In the United States, Halloween is widely celebrated, with over 70% of Americans planning to participate. Globally, it receives a similar level of welcome. However, aside from Halloween, there are so many other fall holidays that are celebrated in different countries. Below are three fascinating international holidays – from Europe to Asia to Latin America, along with their popular traditions and fascinating origins.
Oktoberfest – Germany
Oktoberfest is a two-week long festival held annually in Munich, Germany, ending on the first Sunday of October. Originating on October 12, 1810, the festival was meant to be a celebration of the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria, later known as King Louis I, to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. It lasted five days, ending with a horse race held in what was later named Theresienwiese, literally “Therese’s green”.
It expanded further every single year, with the following year including a state agricultural fair, and with its 1818 event, the festival introduced booths serving food and drink. By the 20th century, those booths evolved into large beer halls with interior balconies; these are temporary structures built by individual brewers. Aside from drinks, which is one of the things the festival is most known for, Oktoberfest also provides other entertainment such as parades, games, amusement rides, music, and dancing. On its 200th anniversary in 2010, the festival brought back horse-racing, in an effort to commemorate its origins. Overall, over six million people attend the festival every single year, mostly all tourists. Though the festival was originally during the month of October, as time passed, it was moved ahead to September due to weather issues.
Ever since the 1950’s, Oktoberfest has opened with the mayor of Munich tapping a beer keg open with a hammer in the Schottenhamel tent. As per the tradition, they yell “O’zapft is!”, which means “It’s tapped!” in the Bavarian dialect, and this sets off the rest of the festival. A gun salute aimed at the statue of Bavaria follows in quick succession, which tells all the beer tents that they can now sell the goods.
During the festival, people often wear traditional Bavarian attire – men wear what is called lederhosen, and women in dirndls. Additionally, they often play traditional Bavarian music, also known as Schlager. The most well-known of these pieces is called “Ein Prosit”, or “Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit”, which roughly means “a toast to well-being”. Ironically, this song wasn’t even from Bavaria – it was composed by a North German journalist named Georg Kunoth, who was the editor-in-chief of a newspaper called Bremer Nachrichten. It was only in 1898 that Georg Lang, also known as Lang Schurl, played the song during Oktoberfest and popularized it.
Another famous Oktoberfest event is the costume and rifleman parade. First taking place in 1835 in honor of King Louis I’s wedding, it was hosted again in 1895 by Maximillian Schmidt, a Bavarian novelist, where around 1,400 people participated, in 150 different traditional costumes. On Oktoberfest’s 100th anniversary in 1910, Julius and Moritz Wallach organized another one. By 1950, the parade had become an annual event and a highlight of the festival. The participants march on a seven kilometer stretch in historic festival costume. Led by the Münchner Kindl, essentially a mascot for the city of Munich, as well as officials from the city council such as the minister-president and his wife, the costume parade includes groups like musical or marching bands, flag-wavers, carriages, and costume and rifle clubs that mostly come from Bavaria – some are from other German states, and some are from other European countries like Austria, or Northern Italy.
Throughout the festival, Bavarian food is served in every tent. These include hendl (spit-roasted chicken), haxn (pork knuckles), steckerlfisch (grilled whitefish), bratwurst (a traditional German sausage), knoedel (meat or vegetable dumplings), brezl (pretzels), and brotzeit (a snack containing meat, cheese, radish, and bread).
Now, Oktoberfest is also celebrated in some US cities, many of which are majority German-American. Oktoberfest Zinzinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio, is the largest festival in the US, and Pennsylvania hosts many celebrations as well. However, the largest Oktoberfest (outside of Germany, of course) is actually in Kitchener, Ontario and surrounding regions, with over 700,000 people in attendance every year. The festival is also widely popular in Australia, Brazil, China, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and even Russia, where the Moscow Oktoberfest is held in the Red Square. Oktoberfest celebrations in Germany also inspire several other related events in the country.
Double Ninth Festival – China
Mentioned in writings dating around the Eastern Han period (around 25 AD), the Double Ninth Festival, or the Chongyang Festival, is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar. Nine is viewed as a yang number in Chinese culture, hence, the ninth day of the ninth month is viewed as especially lucky. That’s also why the holiday is called the Chongyang Festival, meaning “double yang”. This year, the festival was held on October 23th.
The history of the festival goes back to the Warring States period, but the most famous legends about it are about the Han Dynasty’s imperial court and citizens, respectively. The first story centers around the court of Emperor Gaozu – also known as Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty. Jealous of one of his consorts, Lady Qi, his wife, Empress Gao (also known as Lü Zhi) managed to force one of Lady Qi’s maids out of the palace. This maid named Jia Peilan shared the court customs of wearing dogwood and drinking chrysanthemum wine on the ninth day of the ninth month to commoners. These became common traditions in the Double Ninth Festival. Unfortunately for Lady Qi, Empress Gao became the empress dowager after Liu Bang’s death, secured the throne for her son Liu Ying, and out of jealousy, poisoned Qi’s son Liu Ruyi while Liu Ying was out hunting. Qi herself died soon after. (I won’t be describing that story, if you’re curious feel free to research it at your own discretion).
The second story about the Double Ninth Festival concerns a Han dynasty man and his disciple, named Fei Changfang and Huan Jing, respectively. On the ninth day of the ninth month, Fei instructed Huan to climb a mountain with his family, bringing chrysanthemum wine and food. When Huan eventually returned to his home, he discovered that all of his livestock were dead, realizing that if he had not followed Fei’s instructions, the same thing would have happened to him and his family. Thus, those Double Ninth Festival traditions began.
