Where will you be this Halloween?


halloween photo, blue



Trick or Treat? These are the three words I usually hear in the American films and TV shows I’ve watched during Halloween but I never got to experience the tradition when I was a kid.


In the Philippines,  Halloween is not part of our tradition, it just precedes All Souls Day and All Saints Day, which is a public holiday for us. However, partly because of western influence, Filipinos in the urban areas adapted the tradition and celebrated it. It was in the 90’s when I first saw children trick-or-treating in one of the affluent villages here in the city. They were all walking with their Yaya’s (house help) in tow, carrying their loot bags and went from house to house, I was so amazed with their costumes that it brings back the child in me that wanted to go trick-or-treating. That was decades ago, now, due to some entrepreneurial minds of some people, Halloween has become an annual event for most big commercial establishments here. Before, only candles and Christmas trees are on display by October in time for the All Saint’s Day and Christmas Day celebration, but now, Halloween costumes, pumpkin baskets, treat, takes the center stage by this time of the year. They also hold trick or treat for kids during the last weekend of the month. Just last Sunday, I was at the mall and I saw kids with their parents, dressed in Halloween costumes with pumpkin plastic baskets on their hand, went trick-or-treating from one store to another. Some of the mall employees were also in costumes that are very scary, that some kids run away from them. Even some bars and restaurants have their annual Halloween costume party.

Since I’m no longer a yuppie or a kid, come October 31, I will spend my day in the cemetery. I’ll be visiting my brother’s grave, who died from an illness, last August of this year.  There will be no trick-or-treating, but candles and prayers, I just hope that Freddy Krueger doesn’t suddenly appear behind my back… just kidding
Happy Halloween! o


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