TexasSwede

Even if I am not originally from the US, and we don't celebrate Halloween the same way as here, I do enjoy it. Especially carving pumpkins. I found a cool website, ExtremePumpkins.com with lot of tips and pictures, where you also could get some inspiration.

Last year I created a stormtrooper helmet from Star Wars for my son, who is a big Star Wars fan. I have not decided what to do this year...

In Sweden, Halloween (or All Saint's Eve) is a more somber celebration of the dead, celebrated on the first Saturday of November. People go to the cemetaries and light candles on the graves of family and friends. It is a very special thing to see a cemetary covered in thousands of burning candle in a pitch black night. The last few years, people have "imported" the US kind of Halloween (just like they imported Valentine's Day) and throw parties and dress up. Traditionally, young Swedish girls dress up at witches the day before Good Friday and do a kind of "trick-or-treat", getting candy in exchange for hand painted/drawn Easter cards. This tradition obviously comes form the medivial believe that the witches left Maundy Thursday (the day before Good Friday) to fly away for a witch sabbath (where they eat, drink and fornicate) with the devil (usually said to take place at Blåkulla) a on the most sacred christian day of the year.