# Hallowe’en en España



## cay (Jan 8, 2015)

Hola todos! 

So our peque is finally big enough to appreciate this observation and he really wants to celebrate this year. However we have no clue if it is celebrated here (I’m guessing poquito as I see lots of costumes everywhere) or how it is done. How do they celebrate here?

Muchas gracias por adelantado


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

In our local village all the kids dress up and go trick or treating. Never seems to be any tricks just loads of yucky sweets. Occasionally a parent or two might venture along but quite often it is just a large band of kids. So, if you live in a village or town, best advice is to stock up with loads of sweets or venture out with your little one and see what happens...


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

thrax said:


> In our local village all the kids dress up and go trick or treating. Never seems to be any tricks just loads of yucky sweets. Occasionally a parent or two might venture along but quite often it is just a large band of kids. So, if you live in a village or town, best advice is to stock up with loads of sweets or venture out with your little one and see what happens...


Similar here. If you aren't going out to take part just stock up with sweets and what you don't dish out, you can donate to the general sweet fund for Reyes (6th January).


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Same where I live. We first arrived in Spain the day before Halloween 11 years ago, and had no idea that it was celebrated so much here, nor that the neighbourhood children would be coming around for "trick or treat" so we didn't have any sweets in the house. When the first group arrived I said sorry and offered them some coins instead, but they looked disappointed and said "no, caramelos"! I realised then how different Spanish children are in some ways from their British counterparts, most British kids would have snatched my hand off! But we did have to learn only to dish out 2 or 3 sweets each to each child at the door, if we offered a bag they would all be grabbed in one go. On year, a large group of children from a local day nursery came round (accompanied by parents) and one of the parents took our photograph outside our house with the chldren. We forgot all about it but just after Christmas thre was a knock on the door, and it was the parent who had brought us a copy of the photo, which was nice of him.

Until very recently we lived in the historic centre of the town, and a local businessman organised Halloween walking tours of the district, with ghosts and witches in costume who appear at various points during the tour. The first year it happened we wondered what on earth was going on when we heard a loud cackling noise coming from just outside our door, and looked out to find a group of almost 100 people standing outside listening to the "witch" delivering her script through a microphone (just before midnight). We'll miss that this year.

Around here there seem to be lots of Halloween parties organised at local bars, etc. for adults and children alike, and they all dress up.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

It's only arrived in the past ten years or so, along with Papa Noel. Any excuse to dress up. The kids know about the treats but don't seem to be familiar with the trick part, which is fine by me.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Alcalaina said:


> It's only arrived in the past ten years or so, along with Papa Noel. Any excuse to dress up. The kids know about the treats but don't seem to be familiar with the trick part, which is fine by me.


Quite right, too! The Americans have turned the festival of Samhain, when a small cake might have been given, into a bribery game, give me or I'll do...


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Alcalaina said:


> It's only arrived in the past ten years or so, along with Papa Noel. Any excuse to dress up. The kids know about the treats but don't seem to be familiar with the trick part, which is fine by me.


Yes I remember at the time there was some questioning as to why the Spanish were celebrating an "American" festival. I got a bit tired of trying to explain the various origins and how it evolved. I did try to introduce apple bobbing without much success. I eventually came to the conclusion that Halloween took off due to a combination of factors: the push for bilingualism and the influence of native English teachers, cheap Halloween tat appearing in Chinese shops, and the date falling at a time when the bigger shops didn't have much else on to commercialise. Anyway, the kids love it, and so do I.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

It's not celebrated here to any great extent just Chinese shops selling tat. I find the lack of commercialism here refreshing


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Moving on: I have made our Christmas cake this afternoon (the puddings were made a couple of weeks ago!) so the house smells Christmassy.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

SWMBO has just come in from teaching the little m*nsters and she informs me that after they have finished their rounds, they end up at the village pizza place where they pool their spoils and these are shared out equally between all the kids including those who were unable to go out trick or treating. The owner of the Pizza place also treats them all to free pizza.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Chopera said:


> Yes I remember at the time there was some questioning as to why the Spanish were celebrating an "American" festival. I got a bit tired of trying to explain the various origins and how it evolved. I did try to introduce apple bobbing without much success. I eventually came to the conclusion that Halloween took off due to a combination of factors: the push for bilingualism and the influence of native English teachers, cheap Halloween tat appearing in Chinese shops, and the date falling at a time when the bigger shops didn't have much else on to commercialise. Anyway, the kids love it, and so do I.


Actually it came to Spain as a pure commercial act. Shops, mainly El Corte Inglés. latched on to it as way to make money. It's the same reason Valentines day found its way into the Spanish market/ culture


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Actually it came to Spain as a pure commercial act. Shops, mainly El Corte Inglés. latched on to it as way to make money. It's the same reason Valentines day found its way into the Spanish market/ culture


Yep I was thinking of Valentines day when I wrote...



> and the date falling at a time when the bigger shops didn't have much else on to commercialise.


I used to work near a large VIPS and the commercial cycle of Halloween, then XMas/Reyes, then the sales, then Valentines, then father's day, then easter, then mother's day, then the summer sales, etc, etc was all too apparent. Halloween and Valentines nicely filled a couple of gaps in the year.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Chopera said:


> Yep I was thinking of Valentines day when I wrote...
> 
> 
> 
> I used to work near a large VIPS and the commercial cycle of Halloween, then XMas/Reyes, then the sales, then Valentines, then father's day, then easter, then mother's day, then the summer sales, etc, etc was all too apparent. Halloween and Valentines nicely filled a couple of gaps in the year.


Similar in the US where they insert "Hallmark" days into the calendar of festivals.


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

I think a lot of it is also about where you live, on the 2 urbs we have lived in not once has there been any sort of Halloween type activity. No kids knocking on doors or anything like that so I guess it just depends on the area.


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## Costachick (Apr 22, 2016)

Halloween is also celebrated here in Malaga capital. Most schools will have Halloween parties and the kids go out trick or treating. Lots of neighbors associations and schools also set up walks of terror.


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## danboy20 (Jul 10, 2017)

They are becoming very American in this respect, with the trick or treating etc. The kids aren´t quite as vicious though.....YET


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I am a scary old lady with a black cat, so I don't get many kids knocking at my door ...

.. which means I get to eat all the bonbons I bought just in case.


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## movedtospain2010 (Jul 28, 2017)

I wish Halloween was celebrated more around here! I love it. I always have a party at my place. But regarding kids trick or treating.. that hasn't started around here just yet.. Maybe a couple neighborhoods but not mine and not any that I know of.

There is an neighborhood of houses though closer to Oviedo that do it every year.


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