Halloween In Almerimar
October 6th, 2008 - Chris MarshallOf all the celebrations that have evolved since I was a kid Halloween must be one of the most impressive! When I was growing up what we had to look forward to was a evening of ‘trick or treat’ dressed in some home made ‘scary’ costume knocked up my Mum the night before. It was all innocent and harmless, but we thought it daring and exciting.
Having no children of our own we tend to end up totally underprepared for these type of events, and have been terribly embarrassed by the knock on the door in recent years as we have had no ‘treats’ to give. Don’t get me wrong, we would happily give, but as we never have sweets etc in the house I am not sure that a Nature’s Choice cereal bar, or a handful of Walnuts is what the kids have in mind, and as for the concept of a trick ……. I think it is all treat these days??
Anyway as we move into Halloween month I got to thinking about how they celebrated it in Spain. In the UK they have tended to follow the patter of the US over the years and move towards a much more family and adult type of event with the onus very much on parties and dressing up in Halloween costumes that tend to vary from the more ‘mature’ sexy costumes to the amazing Kids costumes that you can now hire.
In Spain Halloween is known as “El Dia de los Muertos”, and as with most things in Spain is a excuse for a good 3 day fiesta to remember and celebrate friends and family that have died. The celebrations commence on the evening of the 31st and close with All Souls Day on the 2nd November.
Tradition has it that the dead return to their homes on Halloween so families often construct alters decorated with sweets, flowers, photographs and samples of the dead persons favourite things. Rather like leaving things out for Santa at Christmas in the UK, a basin of water and a towel are often left out for the returning dead person to have a wash before eating, and in general the graves of the deceased are given a good clean up.
On the 2nd November it is popular to have a picnic around the newly cleaned grave, and I read that it is now becoming more and more popular to hire American Halloween costume for these Picnics, which seems a little bizarre to me?
What are your Halloween plans? All I intend to do is remember to buy in enough ‘treats’ this year!!!!!
About Almerimar
Almerimar is located in the region of Andalucia, Spain. The nearest airport is 30km away in Almeria. Other airports that are within 3 hours include Malaga, Murcia, Granada, and Alicanti. Other holiday resorts in the region include Mojacar , Aguadulce and Roquetas de Mar
Almerimar is a great place to live as an expat amongst the expats, or to work amongst the Spanish. There are all kinds of properties including villas, apartments and town houses for rent or sale. It is a very traditional part of Spain, with traditional Spanish foods so if you plan to travel to Spain either to look for jobs, for your company to trade with companies in Spain, or to learn Spanish and enjoy the Spanish weather then come and take a look.
If you are interested in purchasing a property in Almerimar please visit our sponsors Mediterraspain. If you have purchased a property and need it furnished please check out our Sponsors DBJ who will give you a Exclusive 5% discount with the code AL2008.
If you want an amazing activity based day out in the mountains and to learn how to ride a motorcycle off road then check out our sponsor The Long Way Round and get 5% off with the code AL2008.
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Almerimar is also one of the largest marinas in Spain with over 2,000 births and excellent boatyard facilities.
I also recall that we had to administer a few tricks (or was it that we wanted to!!) with taking gates off gate posts a favourite.
February 14th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Kids Costume…
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June 28th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
[...] recently wrote about the way in which Spain celebrates Halloween over on our Almerimar Life blog and it got me wondering as to how it is celebrated where you [...]