Dubai: A wizard's hat, a witch's robe or just candy — Halloween in the UAE is all about fun and friends, according to Gulf News readers.
The multicultural mix in the Emirates allows residents to not just have some fun, but also meaningful cross-cultural experiences.
In pictures: Halloween around the world
In fact Dubai-based homemaker and mother of three Jenny Brown was introduced to the fun of Halloween when she came to the GCC.
"We come from a place in the UK where I never celebrated Halloween as a kid. When we lived in Saudi Arabia, in 1992, we went to a party and there was some trick and treating going on."
Brown ended up making friends within her community and made sure she celebrated the day when she moved to the UAE after her stay in Saudi Arabia.
"[On Halloween] we either go to parties, meet up with friends or take the children to the park. It is just an excuse to have some fun and dress up, and the kids absolutely love it."
For the British expatriate, Halloween has become more of a community event, with no cultural or religious relevance.
"We just have some fun. It is not a religious thing at all," she said.
Dr Tom Alibrandi, a university professor living in Sharjah and father of two girls, agreed.
"This is a fairly pluralistic culture here, where people kind of live and let live. A lot of people ... just get into it for the fun.
"I come from Santa Cruz, California, where adults go to work in costumes and you see people driving to work looking like Frankenstein [a monster]," he said.
Dressing up
In the five years he has lived in the UAE, his daughters have enjoyed every bit of the Halloween fun — putting on make up, dressing in costumes and walking around the campus they live on for treats.
Video: Dogs dress up for Halloween:
Rick Advano, managing director of a Dubai-based company, too, felt that Halloween was an occasion where many people decided to join in regardless of their cultural or religious backgrounds. He added that in the eight years he has lived in the UAE, the occasion allowed him to make friends, as he used to accompany his children trick or treating.
He said: "It really doesn't matter [where you come from]. In our community, children go around trick or treating and if a house has its porch lights on, we know they are handing out candy."
For Emirati business development manager Haider Al Zuhairi, that is just the reason he celebrates Halloween every year.
He said: "I always celebrated Halloween when I was growing up in the UK. For some years now, my wife and I have been hosting the event [in Abu Dhabi]. We put out little pumpkins and it is becoming more of a festive get-together than anything else. "
Where does Halloween come from?
This is the time of year when you have an excuse to eat as much candy as you want. But all sweets apart, do you know why Halloween is celebrated?
According to History.com, the holiday comes from a mix of Celtic traditions, Catholic and Roman religious rituals.
A lot of the Halloween traditions are credited to the festival of the dead – Samhain — meaning “summer’s end”.
This pagan festival was celebrated by Celts on November 1 and marked the beginning of the “darker half of the year”.
The ancient Irish believed that the border between the human world and the afterlife is thin on that day.
While the spirits of the families’ ancestors were welcomed, it is believed that young men used to wear costumes and masks to disguise themselves as harmful spirits to ward off unwanted ones.
They also used to scoop out the insides of turnips and carve faces on them to use them as lanterns – very similar to pumpkins on Halloween.
The Halloween colours of black and orange represent the darkness of the night and the colour of bonfires, which the Celts used as part of a cleansing ritual on Samhain.
This explains a part of Halloween, but where does the name actually come from?
In the ninth century, the Catholic Church replaced Samhain with All Hallow’s Day, also known as All Saints Day.
The original name, Hallowe’en, is a contraction of All Hallow’s Eve, which is the night before All Hallow’s Day.
— By Mohammad Jihad Community Web Editor
