Halloween is celebrated on the night of October 31, most notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting sweets. Halloween originated among the Celts in Ireland, Britain and France as the Pagan Celtic harvest festival, Samhain and now it has become a part of American pop culture.
The festival has recently become popular with children and young people in Pakistan and is especially celebrated in Lahore with delicious food and music. The Daily Times carries a report on Haloween preparations in Lahore:
Yaseen Salman, an event organizer, said that Pakistanis had localized Halloween. Children in the West went trick-or-treating door-to-door in fancy costumes, he said, but Pakistanis arranged get-togethers, dance parties, concerts and sometimes horror shows. Restaurants and cafes also arrange special events to celebrate the festival. Saleem Aslam from Cafe Nouvelle on MM Alam Road said the cafe had arranged a number of games to celebrate Halloween. Only couples would be allowed in the restaurant on the night, he said, “to prevent trouble”….
The dress code had been decided, Saleem said, and caramel mouse cakes, apples in sweet syrup and cocoa butter with icing sugar were the new arrivals at Halloween. Mehreen Syed, a model, said she had been invited by a number of friends which showed that the western festival was now becoming popular in Pakistan. “Black, orange, purple, green and red are the common colors on Halloween accompanied by scary masks,” she said. Popular model Neha said she celebrated the event in a casual way. “I hang out with friends, go out for dinner or arrange a Halloween party at my house.”
Like so many other western cultural the trend, Halloween is becoming popular in Pakistan. What is your take on this?
S A J Shirazi is a Lahore (Pakistan) based writer. His blog is called Light Within, where a version of this post first appeared.
It’s way beyond my understanding as to why we have to bring religion and faith into everything we do for our enjoyment. There seems to be so little in terms of entertainment in the land of the pure that its no surprise that people (especially younger ones) turn to anything entertaining – whether its basant, holi, mehndi’s at weddings, Turkey dinners at christmas,new year’s eve (which fyi is banned in public places), valentine’s day,and now Haloween.
So as far as I’m concerned- enjoy and have fun celebrating whatever there is to celebrate, including eed, (but please don’t greet people with a “Happy Eid Mubarak”).
So – trick or treat all you want folks.
Why do we over analyze the roots so much, cause if we do then we should go all the way and then what do we see? We all originated from the same source. Today (post fall of the Berlin wall, post 9/11 & current South Asian economic boom) we will decide what external elements we may welcome and which once should be blocked based on the rational and the contribution to a healthy & conscious society aligned with the rest of the world.
In my personal opinion as long as people are not breaking the law or doing anything unethical, let there be fun and joy…(it sure beats the alternatives)…
I think I need to clarify my earlier comment. I said Basant is “allegedly” a Hindu festival. Actually, it is not. It’s a Punjabi festival and marks the beginning of spring season and the blooming of miles and miles of mustard fields.
Contrary to what some people say, Basant has nothing to with religion. If it were a Hindu festival it would be celebrated all over India, Nepal and wherever Hindus live, which it is not. It is celebrated mainly in the Punjab, both East and West. Basant is a truly native festival — native to Punjab, that is.
On the other hand Valentine’s Day and Halloween are recent imports like MacDonald’s burgers and KFC’s fried chicken. I personally do not celebrate any of the two occasions(or eat any of the two foods — for health reasons), but do not mind if others do. It has nothing to do with religion. After all, we celebrate our children’s birthdays. Don’t we? Didn’t that tradition also come from the West?
@Suleman – There was no intention to say the Prophet’s Sunnah is the equal of Pagan customs. I just meant to state that whenever new religious or social revolutions take place they do not automatically cancel everything that the society practices. Some concepts are allowed to continue if they are not harmful or contradictory to the principles of the new ideology. Circumcision was an old custom and was considered good enough to be encouraged by the Prophet. Hajj, too, was an old custom and practiced by many Pagan tribes. In this particular case the Qur’an itself affirmed that it be continued. However, the methodology and some of the ‘arkaan’ were altered – naturally – since the various idols involved in the pagan practices had no place in Islam.
For the record Zakintosh, please don’t attempt to compare a pagan custom with the sunnah of the Prophet. I don’t know about you, but muslims are supposed to follow and abide by the teachings of the Quran and hadith (sunnah of the Prophet) so if you are attempting to imply that is the same as cultural influence and not a religious act of circumcision your quite WRONG. Islam emphasizes cleansiness and male cicrumcision is contributing to that cleansiness as suggested by our Prophet. It is fitrah.
Enough said on male circumcision.