Halloween isn't tradition. Undas is.

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I did get to read stories of Jack o' lantern and pumpkin pies when I was a child. That's all about the knowledge of the western tradition called Halloween that I know. In the Philippines, 31 October is the eve of All Soul's Day, meaning children have to sit around grandma or granpa, rocking in an old chair, telling scary stories of ghosts and other supernaturals: tikbalang, tianak, manananggal, the Balete white lady, and whatever. I learned upon the stuff more from the movies in black and white, than my grandma telling. She would hear none of it. The spirit of the glass, that was a crazy game my grade school classmates played. I think I participated in the game once or twice, till I noticed my classmates' fingers deliberately pushing the glass. When Jumanji became a hit at the cinema, I did watch. Huh. It did make me scream. I stayed away from horror movies. Not my bag of pop corn. Therefore I was shocked to see children dressed up as witches and zombies at the mall yesterday, their parents tugging them, balancing a pumpkin bucket that never got filled with candies and chocolates. Alas. That was one good thing. Halloween is not Philippine. Undas is. Undas is short cut for Uno dias para almas, of first day for souls. As the years passed, we learned that our first of November celebration was wrong. It was actually the day for saints. The 2nd of November is the day for souls. Be that as it may, the living continue to troop to the cemeteries to offer flowers and light candles for their beloved dead on the first of November. It is a national holiday. The church has tried to correct the error by staging processions with saints as characters. One must come in costume with one's favorite saint. I was prodded , of course. I said I cannot be prevailed upon. And why not? They asked. And I asked them, 'Is it all right with you if I come as John the Baptist?' I knew it. No one answered.