Traditions Without Borders: Galandar, Halloween and Shared Human Values

This ErasmusDays activity invites students to explore the history and cultural transformation of Halloween while discovering an unexpected local comparison: the traditional Galandar/Kalandar customs of the Eastern Black Sea region of Türkiye.
The activity is designed as a cultural and educational experience rather than a Halloween celebration. Participants will examine common misconceptions about Halloween, learn about its historical development and discuss the difference between historical origins, religious traditions and contemporary secular cultural practices.
Students will then compare selected features of Halloween with Galandar/Kalandar, a traditional winter and New Year custom documented in parts of the Eastern Black Sea region. Through costumes, house visits, songs, food sharing, games and community interaction, Galandar provides an interesting local example of how traditional celebrations can bring people together and strengthen social bonds.
The comparison will not present the two traditions as identical. Instead, students will investigate how different societies can develop similar social practices and values, such as hospitality, sharing, community, friendship, storytelling and cooperation.
The event will include a “Myth or History?” quiz, a Halloween–Galandar comparison wall, multilingual vocabulary challenges, a language-learning door-to-door role-play, a cultural values station and a final creative poster activity.
Foreign language learning will be integrated throughout the event. Students will learn and use vocabulary related to traditions, seasons, community, hospitality and celebration in English, Turkish and other European languages. They will also investigate interesting linguistic connections between words such as “calendar” and “kalandar”.
The activity is designed with respect for Türkiye’s cultural and religious sensitivities. It does not include religious worship, occult practices or fortune-telling. Its purpose is to develop historical awareness, intercultural understanding, critical thinking, respect for cultural diversity and communication skills.
The final message of the activity is:
“Different traditions, different histories, different languages — but many shared human values.”
Through this approach, ErasmusDays becomes an opportunity not simply to learn about another culture, but to discover our own cultural heritage, question stereotypes and communicate across languages and borders.