Halloween 2018 is just over a month away and if you want to go on a Halloween trip, it's time to start planning. For example, it seems that the dinner at Hogwarth's After Dark weekend in London, for all Harry Potter fans, is already sold out. But, of course, there are many other ways to celebrate Halloween 2018!
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What is Halloween?
Halloween, which roughly translates as 'evening of the saints', is always celebrated on 31 October, at least in the US and the UK. In Sweden, "Swedish Halloween" is sometimes also celebrated on the Friday before All Saints' Day.
The holiday has its roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain, which was a harvest festival that also believed that the souls of the dead returned to the earth. The celebration has since blended with the Christian All Saints' Day, and perhaps some other traditions as well.
Halloween is now celebrated in many countries, but in slightly different ways. Common celebrations include trick-or-treating and parties where participants dress up in all sorts of scary costumes. But where can you go to celebrate Halloween? We've taken a look at a few different trips, near and far, during Halloween.
1. Halloween in Ireland
Of course, if you want to celebrate Halloween in earnest, it is Ireland that matters. Although the holiday is now celebrated all over the world, the tradition originated in Ireland, and there is probably nowhere else where Halloween is celebrated with such seriousness.
If you want to celebrate Halloween in Ireland, you can do so at Bram Stoker Festival in Dublin, on Galway Abooo Halloween Festival in Galway, at Derry Halloween in Derry or at The Halloween Howl in Kenmare, County Kerry.
2. Halloween in London
Now that Hogwarts After Dark weekend seems to be sold out, you might want to head out on a ghost tour of London instead. In addition, there will be plenty of club events and parades in the city during Halloween 2018. According to Visit London, there are also Halloween-themed museums open at night and lots of other activities, such as ghost trains, haunted houses and spooky theatre plays.
3. Halloween in Transylvania
Just the name Transylvania sounds spooky. Unfortunately, we have not been here (yet), but Transylvania is supposed to be a beautiful part of Romania. Here you will also find Bran Castle, where Count Dracula is believed to have once lived. Today the area is hardly as terrifying as it appears in Bram Stoker's book about Dracula, but the name alone sends shivers down your spine.
4. Halloween cruise
Both Viking Line and Tallink Silja are organising Halloween cruises this year. Viking Line writes that you can expect a day of ghostly atmosphere, and there will be entertainment and Best dressed competition. Tallink Silja writes that they are organising "Sweden's biggest Halloween party", with a giant dance floor on the Romantica ship to Riga. They also write that for the 8th year in a row the Baltic Sea will be visited by "demons, vampires, ghosts and evil spirits".
5. Halloween at zoos
Both Parken Zoo and Kolmården write that they have special arrangements during Halloween. Parken Zoo has extra evening opening and wonders if you dare to walk the ghost trail and Kolmården also advertises extra evening opening, with a fire show, witches, ghosts and ghouls and a roller coaster ride in the dark.
The film Halloween
This year, by the way, the American horror film Halloween, directed by David Gordon Green, will be released in the US on 19 October. The film is a kind of sequel to 1978's Bloody Night of All Saints and its sequels.
So this year's film premieres exactly 40 years after the first one! As in previous films, Halloween is about the masked killer Michael Myers and the female protagonist Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis.
Are you celebrating Halloween 2018, and if so, where?
We have a very vague plan for an exciting trip, so maybe we'll have something interesting to talk about here on the blog. If not, we'll probably hang out at home or with some friends. Do you have any plans for Halloween 2018? Have you ever been abroad for Halloween? Tell us about it!
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Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:
Halloween is not my thing. Know that the children have embraced this and that we have those who come and call for "trick or treat" so you have to have some at home and stop for them.
23 September 2018 - 8:20
Helena says:
Halloween is a somewhat new phenomenon in Sweden, so perhaps it's mostly the youngest generation that has joined the celebrations!
23 September 2018 - 15:25
diana's dreams says:
Great tips, here it will be one or rather two trips before Halloween 🙂 hugs!
23 September 2018 - 9:00
Helena says:
What fun Diana, where are you going?
23 September 2018 - 15:25
Ama de casa says:
Absolutely fantastic Halloween pictures of you 🙂
I'll probably celebrate as I usually do - Hall-o-Wine:
https://amacasa.wordpress.com/2015/10/31/traditioner-ar-till-for-att-hallas-7/
😀
Have a nice rest day!
23 September 2018 - 10:14
Helena says:
Haha, it's good that you keep up the tradition! 🙂
23 September 2018 - 15:26
Lena in Wales says:
Never celebrate Halloween. Don't like the threats from children that if they don't get candy you will be punished. Not good pedagogy. Although Halloween is probably good for businessmen.
Although I know that it is popular with many people, but not with me.
Have a nice Sunday!
23 September 2018 - 11:06
Helena says:
Aha, is that what the children say? I hardly know, because almost no one ever comes and knocks on our houseboat 😉 Wishing you a nice Sunday!
23 September 2018 - 16:20
Britt-Marie Lundgren says:
We have not embraced Halloween. I also think it's a bit of a merchant's holiday.
It is best to have some sweets at home. There may be little ghosts....
23 September 2018 - 11:56
Helena says:
Halloween has certainly been good for the traders! I've enjoyed the times we've been invited to a Halloween party or similar, but if we're not invited, we don't do anything special 😉.
23 September 2018 - 16:21
Ditte says:
I have never understood Halloween and have not embraced it. But I've been to the United States at Halloween a few times and it's something completely different there. But in Sweden it doesn't really feel like fun. Here the children have Easter when they can beg for candy....
Probably do like "Ama".
23 September 2018 - 13:39
Helena says:
In the US, the holiday seems to have really caught on!
26 September 2018 - 6:10
BP says:
That was fun! I actually didn't even know that there were Halloween trips, but now I know. If I was hungry, I would without the slightest hesitation have chosen the Hogwarts After Dark weekend, but it was sold out;-)
No, we don't celebrate Halloween.
23 September 2018 - 18:19
Helena says:
We don't have any real traditions either, but if there happens to be a celebration, I think it's fun 😉.
26 September 2018 - 6:11
Emma, sun like sun? says:
We don't normally celebrate Halloween either, but we have been to a few parties in Spain that were nice. But no, I don't think we will celebrate it this year.
I think I prefer the Swedish tradition of going to the grave and lighting a candle, maybe adding a wreath of flowers or something.
If one can/will/should even compare these traditions, i.e.
24 September 2018 - 9:27
Helena says:
I don't know how to compare either, but surely there is some kind of relationship between these holidays?
26 September 2018 - 6:12
Ann-Louise says:
I'm not really a fan of Halloween, but we will probably visit Gröna Lund's Halloween celebration just like last year, which was both cosy and a bit scary. Twenty years ago I celebrated Halloween in Oregon in the USA and it was fun. I visited a friend who had a daughter who dressed up as a cat and then we went around the neighbours and she got a lot of candy which we then helped to eat. 🙂 It was very fascinating how some people had made an effort with the decorations and turned their homes into real haunted houses.
25 September 2018 - 17:21