As time went on, the Double Ninth Festival became less of a holiday to avoid danger and more of a celebratory event. In that sense, it is very similar to Chinese New Year.
Common customs during the festival include hiking, drinking chrysanthemum wine or tea, and wearing the zhuyu plant – Cornus officinalis, also called the Japanese cornel. The zhuyu and the chrysanthemum are viewed as cleansing, and are also often used to air out houses and even treat illness. Additionally, people also celebrate by flying kites, making flower cakes (糕), learning poems about chrysanthemums, and competing in mountain climbing races. The Double Ninth Festival is also a time for married daughters to return home and visit their family. Similar to Chinese holidays such as the Qingming Festival, many Chinese also visit their ancestors’ graves to pay respects, clean, give food offerings, and burn incense. In Hong Kong and Macau, food offerings like roast suckling pig and fruit are eaten after the spiritual element of the food is eaten by said ancestors.
Outside of mainland China, the Double Ninth Festival is also celebrated in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Most of the traditions remain the same, however, there are still some variations. In Japan, the holiday is known as Choyo as well as the Chrysanthemum Festival (Kiku no Sekku). It is one of the five sacred festivals there. People wish for a long life, drink chrysanthemum sake, and eat chestnut rice. However, unlike in China, the Double Ninth Festival is celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar on September 9th, not the lunar one. In Korea, the holiday is meant to cultivate good health. Traditions include carrying dogwood, climbing mountains or hills, having picnics, and eating chrysanthemum leaves in pancakes. It is referred to as Jungyangjeol, or 중양절. In Taiwan’s case, the Double Ninth Festival was actually rededicated as Senior Citizens’ Day in 1966, making it a key custom to care for and appreciate the elderly.
Día de los Muertos – Mexico
Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is celebrated on November 1st and 2nd. It is thought to have first originated around 3,000 years ago in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. While some argue that the holiday really was a Spanish tradition rebranded to encourage Mexican nationalism (for example, critics have pointed out the similarities of the festivities to the European tradition called Danse macabre, or Dance with Death), many others believe it was influenced by Indigenous Mexican and Aztec civilizations. The Aztecs, as well as the other Nahua people, believed that death was an integral part of life. Once someone died, they would travel to Chicunamictlán, or the Land of the Dead, and go through nine challenging levels, said to take years. Only then could they reach the final resting place, called Mictlán. The Aztecs had around six celebrations a year that were extremely similar to the Day of the Dead. Quecholli, celebrated from October 20th and November 8th, is a prime example, where Aztecs placed altars with tamales near burying grounds of warriors. This was meant to help them in their journey through the afterlife. Meanwhile, in Europe, pagan celebrations of the dead were taking place at the same time. These customs were unofficially adopted by the Roman Catholic Church and became two holidays- one, All Saints Day, and the other, All Souls Day. These were celebrated in the first two days of November. As Spain eventually expanded into the New World, they brought those customs with them. It’s theorized that as the Spanish attempted to extinguish indigenous religious beliefs, native converts became devout Catholics, passing down Spanish religious practices in indigenous and mestizo groups.
A common misconception is that the Day of the Dead is the Mexican version of Halloween. However, aside from a few traditions such as costumes and parades, the two holidays are distinct. Those who celebrate the Day of the Dead believe that on that day, the border between the spirit world and real world dissolves, waking up the souls of the dead and allowing them to return to the living world to dance, play music, drink, and eat with their family members or loved ones. In return, the living act as “hosts” and treat the dead as honored guests by leaving out offerings as well as their favorite foods, either at gravesites or altars called ofrendas. These are often decorated with marigolds, candles, and photos of the deceased, all meant to encourage visits from the souls and allow them to hear the prayers directed towards them. For children (referred to as los angelitos), toys are included, while for adults, many bring drinks such as tequila or atole. The tradition of ofrendas may have come from the Nahua rituals. Held in August, family members would provide the deceased with food, water, and tools to help them on their journey in the afterlife. In modern times, food is offered and eaten afterwards by the living- though it is viewed as having no nutritional value as the spiritual essence was already eaten by the deceased.
While the marigolds and ofrendas for the dead are iconic, by far the most famous symbols for the Day of the Dead are the skulls (referred to as calaveras – skulls, or calacas – skeletons). These were first seen in the work of José Guadalupe Posada, who used skeletons in his art and cartoons for political commentary. Most famously, his work La Calavera Catrina in 1910 was meant to be a criticism on how Mexicans adopted European traditions while neglecting their own.
Food-wise, people eat sugar candy in the shape of skulls, pan de muerto (derived from pan de ánimas from Spanish All Souls Day traditions), spicy dark chocolate, and atole, a drink made from corn.
The Day of the Dead is also celebrated in the US, Asia, Oceania, the Philippines, and the Czech Republic. Especially in US states such as Texas, California, New Mexico, and Arizona, the Day of the Dead celebration is very traditional. Since 1990, the All Souls Procession in Tucson, Arizona, has combined Day of the Dead traditions with those of pagan harvest ones. People wear masks, carry signs honoring the dead, and place slips of paper with prayers on them into an urn to be burned. In California, Santa Ana has held the Noche de Altares celebration since 2002. In countries such as Australia, Fiji, and Indonesia, Mexican-style events are held. Close connections between Mexican and Filipino culture has made the Day of the Dead a major holiday there as well. The holiday coincides with the Roman Catholic All Saints’ Day, hence why it’s often referred to as All Souls’ Day. In the case of the Czech Republic, a promotion by the Mexican embassy in the late 20th century has led to local celebrations. Other related festivals include Bolivia’s Day of the Skulls, and Brazil’s Day of the Faithful Dead.
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