Does India have Halloween?
Not observed here
India gives Halloween no official standing, and 31 October in India is already fully occupied by something else. That date is Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, National Unity Day, marking the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India's first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister; the government declared it in 2014 and it has been observed every year since. The Press Information Bureau's account is specific: the day runs on the Run for Unity and the Unity March, with more than ten central ministries, state governments, schools, colleges and youth organisations taking part. It was on this day in 2015 that the Prime Minister announced the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme for structured contact between people of different regions. The 2025 edition was larger than usual because it fell on Patel's 150th birth anniversary, with the Prime Minister at Ekta Nagar, Kevadia, in Gujarat. So ask an Indian what 31 October is and the answer is usually a pledge and a run, not a costume night. Halloween does exist in India, but as private parties, bar promotions and English-medium school events in the big cities. We found no advisory or announcement on Halloween from any Indian government body.
What is this topic?
No country on this board has made Halloween on 31 October a public holiday. What differs is how far each government goes anyway. The United States leaves it out of the federal holiday statute, yet the FDA polices costume contact lenses as medical devices and one Ohio city moves trick-or-treating to 29 October in 2026. Japan has no national rule at all and two Tokyo wards with ordinances of their own — one of whose mayors published a request that people stay away. Brazil never gave the day off, and then legislated a rival festival onto the very same date.
Sources and dates
Dates follow local time zones, calendars, and official notices. Check the source when a date is estimated or locally variable.