Hi I'm Joel and I'm Lia and this video is all about how people celebrate
Halloween around the world
so it's Halloween in a few days and we thought
we'd make a video all about culture tradition Halloween things yeah will you
be celebrating?
No, I don't think I will either
so we're both bit like fun suckers there I mean we are interested in whether other
cultures other countries are celebrating Halloween and if so how?
so should we just start talking about the UK firstly?
definitely
similarly to
the States the United States, we celebrate Halloween here by dressing up
knocking on doors trick-or-treating carving pumpkins yeah general spookiness
yeah but not everyone goes for it I feel like from what I've seen Americans
really go for literally that even when I was in America in September everything
was decked out for Halloween, all the shops have Halloween stuff in to buy
all the candy was out already like everything! Americans fully go for
it even some houses we went pass this house and this whole garden was full of
Halloween decorations I'm like it's the 10th of September oh my gosh but in the
UK we don't tend to go for it in the same way do we?
No I think as well
similarly to Christmas similarly um it's a money thing here like if
you've got loads of money then maybe you'll spend loads of money on
electricity lighting up your whole house we just don't do it unless we're showing
off in a neighborhood yeah I don't know I feel like Christmas is just as big
here as there but in Halloween like nowhere really decorates!
maybe some restaurants and stuff possibly but personally I find it gross
if a restaurant has got like pumpkins with fake cobwebs over it
I'm a bit like that's unhygienic but it's essentially it's just a bit of
a marketing thing that people use like bars and pubs and stuff will just use
it as a way of like creating good night out to get people out of their house and
spending money there yeah so the UK does the sort of capitalise on it because it
essentially is a trend yeah and actually there's a really interesting video of
another youtuber called Lex I'll link her video down below she was talking
about the commercialisation of autumn and she was saying now people have
capitalised on autumn colours like oranges and yellows and burnt orange and
like blankets and these things and now is the time of year between Halloween
and Christmas that people start marketing blankets and woollen jumpers
and candles and all these things because they want people to buy it and it's like
they've even capitalised on the season
thats so funny it's so true like people love
autumn it's one of my favorite months but people guaranteed spend the most
money from now up until Christmas than they do in the entire year
I dread it
don't you? I've got so much money to spend
This is why every year it's like, I'm not
doing Christmas presents this year yeah back to Halloween yeah the UK I say
it's kind of split down the middle or some people go for it fully
some people don't bother my family we used to just hide in the house if people
knocking on the door we got hide from them say my parents would draw the
curtains they'd be like we're not answering the door yeah because it's
inconvenient also when you do answer the door like it's really I find it really
cringe also you let all the cold in so I sound like such a granny
We'd, well mum would
have to go into the like cupboard and find old biscuit or something yeah
and give them like the crappiest thing oh definitely it's happened where
mum has forgotten it's Halloween and opened the door and been like oh now I've
got to find something in the cupboard you go into your sweet cupboard and you're like
my god an out-of-date after eight why should we why should we
have to give free sweet things to strangers? yeah buy your own!
