What does Halloween mean to you? [Spirituality & Religion]

Halloween is not our traditional feast and the form in which it is presented mocks certain type of people. This time of the year is traditionally associated with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day here. Therefore most people are used to reverent atmosphere instead of Halloween parties and cosplaying. Every year, you would encounter at least one person complaining about All Soul's day "sinking into obscurity" because of Halloween.

[i]"Booohoooo....American commercialism infiltrated our culture. Boohooo you promote evil culture and paganism... "[/i]
Which eye should I roll first? 🙄

I can't identify neither with American Halloween traditions nor traditional Christian All Souls' Day. All Souls' Day has always been prevalent, of course, but just like Christmas I never perceived it in Christian context. When I was a child I used to be excited to go to cemetery to see thousands of candle lights and breathe that special atmosphere. I loved the cold, sharp November air filled with faint smoke and the smell of paraffin wax. We always tried to persuade our parents to visit graves after the nightfall to see the lights. If we didn't it brought BIG disappointment. Another disappointment used to be full marble graves. We preferred graves with the soil on top because we loved to stick large number of small thin candles into it. Putting tea candles on marble board was less interesting. 😝
It was great fun for us when we were little. We didn't understand the true meaning of the Holiday yet.

We carved a pumpkin once or twice as well, but that's the only memory associated with Halloween I have. Our father attached it to the railing on our balcony and the carved face glowed in the dark for couple of nights. Nice memories.
(edited: Oh yes, I forgot! Another thing: we used to have this computer game called "Incredible Machine: Contraptions" where special items appeared on special days. We always rejoiced seeing Jack-O-Lantern on October 31. 😁 I loved that game.)

Unfortunately, it seems that the atmosphere of All Souls' Day as I remember it belongs to the past now. The smell of paraffin wax is replaced with weird synthetic aroma that I always associated with candies or aromatic pens.
Weird enough, I can tell you.