why is halloween night party celebrated such quite a way here? I guess they already have a full month of ghost festival…
if it’s about “picking up (some) foreign things”, why isn’t Feb 14’s valentine day celebrated by youth? at least from consummerism point of view. I didnt mention any big ads backgrounding this lover’s day last Feb.
mean no harm by questioning. just curious…
It is.
By the way, November is celebrated around the world as “use of capital letters month”. Please feel welcome to join in the fun.
Make sure to CC that memo to rantheman.
Is Halloween really celebrated here by locals? To me, it seems much like the way it’s celebrated in New Zealand, where it’s almost strictly for pub promotions.
Days similar to the Fourth of July/Guy Fawkes Day seem to happen here on a near daily basis though.
Yeah, it’s sad. Halloween is a freaking cool holiday. But all you see here are school activities and business promotions.
Perhaps you could start up a Halloween activity in your local neighborhood if you live in a housing estate. Make a Halloweenish poster for people to put up on doors if they want trick or treaters and volunteer to head up a party for the adults. Get people into the spirit of it and I bet it will keep going.
Halloween is just too good not to promote it.
Something to think about for next year.
I used to love Halloween. I used to love candy.
I said to my students today, “Hey! Today’s Halloween!” One said, “Good! Give us some candy!”. I said, “Ahh. I’ll give you some tomorrow. None on me right now. Halloween is stupid.”
Hallloweeen has about as much interest for me as say, erm…rugby. It might be made more interseting if I were a parent, but until then it is just another day. Call me boring, but I just can’t see the point.
boringLimey :s
Halloween is my favorite! I get to stick fake tarantulas in the microwave, and I just won my office costume contest…I am now the proud owner of a Clapper! - which, ironically, I’d been contemplating buying for the past couple of weeks. 
What did you dress up as? Me, I carved pumpkins in records time. about 12 of them. fastest time: 31s.
I taped black stuff to my orange shirt and became the Pumpkin King on Halloween. Strangely enough, I had kids who weren’t even in my class begging me for candy out of my jack o’lantern bucket. I jabbed at them with my pitchfork of pain and was successful in fending them off from my bucket of goodies.
As for my classes, I fed them worms. Gummi worms. haha. The ones who chickened out got lame ass chocolates. I mean, who the hell wants to eat chocolate on Halloween when they can be consuming candy annelids?
That’s a question which will haunt me to my grave.
Halloween is gaining steam here, and these things take time. Give it a few more years, maybe ten or twenty it will be big here. It started out small in Japan too in the 1980s, and then grew like wildfire in the 1990s and this year they had a huge Halloween Parade in Kawasaki, attended by tens of thousands of costumed people. It will happen in Taipei eventually, too. These things take time, though. Come back to this thread in 2020.
What did you dress up as? Me, I carved pumpkins in records time. about 12 of them. fastest time: 31s.[/quote]
Cleopatra.
Pictures please. 
What Halloween is really about? Do many Taiwanese know its origin? Should they? Why?
I should think the Taiwanese would love Halloween because it’s a chance to be someone (or something) you are not. It’s a chance to express emotions or personality traits you normally keep hidden because of societal/familial restrictions, which can be numerous for Asians.
gee, what a fuzzy picture. is that the Castro? Hey, isn’t that Fred in the background. and I can see Stars. It’s made of Stars…
To continue my recent obnoxious practice of digging up old threads, I want to bring this one back to life.
I had the great pleasure this evening (Saturday October 28, 2017) of hanging around in Tienmu. What a blast! Little kids in capes and hats and gowns making their way along the streets, stopping in at small businesses with orange plastic pumpkin-shaped pails, asking for candy–and getting it, and then politely thanking the shopkeepers and workers before moving on! It was completely AWESOME.
I have not seen this in other districts in Taipei City, or elsewhere in Taiwan. Have you?
Guy
Seems there are big government sponsored activities around Taipei. My neighbors were headed to Shilin. The Children’s Amusement Park.
I have noticed an I increase in awareness and participants. I went earlier to walk the dog and met a foreigner waiving his Star Wars light saber like a 4 year old, beaming just as brightly. And a bunch of Taiwanese led by a caped Phantom of the Opera sneezing his way out of his mask.
I went to baba kevins, instead of candy, he gave me a rack of ribs for free!! Now i’m at home killing nazis in the new wolfenstine 2 game while the gf does the whole clubbing thing with the girls. Been there, done that. So much effort to dress up for Halloween to get drunk at the club.