I'll tell you what stop eating sweets altogether or just go down to
the shops buy a chocolate bar save you the hassle walking down the street
knocking on doors imagine if someone just got broccoli and a knife and just
chopped it up into their basket
have a vegetable! Every time a kid walks in you throw them a carrot stick
anyway we've been looking into how different
countries and cultures celebrate Halloween and if they do or not so we
thought we'd share those with you because we found them quite interesting yes so
aside from the UK let's start off with China so the Chinese actually celebrate
Halloween in July and they don't call it Halloween they call it The Hungry Ghost
Festival yeah it is really sweet they probably, they obviously say in their
language! But it translates as The Hungry Ghost Festival
yes but they celebrate the returning of the dead to Earth who come here ghosts
come here looking for nourishment and entertainment so one of the things that
Chinese people don't do is swim on Halloween as they're afraid of drowning
yeah I mean it's sensible I don't blame them yeah avoid all water and avoid
being on your own yeah hang out together oh definitely if you're in a group the
ghosts won't hurt you but if you're on your own or if you're in water they
might attack so
I'm a little bit like that on Friday the 13th don't really like being on my own
So, I'm getting my eyes lasered and they were like so we've got
the Friday the 13th she's like if you're not superstitious
and I'm not superstitious but I was like
superstition (sings)
the next one is Mexico now Mexico actually take it a little bit
further than everyone else and they have a three-day celebration for Halloween
starting on the 31st of October and they call it the Day of the Dead even though
three days yeah odd but similarly to China they believe the returning of the
Dead to earth but they sort of celebrate the fact that family members might be
coming back from the dead down to earth and they will sort of have altars full
of flowers and photographs and food just
to welcome them home yeah so sort of like a sign of respect I guess for deceased family
members and friends essentially it's a celebration of life yeah but it's got
the spooky feel around it yeah so it's kind of like Addams Family and if you're into
that kind of not horror but you know, spookiness! also the Day of the Dead that's the
beginning of the latest James Bond film Spectre!
yeah yeah it starts in Mexico doesn't it
with the Day of the Dead festival
that's really cool
that's where we
should go yeah to Mexico
I would love to go to Mexico
Would be such a cool holiday!
Business!
so how do you say the day of the dead in Mexico? I think it
el Dia de los Muertos
I can't roll my r's
el Dia de los Muertos
and this is why we don't learn languages
moving on!
so in Austria they don't
celebrate really they just go to bed
but they do leave the dining table
laid out with a lamp some bread and food and water and hope that the flowers and
stuff we'll invite deceased family members back yeah I think it sounds
really sad it does sound really sad especially as I was brought up
up Greek Orthodox and they don't at all believe in contacting the dead or
trying to make connection with deceased family members
let the
dead rest no to try to disturb them they don't think it's a recipe for anything
good no and it's not you know it's not unusual that contacting the dead
is associated with that spookiness and horror yeah it's not made-up thing is
it's like obviously connected the unknown the world of the unknown
so you know I can't exactly say I'd feel very comfortable leaving out all
the offerings for someone to come back and me go and lie in bed and hope you
for the best!
it's just scary I'm sensing a bit of a
theme here with these countries that they have they want their relatives back
coming from the dead yeah exactly
so the Japanese
so the Japanese don't actually
celebrate Halloween per se but they do have the Obon festival
Obon festival which goes on for just the day I think but they celebrate it by
lighting lanterns you might have seen pictures of this before lighting paper
lanterns and sending them floating down rivers because then they believe that
dead spirits will see the lanterns and come guiding back home down the river and
into the cities and stuff I mean that's a more creative way than just set your
table isn't?
At least the Japanese going get some lanterns and stuff it's really sweet
saying it is apparently is Matsuri
the next way is Urabon
which does sound a little bit like the sushi we made it
does it just sound like Uramaki if you haven't seen our sushi video
click the link below!
but those are just a few countries obviously there are many more
ways to celebrate Halloween than that but we just thought it's interesting to
see some different cultures than the UK or the U.S.
it's really nice to hear about it because all we ever do is sort of carve out, I was about to say pineapple all we do
is carve out a pumpkin yeah and make a scary face light it and then you know
maybe use the inside the flesh for the soup yeah
and that's about as exciting as Halloween's gonna be for my family yeah
I prefer bonfire night I can't wait for bonfire night
Isn't that really close to
Halloween?
yeah fifth of November
Remember remember the 5th of November
bonfire night!
right oh that's so much more fun
it's cosy you smell of bonfire yeah
All your clothes stink in a nice way
Sparkler!
by the way we're having friends over to watch fireworks in the park and then we're
gonna have like hotdogs nachos chilli
really wanna come I would love to!
You're invited you're all invited
as well I'd love that the
absolutely lovely and it's gonna be cold and will wear our jackets and coats and
we'll have gloves it'll be so nice!
Thanks for the invite Joel!
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Bye!