Halloween origins and how the world marks the season.
Tonight’s selection — check back for a different corner of the world each night.
Not a night to fear the dead — a night to welcome them home. Families build ofrendas covered in marigolds, sugar skulls, and the favorite foods of loved ones who have passed. The dead are believed to return for one night to visit. Grief and celebration in the same breath.
A public holiday in Catholic states. Knives are hidden away on All Souls Eve to protect returning spirits from harm — an old superstition that lingers in some rural households. Cemeteries fill with candles at dusk.
On the Saturday closest to November 1, Swedish cemeteries fill with candles at dusk — tens of thousands of them. From above, the graveyards glow like small cities. Quiet, cold, and beautiful.
Long before trick-or-treating crossed the Atlantic, Scottish children walked door to door in disguise, performing a song or a poem in exchange for treats. The costume was the ticket. No performance, no candy. That tradition rode the boat to America with the immigrants and became what we know today.
On November 1, Italian families visit cemeteries to leave chrysanthemums on the graves of relatives. In some regions, children wake to find "the dead have brought gifts" — small toys or sweets left overnight. A quiet, tender day.