To those of you in America, Canada and some parts of Britain, today you are celebrating Halloween.

Coming from Australia, I find the whole Halloween thing a bit bemusing. We never celebrated it at all, though there were a couple of half hearted commercial attempts to foist it upon us in the 1980's. But mostly we ignored it and concentrated instead on important things like thrashing the West Indies in the upcoming summer cricket series, getting out the barbies after the winter lay-off and gearing up for the holiday season. Somehow, it's hard to get enthusiastic about candles, witches, darkness and pumpkins when it's 32C outside and the beach beckons. I think that's largely why it failed to take off in Australia. It's just the wrong season and the attempts to introduce it had very cynical, fiscal overtones to it that rubbed people the wrong way. And then there was also a general resentment to what was viewed as the growing Americanisation of our culture.

It's rather ironic that we viewed Halloween as an American thing, when in fact the whole concept is based on an old Celtic tradition and imported to the States by the Irish immigrants. Funny that the Irish didn't bring it to Oz with them.

Now I'm in Sweden, I find the Swedes are in somewhat of a confused dilemma about the whole Halloween thing. There are shades of the negative feelings you encounter in Australia about commercial interests and the heavy hand of Americanisation of the culture, but there is also a total dog's breakfast about exactly when Halloween falls. While it has been popular in the past, recent news reports suggest that the popularity bubble has burst and it's on the way out, as yet another passing fad.

The confusion about dates arises because of the Swedes obsession for order, and that holidays ought to fall on weekends (being less disruptive to the workforce). Every other country in the world that recognises All Saint's Day, celebrates it on a fixed day every year - November 1st, making the eve before (All Hallow's Eve, now Halloween) always on October 31st. But in Sweden in the 1950's this was changed to be the nearest weekend, making the celebration of it on a varying date between November 1st and 7th. They do the same to Midsummer as well. I'm waiting for them to try it out on Christmas, but maybe that would be going too far, even for the Swedes.

This year, Alla helgons dag is next weekend, and many Swedes also believe that Halloween is next weekend as well. The guy in the apartment across the hall from us dropped over earlier in the week let us know he was having a party last night and to apologise in advance for any noise etc. I asked if it was a Halloween party and he looked at me quite confused and said "No. Halloween is on the 6th, isn't it?" And yesterday I noticed that one of the local pubs is having it's Halloween costume party next Saturday as well. When I point out that Halloween is actually a fixed date, they shrug their shoulders.

There is a significant number of Swedes who are very anti-Halloween. Some of this is because All Saint's Day is observed as a day of remembrance of the dead, where people bring flowers and candles to the graves of loved ones. It is a beautiful, moving sight to visit a cemetary in Sweden on Alla helgons dag and see this beautiful sea of lights interspersed between the trees. It is even more lovely on Christmas Eve, where the snow covered ground reflects these thousands of pools of lights.

Those Swedes who hate Halloween point to this "old tradition" and resentment at the whole Trick or Treat, costumes etc as a travesty. But they must have short memories, because in fact this tradition only began in the 1950's when significant numbers of Swedes began to travel to the southern Mediterranean this time of year to escape the autumn gloom and were able to observe the Spanish and Italian customs of candlelight for the dead. This was brought back to Sweden and has quickly taken off. Most Swedes who I've said this to simply don't believe me, but it's true. While the idea of All Saint's Day does date back centuries to a time when Sweden was a Catholic country, the bringing wreaths and candles to the graves is only 50 years old.

You might say that this new tradition is quite new and widely accepted and as culture is never a stagnant, rigid thing, why not incorporate the Halloween tradition? After all, despite its huge popularity in the US, it's not that old of a tradition there either. The first instance of a Halloween celebration was recorded in Anoka, Minnesota in 1921. New York began celebrating the holiday in 1923 and Los Angeles caught on in 1925. And the rest as they say, is history.

So what is wrong with incorporating this in Sweden? Well, apart from the date confusion, another strike against Halloween here is that it wasn't like the graveside candles, which were seen by people and then gradually became accepted. The impetus came from lolly makers and party suppliers looking to cash in on what they saw as a lucrative and as yet untapped market. And as in Australia, this irritated the Swedes quite a bit, who saw it as a simple cynical money grabbing exercise.

I'm not sure if it's an urban legend or not, but many Swedish sources I looked at while researching for this cited 1997 as the year that Halloween first appeared in Sweden. And the reason they often give was that Buttericks, a shop in Stockholm was accidentally sent a large shipment of Halloween goods and rather than lose money on it, they tried to generate some enthusiasm for it as a party time. They have had some success with the young, club going set. They see Halloween as a time to have a party, dress up in a scary costume etc. The younger kids are not really into it at all. Some tried the trick or treating, but it's never taken off as a family holiday in the same way as in the States. Sweden also has a version of trick or treat at Easter (the Easter witches that come around on the Thursday before Easter) so people are happy to confine it to Easter and not have another one now. In general, the Swedes are also fairly protective of their privacy and the idea of sending your kids around the neighbourhood to collect lollies from others is just not the done thing. Remember this is the country where you can live for years in an apartment building without ever knowing who your neighbours are.

This makes it hard for the American and Canadian expats here who miss the whole Halloween spirit. I've learned a great deal about Halloween by just observing the thrill and excitement of these guys as they make their preparations. There was so much more to the holiday than I ever thought possible. One of my American friends here summed it by saying:

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, actually. Partly, it's the season, as autumn has always been my favorite time of year. Partly it's the thrill of being up late, out in the darkness and the swirling leaves, running through the neighborhood, scaring and being scared. Partly it's the candy, a huge bag to hoard and pick over and trade with siblings. Partly, it's the dressing up, thinking of creative and fun costumes (can't settle for the traditional scary Halloween staples). Partly it's the trappings: the glowing jack-o-lanterns, the scarecrows, the black cats with arched backs, the full moon. :)

It sounds like so much fun, I can understand why they miss it so much. So to all my many friends here and all over the world, I wish you a Happy Halloween!