There's no Halloween in Malawi

They've never heard of it. So today, I decided to bring the celebrations to the office. We finished work an hour early and had candy, soft drinks, and a special Halloween cake I brought from the U.S. (from a mix - cheating, I know).

I explained that in the U.S. on this day, children get dressed up in costumes and go to people's houses to ask for candy. I could not say why. My colleagues asked me:

• "What kind of costumes" - I said "Scary, or silly. The boys like the scary costumes and the girls like to be princesses."
• "Does everyone celebrate this holiday?" - "I don't think Jehovah's Witnesses observe it."
• "What are these things in the cake?" - "They're chocolate sprinkles. The orange ones are for pumpkins, which we make lanterns out of, and the black ones are for...bats and witches." (This got some strange looks).
• "Do you have any more holidays we can celebrate?" - "We can have a party for Thanksgiving next month!"
• "What do you do for Thanksgiving?" - "Um, we eat. A lot." (It was agreed that this was a holiday worth celebrating).