Halloween is becoming more and more popular worldwide. Who doesn’t like an excuse to dress up and party?
Clueless tourist: “Boy…whoever that kid is in the baby pictures, he sure grew up into one ugly adult…”
I was thinking along the lines of legal holidays, with the banks closed and paid time off and such.
But I’ve watched Halloween gain in popularity in Thailand, or at least in Bangkok. Used to be you might see a handful of Thais who had obviously lived abroad dressed up somehow, perplexing all of the other Thais who hadn’t a clue what that was all about. Now everybody pretty much knows about it. And the bargirls often turn into Elvira types.
But here’s the odd part. There is NO trick-or-treating whatsoever. Zilch. Period. The more upscale shopping malls and department stores will even go so far as to host cotume competitions for children, who come mainly from well-to-do Thai or farang (Westerner) families, but there’s no candy involved. That’s a shame, because that’s what it was all about for me as a child. Nowadays over here, it’s mainly for adults, with many restaurants offering Halloween specials. But it’s the bars that do it up best.
That’s kind of how it is here in Japan. Everyone pretty much knows what it is, and a lot of adults (young singles, anyway), go to costume parties, but there’s not much for the kids except maybe a school-sponsored party with no costumes. We tried to jump-start trick-or-treating in our apartment building this past Halloween, and it was well received by a lot of the parents. We’ll have to give it another try next year, maybe with more decorations.
Thanks people. I think I have as close to a factual answer as I am going to get.
No point in indulging the “right or wrong” part of it in this forum, though I obviously have my own opinions about that. And now, the fact to back them as well.
Thanx again. Have a great New Year and beyond…
One of these statements does not belong with the other.
Christmas is an official holiday in Indonesia, although not much of a big deal. Indonesia has a lot of holidays, next year we have five new years’ holidays (western, Chinese, Hindu, and two Muslim). This christmas I was in Singapore for the long weekend where it was also an official holiday with lots of xmas shopping.
In Afghanistan it wasn’t noted when I was there, it also wasn’t celebrated in Iraq. It was a holiday in Kosovo and of course is a huge deal in the Philippines.
Why not? The Thais cash in on Christmas because they know Westerners will shop a lot for it. But most Thais could not tell you Christmas is December 25, it’s not an official holiday, and as far as the Thais are concerned, all of the decorations around the city are for New Year’s Day on January 1.
Maybe it would be more correct to say that Christmas is “observed” worldwide.
In Uruguay it’s got a different name. Sort of like the way October 12 has been changing names periodically in Spain since 1975, if you ask me… whatever you call it, having a national holiday in a Hispanic country on December 25 is “Christmas” to me!
It’s celebrated in any country that’s got Christians, whether it’s an official holiday or not. The “all peaceful folks” line does not intend to imply that “if you do not celebrate Christmas you’re not peaceful” - after all, do we not wish “peace to all men of good will” and did not Love become incarnate for everybody? (according to Catholic belief, we do and He did; the second is what’s celebrated on the Epiphany, which is an older “feast day” than Christmas itself)
o, I don’t go along with that. It’s not “observed” in Thailand by 99.5% of the Thais. Nor is it in other nearby countries.
Dang! Misspelled the first word of my first post for 2008. This does not bode well for the year. 
That was supposed to be “No.”
Sure, every culture celebrates New Year’s day. But they do have different opinions what actual date that is.
Anecdotically: Some mosques here in Germany have put out Christmas trees (Jesus is a prophet in Islam, after all). The birth date falls into another season in Muslim tradition, apparently, but if everyone else is putting up Christmas trees…
In Thailand, we have Three New Year’s: January 1; Chinese New Year; and Thai New Year, which is April 13-15. But January 1 is considered the official year change. Even the Thai year just turned from 2550 to 2551 today (January 1), even though Thai New Year is still 3 1/2 months away. I’m not sure if there are any countries that do not recognize January 1; how could they interact internationally otherwise?
But I’ll bet that the parties on Thai New Year are bigger than those on December 31st, right?
No, they’re about the same. January 1 is recognized as THE New Year’s Day, while Thai New Year is a quaint holdover from older times. The Thai year changes on January 1 (2551 as of Tuesday), and I’ve not met a single Thai who considers Thai New Year the “real” one. Thai New Year is called “Songkran,” while January 1 is called literally “New Year’s Day” (“wan pee mai”).
Thai New Year goes on slightly longer. Unlike Chinese New Year, it is NOT lunar. It is April 13-15 each year, those exact three days. So people often take a whole week off and go home upcountry. However, they do that for January 1 New Year, also. January 1 New Year’s goes on for two days, because unlike in the West, New Year’s Eve is also an official holiday, so the January 1 holiday goes on almost as long as Songkran.
On top of that, December is a big holiday month, with three official holidays: The king’s birthday (December 5); Constitution Day (December 10: and New Year’s Eve. Then New Year’s day the next day. It’s a real festive feel, and since the weather is somewhat cooler (only up into the 80s if we’re lucky), it almost feels like Christmas season. But Bangkok has been empty of traffic these past few days, because everyone has gone home upcountry. People are trickling back now, but the full chaos won’t return until next week. January 1 is a big, big deal here.