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You may spend all of October planning your costume for Halloween, but there are many fall traditions around the world from one-day holidays to week-long festivals. Many fall festivals around the world share a theme of celebrating abundance and good harvest. Some festivals, like Day of the Dead and Samhain share their roots with Halloween, while others highlight religious customs or pay tribute to local lore. Here are 6 fall traditions from around the world to explore with your students.
1. Diwali Festival
Where: India
When: 15th day of the month of lunar month Kartik, the darkest night of the year (October/November)
Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights, with variations celebrated in other Indian religions and regions. Diwali Festival is celebrated for five days that fall around October or November. Hindu New Year coincides with Diwali, making it a very popular holiday to celebrate.
Indians decorate their homes with lamps, candles, and patterns of colorful sand to celebrate Diwali. They exchange gifts and wear new clothes to represent a fresh start in the new year. The festival symbolizes the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.
2. Día de Los Muertos
Where: Mexico
When: November 1 to 2
Day of the Dead, or Día de Los Muertos, blends indigenous traditions from Mexico with the traditions of Catholic All Souls’ Day to honor loved ones who have passed away. This fall tradition gathers friends and family to pray for deceased relatives, friends, and even pets.
Preparations for Día de Los Muertos include making or buying decorations for the graves of lost loved ones and designing alters for passed loved ones with their favorite foods, significant items, and photos.
3. Chuseok
Where: Korea
When: 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar on the full moon (September/October)
This three-day Korean festival celebrates a successful harvest, similar to Thanksgiving. Sometimes called Hangawi, Chuseok celebrates a successful harvest on the full moon of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. In this fall tradition, families gather to enjoy a feast from their harvest, hoping for another fruitful year ahead.
Chuseok is the biggest holiday in Korea behind Lunar New Year. Traditional foods include a popular rice cake called songpyeon filled with chestnuts, red beans, or sesame. Other traditions include percussion quartets, talchum dance, and ssireum, traditional Korean wrestling.
4. Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival
Where: East and Southeast Asia
When: 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar (September/October)
The full moon symbolizes reunion in parts of Asia, so families reunite to spend time together when the moon is at its brightest. The Moon Festival is celebrated in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, and some other countries.
Known as both the Moon Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, this fall festival celebrates the moon at its fullest and brightest, so the dates change each year depending on the lunar calendar. Families reunite and spend time together, enjoy a reunion dinner, and eat delicious mooncakes.
5. Festival of the Yams
Where: Ghana
When: Last Day of September
Also known as Asogli Te Za, the Yam Festival is celebrated by the people of Asogli in the Volta Region of Ghana. It celebrates the cultivation of yam that was started by a hunter who found the plant in the forest during his hunting expedition. A good yam harvest means a prosperous year for people in this region of Ghana. The festival’s traditions include thanking the ancestors and gods for a fruitful harvest.
6. Samhain
Where: Ireland
When: November 1
Samhain is an ancient Celtic tradition that is said to be the root of Halloween today. The people of Ireland celebrate with bonfires, festivities, and eating a special fruitcake called Barmbrack that acts as a fortune-telling game. The loaf contains tokens that signify a meaning, such as wealth or marriage. Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the darker part of the year.
7. Other Fall Traditions
Other fall traditions around the world include Oktoberfest in Germany, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the Jewish faith, Pchum Ben in Cambodia, Bonfire Night in the United Kingdom, as well as Halloween and Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada.
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