Halloween-From Door to Door, From Country to Country

As I am sure was the case with most, the news regarding this premature snowstorm came as a shock to me.  Still several thousand miles away from West Orange, my sympathies went out to the thousands of residents who experienced an inconvenience that at one time would have affected me. Upon receiving a facebook message from my parents in regards to their inactive telephone, I nearly laughed at the unlikelihood of the situation, having to read it several times before confirming that it was in fact a reality. The plausibility of a late October blizzard confining an entire neighborhood to their pitch black homes seemed nothing greater than a practical joke.

This news, I came to realize, was only a fragment of the story.  I soon heard something that, in twenty four years on this planet, I never thought possible-Halloween had been postponed to a later date. In my universe, holidays were just that, and could not and would not be changed. It was something I had never discussed with anyone, for it was something that never even came to mind.  I could not imagine being a child preparing for my free night at the candy store, costume and all, to be told that I now had to wait another seven days.

This concept seemed so foreign to me. Having a snow day in October, as well as rescheduling the night of trick-or-treating, are not childhood memories that I can look back on. The kids of this generation will surely remember the year when the night of the 31^st, a seemly unchangeable date that every kid counts down to each year, was not the night they went door to door but rather stayed inside due to a physical impossibility of opening theirs. This, of course, is with an exception of the rebel trick-or-treaters who, despite the mayor’s orders did in fact hit Main Street.  Those kids may look back on the Halloween of ’11 as the night they took part in an anarchic process.

But while citizens of my hometown were watching their streets fill up with the autumn snow, I was enjoying my Korean Halloween experience for the third year straight. While trick-or-treating is not practiced in these neighborhoods, it does not mean that expats and natives alike pass up an excuse to take advantage of what Korea truly is-a nation that never sleeps.

Every year I go to Seoul to celebrate this festive holiday, and every year I enter a tremendous whirlwind of colors and sounds; the different flashes of neon from the lights which swallow Seoul year round, combined with the barrage of costumes, ranging anywhere from the bright red bows of Minnie Mouse to the bright orange jumpsuits of Ghostbusters; the bright yellow faces of Bananas in Pajamas to the hunter green walking piece of kimbap. Kimbap, should one be unaware, is rice wrapped in seaweed-one of the most renowned treats in Korea. Dressing up as one for Halloween involves green and white felt, as well as an unlimited amount of creativity and patience.  One might be surprised to see how many are capable of constructing such an outfit.

This kaleidoscope of clothing nicely compliments the floods of music that bounce from wall to wall. From So Nyeo Shi Dae’s “Bad Girl” to Michael Jackson’s “Ghost”, dancing the night away is no rare occasion to the night clubs of Seoul. Should one want to find the height of cross cultural Halloween celebration, look no further than Hongdae. Surrounding the famous Hongik University, this metropolis of a college town welcomes people of all backgrounds.

A melting pot of foreigners and natives, this is one of the great places in Seoul for different cultures to unite.  By and large, the country of Korea is extremely homogenous, and in certain regions still close minded when it comes to accepting foreigners.  Hongdae, however, is certainly an exception, one of the places which in a bizarre way reminds me of West Orange, a city whose diversity I cherish so deeply.

As the people of West Orange experienced a very different Halloween than they were used to, I experienced one that, while radically different than the American experience, has after three years become quite familiar to me. While the trick-or-treaters will hit the streets next Monday to celebrate a Halloween that never happened, I may have to revisit Hongdae this weekend to reconvene with a subculture that I have grown to love so much.