Halloween - Fright Night

Dressing up as ghouls or attending a “haunted house” party, the youth have taken to Halloween.

Halloween has been growing in popularity and been widely embraced by the Vietnamese over the last few years.

While its appeal shows no signs of slowing down, however, the annual fright-night is arguably still more popular with Westerners.

Though not as popular as the Christmas holidays or Western New Year’s celebrations, there are still a number of Halloween events planned in large cities.

Most Halloween festivities are organized by municipal hotels, restaurants or recreation venues, which aim to create a fun and exciting time for Westerners who live and work in Vietnam.

Last year, Ho Chi Minh City's five-star Windsor Plaza Hotel hosted a four-day-long Halloween celebration that included a lively parade and masquerade competition for its participants.

At the Windsor’s Cafe Central Restaurant this year, a huge seasonal buffet is planned including savory dishes with a ghoulish theme.

Windsor’s Marketing Manager, Tina Do, says that a visit to this year's festivities will not disappoint.

Attendees will be surprised and delighted, she assures, by the colorful, creative atmosphere.

The five-star Sofitel Plaza and Omni hotels are also organizing impressive Halloween parties for their adult clientele.

Guests can enjoy such macabre-sounding, yet delicious dishes as Baked Bones, Ghostly Chili, Melted Torsos and Legs, Roasted Heart, Baked Monster Eyes and more.

For those looking for Halloween activities that are a little less expensive and a little more kid-friendly, HCMC's Now Club, offers youngsters a chance to show off their spooky, cute or creative Halloween costumes along with other fun events, without having to pay a penny.

Reported by Tran Huy Tuong
Source : Thanh Nien Daily

Halloween’s Haunted History Halloween originated from an ancient pagan festival known as Samhain, celebrated among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain. The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the region that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated the New Year on November 1. It was a day marking the end of summer and the harvest, and the beginning of the dark, cold winter – a time of year often associated with death. The Celts believed that on the night before the start of the New Year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was thought that the ghosts of the dead would return to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, the Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where people gathered to burn crops and offer animals as sacrificial symbols to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and would tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they relit their hearth fires – extinguished earlier in the evening – from the sacred bonfire, to help protect them during the coming winter. Liturgically, the Vigil of All Saints was celebrated on what is now Halloween, and until 1970, it was a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on October 31. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later re-instated on the post-Vatican II calendar.