Halloween in South America: Spanish words and phrases

Two calendars share these words. Día de las Brujas, dulces and máscara belong to the newer night of the 31st, and the bakery words belong to 2 November in the Andes. In Quito in late October a bakery window sells both.

Door phrases are fixed formulas, like trick or treat in English, and each country has its own: triqui triqui in Colombia, dulce o truco further south. You only need to recognise them; the children do the asking.

Instructions to a group of children use the ustedes command, as in no se suelten and no acepten. Across Latin America ustedes is the only plural you, so the same form works for children, friends and strangers.

Signs here mostly use the South American words, such as feriado for a public holiday, and in the north of the continent times in a.m. and p.m. Spotting which habit a sign uses tells you a lot about where you are.

In Colombia the 31st is mostly for children: costumes, school parties and shopping centres that hand out sweets, with parents close by. Many adults go to costume parties too, and the cities treat it as one of the busiest nights of the year.

Since 1944, 31 October in Peru has also been the Día de la Canción Criolla, a day for the creole music of the coast, its waltzes and festejos. Some Peruvians keep it instead of Halloween, and in Lima both happen the same night.

In Ecuador, Bolivia and the Peruvian highlands, 1 and 2 November are for the dead. In Ecuador families drink colada morada with guaguas de pan. In Bolivia they set a table for the souls with bread figures called tantawawas, bread ladders for the souls to climb, sugar cane and the dead person's favourite food; by tradition the souls arrive at midday on 1 November and leave at midday on the 2nd.