As Halloween in the U.S. has evolved into a more child-friendly holiday, many international students here at UT are not familiar with its origins or
practices.
Otto van Leeuwen, a freshman economics major, is from Holland. According to van Leeuwen, where he is from, Halloween is not celebrated at all.
“There are no Halloween related tv shows or movies, although most people will know what Halloween is, since we watch many American movies,” van Leeuwen said. He believes Halloween is a hugely celebrated in America because he sees people decorating their houses with intricate decorations like pumpkins and spiders. Even though he has never celebrated Halloween in America, he will participate by buying a costume and going to a few Halloween parties.
Andrea Diaz, an advertising and public relations major, is a sophomore at UT from Honduras. According to Diaz, in Honduras, mostly the bilingual and wealthy families celebrate Halloween. Similar to America, to celebrate Halloween, they throw a party and people dress up. The ones that have the best costumes can win up to $250 at certain parties. According to Diaz, the ones that do not celebrate Halloween in Honduras are people that don’t accept it because of their beliefs since many are Catholic. They believe that when people dress up in those costumes, they are worshipping the devil.
“I don’t think [Halloween] is strange because ever since I was a little girl in preschool we went trick-or-treating all around school,” Diaz said. “But as you grow up it is more about the parties, which is very similar to the U.S.” Diaz is also planning on participating in Halloween activities by dressing up and going to parties as well.
Junior Anna Papageorgiou is a criminology major at UT from Cyprus. “People that do not celebrate Halloween there is because they are Greek
Orthodox,” she said. “Instead of having Halloween, they have carnivals, but it’s in March. They celebrate these carnivals by having parades and the older teenagers and adults go to the clubs. They do not trick or treat.”
She is also going to celebrate this year by dressing up with her boyfriend.
Robert Rantapere, a freshman majoring in economics, is from Finland. According to Rantapere, in Finland, it is not a big deal. They do have
Halloween-themed TV shows and costume parties, although not everyone dresses up.
“It is strange how that it’s such a huge deal here, but I think it’s really cool,” Rantapere said. “There is no reason for Finnish people to celebrate it; it’s just a tradition they have copied from the United States.”
Onitiana Randrianavahy, a sophomore majoring in environmental science, is from Madagascar. According to Randrianavahy, there only the American schools celebrate Halloween. They have parties, costumes and trick or treat. In the country of Madagascar, they have parties and dress up. Similar to Finland, they don’t understand the reason why they just do it because they have adopted it from the U.S.
“They don’t know what to do,” Randrianavahy said. “They just got it from TV and movies.” Randrianavahy is celebrating Halloween this year by dressing up and going to Temptations.
American Halloween traditions will be a new experience for many of the international students at UT. Despite their cultural differences, they still enjoy the many experiences it has to offer.