Halloween etiquette: a cultural perspective

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays personally. Busy office hours, social engagements, and the gravity of life give way to a holiday in which everyone can be a kid again for a day. Fanciful costumes and seriously sweet treats abound — and you can be an angel or a devil depending on what color of marabou you pick out.

However, as with all things, there is a certain set of etiquette to follow.  Here are my guidelines on how to behave during the witching hours.

Make sure your costume is culturally appropriate.

Every year there are always a bevy of culturally and racially insensitive costumes online and at every costume shop. It’s up to the consumer to use good judgment. The shock jocks among us might just be gunning for the shock factor, but please consider the feelings of others. Embodying a stereotype or joke at their expense, if even for the day, is bad manners.

If trick or treating, follow protocol.

If you’re going trick or treating, please follow the standard universal rules. Only go to homes or apartments with the porch light on, don’t take more than one piece of candy unless invited to take more, and definitely don’t walk anywhere that isn’t a pathway or driveway unless specified. Be a good Halloween citizen, this way your neighbors and friends are encouraged to participate year after year.

Understand other cultural traditions.

The day after Halloween is the beautiful Mexican holiday of Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. This is not “Mexican Halloween,” despite how your fraternity or sorority positioned it to you back at university.

Dia de los Muertos is an occasion when Mexicans and the Mexican diasporic populations take time to visit the graves, vaults, or resting places of their relatives and ancestors to give them an offering of food for their spiritual journey and take time to remember them. On the night of the 31st, celebrants prepare items for the deceased children who will be coming back.

Respect the Mexican culture and sacred elements by avoiding masquerading around the city in a bustier and your face painted as a Mexican sugar skull.  Save it for your wedding night, Mildred.

Mischaela Advani is an international etiquette expert whose knowledgebase includes instruction from protocol instructors formerly employed by the Royal Household of HRH Queen Elizabeth. She happily resides in Lakeshore East with her husband and English Bulldog.