About Sicily

Is Halloween celebrated in Sicily?

I read many posts asking what to do on the night that the globalized world calls “Halloween.” In Sicily, Halloween does NOT EXIST.

In Sicily, we celebrate the Day of the Dead, or the “Feast of the Dead.” Our celebration where we wear costumes and masks is Carnival in February. Our authentic version of this day was also a kind of “Christmas Day.” The gifts were simple things, little presents that brought smiles to the children.

I tried, not easily, to translate an article by our famous Sicilian writer Camilleri, who beautifully describes what this tradition meant for Sicilians.

“Until 1943, on the night between November 1st and 2nd, every Sicilian house with a child would be filled with their deceased relatives. Not ghosts in white sheets clanking chains, mind you, not the frightening ones, but just like those seen in photographs displayed in the living room—worn, with a half-smile on their faces, dressed in their best clothes. Kids, before going to bed, would place a wicker basket under the bed (the size varied depending on the family’s finances) that our beloved “dead” would fill with sweets and gifts during the night, which we would find on the morning of the 2nd upon waking.

Excited and sweaty, we struggled to fall asleep: we wanted to see them, our dead relatives, as they gently came to the bed, caressed us, and picked up the basket. After a restless sleep, we would wake at dawn to begin our search. The dead wanted to play/joke with us, so they would not put the basket back where they found it; instead, they would hide it carefully, and we had to search house by house. I will never forget the heart-pounding thrill of discovery when I found the basket overflowing on top of a wardrobe or behind a door. The toys included tin trains, wooden cars, rag dolls, and wooden blocks that formed landscapes. I was 8 years old when my grandfather Giuseppe, long implored in my prayers, brought me the mythical Meccano from the afterlife, and out of joy, I developed a slight fever.

The sweets were the ritual ones, called “the sweets of the dead”: marzipan shaped and painted to look like fruit, “branches of apple trees” made of flour and honey, “mustazzola” made from cooked wine, and other delights like “viscotti regina,” “tetù,” and “carcagnette.” There was always a “sugar doll,” usually depicting a soldier with a trumpet or a colorful dancer in a dance pose. At some point in the morning, well-groomed and dressed nicely, we would go with our families to the cemetery to greet and thank the dead. For kids, it was a celebration, and we would run along the paths to meet friends and schoolmates. (…)

On November 2nd, we returned the visit that the dead had made to us the day before: it was not a ritual but a loving custom. Then, in 1943, with the arrival of American soldiers, the Christmas tree also came, and slowly, year after year, the dead “lost the way” that brought them into the homes where their children or grandchildren awaited them, happy and awake to the brink. What a shame. We lost the chance to physically touch that thread that connects our personal history to that of those who preceded us (…)”.

Enjoy Our Sicily, Enjoy Our authentic traditions