When second year law student Yossef Alsaeed came from Saudi Arabia, he had never heard of Halloween.
“We have totally different holidays, which are mostly family holidays,” Alsaeed said.
He said the first time he got invited to a Halloween party he didn’t dress up because he didn’t know that dressing up was associated with the holiday. Since then, it has become a tradition for him to celebrate Halloween.
This year he joined in the festivities at the Halloween Spooktacular event hosted by the International Students Association and the University Activities Board Friday night.
“I love Halloween; it’s my favorite holiday here in the United States because there (are) a lot of activities, I would say,” Alsaeed said.
ISA President Symbat Payayeva said she is keen on encouraging international students to experience American culture while they’re living here, since they will be in the country for only four years in most cases.
Payayeva , an economics and political science senior, said she didn’t care much about celebrating Halloween her first two years of school and only started celebrating it her junior year.
“I look at people and they’re having fun so I say, ‘why not?’” she said.
Back in her home country of Kazakhstan, young people sometimes celebrate it, but it’s not that huge of a celebration.
She said since she is from a Muslim country, Halloween is not observed as a holiday and is “kind of prohibited” in certain circles.
Similarly, in China, young people also sometimes celebrate Halloween by dressing up and going out to dinner with friends, said communication sophomore Anqi Qu.
Qu decided to experience the holiday by decorating a pumpkin for the first time.
First year graduate student in literature and native of China Lareina Wang was also experiencing Halloween for the first time through pumpkin decorating.
She said there is a similar festival in China during which people remember and commemorate the dead, but unlike Halloween, it is not festive.
“People go to (the tombs) to give all the best of wishes to the dead and they burn paper crafts to honor the dead,” Wang said.
In addition to decorating pumpkins, students at the event took part in tarot card readings, palm readings, a costume contest, dancing and a haunted house.
Jordan Hensley , one of UAB’s four event directors, said the board is aiming to include more international students in their events this year. That is why they decided to reach out to ISA this year.
“So I found out that (ISA) did a haunted house last year so it was great for (building) relationships and they had a lot of ideas and there are a lot of people who can help,” she said.
Payayeva said in addition to Halloween being a chance to be someone else for a day, celebrating it is also a good “break.”
“It’s a break from school, I think, especially because there’s a lot of stress,” she said.
