20 unique Halloween traditions you’ve never heard about

Several countries around the world bake soul cakes for Halloween. The cakes are handed out to those who go door-to-door (trick-or-treaters in America) as a symbol of souls, particularly those who are believed to be in limbo between the earth and heaven. 

In Ireland, it’s a Halloween tradition to bake barmbrack. Bakers hide a ring or some other valuable item in the bread, and whoever gets it is said to be lucky. 

Long before people bobbed for apples, they played snap apple, a truly insane game that involved biting an apple without using your hands and the added risk of getting hit in the face with molten wax. It’s not a very popular tradition these days. 

Pangangaluluwa is a Tagalog custom observed on Halloween. It’s very similar to trick-or-treating, but instead of houses handing out candy to kids, children and teenagers sing songs to those they visit and are rewarded with a gift. 

Every year, around October, multiple countries around the world, particularly in Southeast Asia, celebrate the Hungry Ghost Festival. Depending on the country, the festivities look a little different. Some include concerts, while others include purchasing hell notes. 

In Kawasaki, citizens gather each Halloween for a parade. The parade participants and onlookers are dressed in costumes. Afterward, there are parties, screenings of horror films, and bounce houses. 

Baking fave dei morti cookies is an Italian tradition associated with All Saints’ Day. Since All Saints’ Day is the day after Halloween, the tradition is also associated with the October holiday. In the past, bakers would bring their cookies to the gravesites of loved ones, but that’s not as common anymore. 

The Obon Festival is similar to the Hungry Ghost Festival, both in the time that it’s celebrated and what it’s honoring. For the Obon Festival, celebrants engage in folk dances, set up altars for their dead loved ones, light fires, and more.  

Novelty trains across the country have special Halloween rides. The specifics of each ride vary based on location, but you can expect costumes, food, and lots of spooky fun. 

Samhain is a Gaelic festival that begins on Halloween and continues into the next day. It marks the end of harvest and the beginning of winter, and it’s celebrated with multiple customs, such as bonfires and mumming. 

Festival de Barriletes Gigantes is Guatemala’s celebration of All Saints’ Day. It's a special festival marked by the creation and display of special, colorful kites. People also mark the occasion with special food and a visit to the cemetery. 

Ognissanti is Italy’s version of All Saints’ Day. Traditions vary from region to region, but they include eating sweets, lighting candles, holding vigils, and making necklaces of apples and chestnuts, among others. 

In Costa Rica, citizens celebrate Dia de la Mascarada. There’s music, costumes, dancing in the street, and many more traditions, but perhaps the most notable is making special masks out of papier mâché.

Pchum Ben is the Cambodian version of All Saints’ Day. It’s a weeks-long celebration that peaks with a day on which celebrants visit at least three pagodas and bring food for their ancestors to eat.  

Originally a Celtic tradition, young women used to peel apples and throw the peels over their shoulders. The shape of the apple peel was said to reveal the first initial of the woman’s future husband. 

Chuseok is a Korean harvest festival. Observers travel to their hometowns to pay respect to their ancestors. They also wear traditional clothing, cook special foods, and have alcohol to mark the occasion. 

Before it was common practice to carve pumpkins on Halloween, people carved turnips. It was a way to mark the new season ahead and ward off evil spirits. And it probably worked because carved turnips are far scarier than carved pumpkins. 

It’s custom for some people to go meatless on Halloween. They opt for recipes like pumpkin soup, stuffed peppers, and meatless pizzas. Of all the unique Halloween traditions, this one has got to be the most accessible. 

While covering yards in toilet paper and playing ding-đong-ditch are still relatively common on Halloween, pulling pranks used to be a far more common tradition. Covering windows in soap and tipping over trash cans were among the common pranks. 

Peeling apples isn’t the only Halloween tradition associated with matchmaking. There used to be multiple traditions associated with getting a future husband and wife together, like harvesting kale or hiding a ring in mashed potatoes.