Halloween or Castanyada? I prefer "Castanyaloween" Hello, I am going to write about what I celebrate on the 31st of October, which is a day full of events in Catalonia. We combine Halloween and "La Castanyada", which is a very popular event here. It is said that when it's time to harvest chestnuts, the "chestnutter" (who is an old woman dressed with a long skirt and a headscarf) comes happily from the mountains with a basket full of chestnuts. She visits schools and parks and gives children toasted chestnuts in cones of newspaper. I don't really like chestnuts but their smell, the cold weather and the fallen leaves make me feel the arrival of autumn and it's great. So every 31st of October I celebrate "Castanyaloween", a scary costume dinner party with toasted chestnuts as dessert. A fantastic combination :-) This is a "castanyera" giving a child toasted chestnuts: