume was bloody "fill-in-the-blank." Bloody nurse, bloody surgeon, bloody bride, bloody princess, bloody skeleton, or just bloody person. My personal favorite was bloody unicorn (again, not kidding). Another popular costume was just "person with nasty/bloody scabs on their face." Overall, they seemed to dress in more typical Halloween costumes, like ghosts, witches, skeletons, vampires, and zombies. There was not a cowboy, or non-bloody princess in sight.

On actual Halloween, I colored and made a giant pumpkin with the 3rd graders, had a break, and then changed into my costume for the 1st graders. I bought a bright red wig, red cape, and some fake teeth and was a vampire! The 1st graders loved my costume, especially the teeth! They colored Halloween pictures and proudly showed me their costumes.

During the teacher break, all the other teachers put on their costumes and painted their faces. They were equally as scary as the kids. The male principal of the school was a bloody/scary nun! After the break, classes were cancelled in the afternoon for a Halloween carnival! All the kids had their costumes on now as well, and were running around on the blacktop dancing and playing for about 15 minutes before the organized games began, and it was a little crazy! But, it was fun playing and running around with the kids, and they were all so excited for Halloween and to show me their costumes.

I took lots of photos with the kids, and also helped lead a game kind of like musical chairs. I also got to give the kids candy, which they loved! Overall, it was a very fun day, and so cute seeing the kids in their costumes having such a good time. It was nice to spend some time with them outside of the classroom, and I think it will help them want to practice their English even more!