Gau Beltza or Arimen Gaua, the Basque Halloween
- Basque
- 2025 Sep 08
A festival celebrated in the Basque Country long before Halloween existed
On October 31, throughout the Basque Country, Gau Beltza (Black Night) or Arimen Gaua (Night of Souls) is celebrated — a night where mystery, magic, and fear take center stage.
Many people believe that Halloween is a holiday imported from the United States, foreign to our traditions. However, that’s not the case: for centuries these celebrations have been deeply rooted in the Basque Country, though they faded over the last few decades and are now regaining strength.
In the past, the Night of Souls marked the arrival of winter and served to remember ancestors. According to ancient beliefs, on that night the worlds of the living and the dead would meet.
Children would dress up in sheets and old clothes and carry hollowed-out pumpkins with a candle inside. With them, they illuminated the night, frightened passersby, and at the same time guided the souls of the departed with their small light.
In the second half of the 20th century, this custom began to disappear, but in recent years it has reemerged in many towns. In Donostia / San Sebastián, for example, neighborhood associations and cultural groups organize costume parades, storytelling, pumpkin workshops, street performances, music, and dance.
Today, the Night of Souls is a very special occasion to come together, revive our oral tradition, and welcome the winter. Under the glow of the pumpkins and to the rhythm of popular songs, children and young people rediscover the richness of our culture, bringing together darkness and light, past and present.
