US celebrates Halloween but not all hallows day

In the Philippines, we didn’t celebrate Halloween, what we commemorated was Hallowmas, popularly known as All Saints’ Day. But now because of the strong influence of the Americans, many village residents decorate their homes with Halloween motifs. The good thing about the celebration is the practice of children going from house to house asking for trick or treat, meaning that you give them something or they will play a trick on you. What we like about the celebration is that it is not the children of the village residents that go from house to house, it is the children of the security guards, the drivers, gardeners, cooks and domestic helpers that get the special treat. The role of the children in the homes is to give their disadvantaged brothers a Halloween treat. Actually Halloween is a relatively new celebration even in the United States.

Here is what a book on American festivals has to say on Halloween:

"Until the mid-nineteenth century, Halloween was not generally recognized as being a holiday worthy of celebration in the United States. Even today, of course, it is observed solely as an evening affair and is considered something suitable for children only. An ancient festival day, it has its roots in the most pagan of Roman rites and Druidic customs. Held on the last day of October each year, Halloween derives its name from later Christian associations, and has been stripped of most sinister connotations. Literally the name means the eve or evening before All Hallows Day, November 1st, a time set apart on the Christian calendar for honoring departed souls. Until early in the twentieth century, the holiday was most often spelled ‘Hallowe’en, a logical abbreviation of Hallow-even.

"America’s earliest settlers from England, staunch Protestants, did not think much of Druids, the Romans and their gods, or followers of the Roman Catholic faith. Even the traditional Church of England discouraged the practice of praying for departed souls and the ringing of church bells to somehow assist disembodied spirits in their ascent from earthly haunts or purgatory to heavenly spheres. It all smacked of the Devil and his works. This is not to say, however, that the average Protestant settler did not entertain notions considered just as peculiar today as those held by the Catholic. Belief in witchcraft was widespread, and in New England reached a particularly ugly stage in the late seventeenth century. That there were also various kinds of spooks and hobgoblins at work in the world was no doubt a widely held popular notion. It was not, however, until the arrival of immigrants from such a traditionally Roman Catholic area as Ireland that the custom of celebrating Halloween came into any sort of general practice."

During the war, we evacuated to Batangas and we recall seeing a folk version of trick-or-treat. The celebration was called mangaluluwa where children portraying departed souls went from house to house asking for alms. Those who did not give alms had their chickens or potted plants stolen and the practice was called kalulwahin. We wonder if this folk Halloween celebration survives in the rural areas.