Although Halloween isn’t exactly a traditional Indonesian holiday, many people across the archipelago nation have taken to celebrating it, especially in places like Jakarta and Bali where the Western influence is heavy and you find lots of bule (foreigners) living there. It’s becoming more and more common to finding Halloween parties in English classrooms, restaurants, and bars.

Indonesian kids celebrating Halloween at school. Photo by Marie from flickr.com.

While some words about the holiday are exactly the same in Indonesian as they are in English (Halloween, zombie, monster), there are plenty that are different. Here are 25 Indonesian words about Halloween for you to study:

• costume = kostum
• costume party = pesta kostum
• bobbing for apples = mengambil apel di dalam air dengan mulut
• carve/display pumpkins = mengukir/memajang labu
• jack-o-lantern = labu seram
• scary = seram
• spooky/frightening = menakutkan
• horror movie = film horor
• candy = permen
• caramel apple = apel karamel
• apple cider = sari buah apel
• trick-or-treat = “Beri kami (permen) atau kami jahili.”
• haunted house = rumah berhantu
• spider = laba-laba
• bat = kelelawar
• witch = nenek sihir
• owl = burung hantu
• vampire = vampir
• skeleton = kerangka
• ghost = hantu
• black cat = kucing hitam
• mummy = mumi
• werewolf = manusia serigala
• goblin = jin
• scarecrow = orang-orangan sawah

Although Halloween is just for fun in Indonesia, ghosts and spirits are no laughing matter here. Indonesia is full of creepy ghosts and elaborate stories surrounding them. One example is Kuntilanak, the spirit of a woman who died while pregnant. She then wanders around aimlessly looking for her child, preying on unsuspecting passers-by. A similarly terrifying male ghost is Genderuwo, which is a result of a man dying an untimely death as a result of unnatural causes. These horrid spirits are known to haunt and terrorize women. Supposedly both of them make an appearance in a video on YouTube. See for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJR9GOPx5Hc

Horror films are also quite popular in Indonesia, with many of them based on traditional ghost stories such as the ones mentioned above. These types of movies actually do quite well, and are often at the top of the box office charts at the end of the year. If you’re interested in watching a few, check out this article which describes ten of the best Indonesian horror films from the 2000s. For a more recent one, check out the trailer for “Badoet,” a downright spooky clown movie.

If you’d prefer a bit of laughter with your scary movies, you might prefer “Hantu Juga Selfie” (“Ghosts Take Selfies Too”):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlhkm163X9k

If you’re in Indonesia and are looking for some costume ideas that would relate to the local culture, the folks over at Coconuts Jakarta have put together some ideas – five costumes for women and four for men – based on Indonesian horror films.