Halloween in China

Several people have asked if there is Halloween in China and the answer is "no" if you are Chinese but "yes" if you live in an expat community. But even in the expat communities it is considered a very American thing to dress up and go trick-or-treating. Our British friends said they took a walk around their neighborhood last week to look at the Halloween decorations and Graham (the husband) said "What are we doing? This is an American tradition, why are we partaking in this?" I guess we are influencing those around us wherever we are, whether that is good or bad I truly do not know.

My Chinese tutor, Jessie, had a funny reaction to the decorations at our house. We don't have much up, just a pumpkin candle and a friendly looking spider hanging outside the door. When she arrived at the house for my lesson she said "Oh, is this for your evil festival?" That cracked me up! Everything in a China is a "festival" instead of a holiday. And I guess technically it is an evil festival when you think of all the sugar that gets into kids this time of year!
When she walked into the apartment, she saw the glow-in-the-dark skeleton hanging on the girls' bedroom door. She widened her eyes comically and said "Oh! Chinese people would never do that!" Of course she is referring to feng shui and the management of chi. As I am learning slowly, the Chinese take their spirits and traditions very seriously. Feng shui seems to be a bit of a trend in the US, but here it is truly ingrained in society. People take the positioning of their homes, rooms, etc, every seriously. And lucky numbers take on a whole different meaning in a country where everyone has the same lucky number. For instance, since 8 is a very lucky number, some streets have multiple #8 buildings. And the government actually has to try to actively manage how many people are giving birth in the month of August (8th month). Since couples are only allowed one baby, they are (understandably so) going to try to have it in a lucky month!
Someone at a recent ex-pat event made the comment to me that it makes sense that the Chinese are so superstitious because their traditions/superstitions are the one thing that has stayed constant through so many centuries of turmoil and change.

Anyway, back to Halloween. I asked Jessie if the Chinese have anything similar to Halloween and she said yes, and told me what it was called, which roughly translates in English to be "Ogre Festival". And it was just last week. It is a day when supposedly the ogres come out and they mess with people, but people cannot really see them or anticipate what they are going to do, so the Chinese stay in their houses to be safe from the ogres. They leave work early, and go home and stay there. At home they hang a red lantern in front of their front door and burn incense inside to keep the ogres away. It is a festival for which they stay home so no harm will come to them. Sounds good to me!