Now that both of our kids can walk and put up with some degree of shenanigans, we decided to do the full Halloween thing this year.

Halloween is a holiday that was non-existent in Germany 20 years ago and has been slowly gaining popularity over the past few years. I’m not sure how it got started here officially, but I’m sure it had something to do with all of the American media (TV and movie) influence here, where Germans watch their favorite comedy and horror stars decorate and enjoy Halloween festivities.

I’d never been a huge Halloween celebrater, but did enjoy dressing up and going to Halloween parties at college and, well, having kids changes everything, too. Holidays are even more fun when you can also see your kids getting into to them and having fun too!

Since the holiday is still in the starting blocks, a lot of the associated traditions have a long way to go to in reaching widespread adherence and acceptance, and some have yet to even arrive.

Our jack-o-lanterns this year, the top silly face and angry baby face being special requests from our toddler…

Pumpkin carving is one tradition that has arrived, with more and more houses every year proudly display their jack-o-lanterns on their doorsteps. What hasn’t really caught on yet it the stencils, so most designs are a basic, roughly-cut face.

Getting a pumpkin in the first place is a bit different experience over here, though, especially for families. There appears to be more different varieties of pumpkins grown here, probably because the “carving kind” has not been needed much yet. Two years ago, my husband and I went to get pumpkins from a local farmer who had a vegetable stand by the road. We saw some nice big ones, but they had a lighter exterior, meaning they may be different in the inside, too. Our suspicions were confirmed – the flesh was like 4 inches thick, making them impossible to carve, but very tasty for pie…

We also have yet to find an actual pumpkin patch in our area where you can choose a pumpkin directly from the field, not to mention a patch with family-friendly activities and decorations! Some apple orchards south of town are on their way toward fun for the whole family around apple picking season, offering toys, wagons and quizes positioned arouns the orchard grounds. But pumpkin farmers and entrepreneurs have yet to catch on, a trend that may appear since more locals are carving pumpkins year for year.

Wearing costumes is definitely part of the fun of Halloween, over here too, but there is one difference. Here it is widely expected that your costume will be something scary or evil (witch, skeleton, devil, etc.). Anyone I’ve talked to is not aware that in the States, you can dress up as anything you want! A logical explanation could be that Germans have another holiday that they dress up for as anything they want – carnival! So maybe Germans want to just focus on scary costumes since their need for other silliness is fulfilled in the springtime?

Decorations are also more widespread in America than in Germany, but more and more Germans are also jumping on the bandwagon. I was surprised by how many houses in our village neighborhood had not only carved pumpkins, but also other not only scary but tasteful fall and Halloween decorations.

Trick or treating is probably the biggest draw for Germans to celebrate Halloween, or at least for their kids. This tradition has really picked up in the past 5 years. While almost no trick or treaters were seen on the streets before that, this year, the first year we went with our kids, almost every house in the neighborhood we went to had bowls of goodies waiting for us at the door! We were afraid that maybe only 2 out of 3 houses would have something. Even an older couple, who I wasn’t sure were 100% aware what was going on, was delighted to see our kids in their costumes and managed to fish some sweets out of their kitchen.

Even more surprising, a number of the people even pretended to be scared of us or answered the door with a mask on! Granted, this was a neighborhood with mostly newer houses and families, which we picked for this reason, assuming that they (of anyone) would be prepared for the holiday. We sure guessed right and our trick or treat adventure as “pioneers of the holiday”, as my husband called us, was a success!

Side note: I also learned about an old and dying northern German and Danish tradition called Rummelpott, where kids dress up as anything they want and collect candy door-to-door on New Year’s Eve. They are required to first sing a song or recite a poem in an old Germanic language called plattdeutsch, or low German. Ouch. Luckily our kids just had to say “Süßes oder Saueres” (sweets or something sour) at the door…

Halloween parties seem to be the first thing that arrived over here, but not really something for kids. When I was in Freiburg for my exchange year at the university there, a griup of us did go to a Halloween-themed party at the student complex where we were living, but I remember almost all of our European friends not really knowing much of anything about it. Just waiting for kids Halloween parties to arrive now, although I did see one ad in a Facebook expat group for one in downtown Hamburg this year…

A big win for celebrating Halloween in Northern Germany started two years ago, when the day was declared an official holiday, Reformation Day, to honor 500 years of protestant reformation. This means everyone is home to open the door for ghosts and goblins, boo! Many areas have All Saints’ Day as an official holiday on November 1st, but besides decorating the graves of beloved relatives, there are no traditions associated with this.

One last thought: Some Germans roll their eyes at the introduction of Halloween into their culture, which makes sense. It’s not something embedded in their culture, so it’s easy to be critical or cynical, especially if their own similar traditions, like Rummelpott, are dying out. While I also would never want Halloween to replace any local traditions and appreciate local culture, I personally also have nothing against a little extra piece of home being around come the end of October each year….