Every 31 October, Brazil sees pumpkins in shop windows, fancy-dress parties and, at the same time, red caps recalling the Saci, a one-legged trickster from Brazilian folklore. In recent years the date has also reached municipal councils, with a law that bans Halloween in municipal schools and a bill that would do the same. This post brings together what is known about how the festival arrived in the country, what the law and the bill say, and how the Dia do Saci (Saci Day) came about. For those who follow the Wheel of the Year in the southern hemisphere, there is also a reminder about the calendar.
The origin of Samhain and of the Irish traditions is not covered here. It is on the Samhain page.
How Halloween reached Brazil
The festival came from the United States. In 2012, a report in the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo summed up its path (quotations translated from the Portuguese): Halloween “arrived in Brazil in force in the 1990s”, “hitching a ride on the spread of English-language schools”, with “a little push from television and retail”. The same report described parties in gated residential complexes in Greater São Paulo, with children trick-or-treating door to door, and a party-supplies shop in the city centre stocking around 9,000 themed items, with turnover up to 50% higher in October.
Academic research confirms the role of language schools. In the master’s dissertation A carnavalização das comemorações do Halloween em uma comunidade escolar segundo a percepção dos seus participantes (“The carnivalisation of Halloween celebrations in a school community as perceived by its participants”), defended at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in 2007, João Jacinto do Amaral de Jesus describes the festival as “initially spread by language schools” (our translation) and then increasingly present in mainstream schools.
I found no reliable national data on how widely the date is observed, so there are no estimates here.
Tatuí: a law banning Halloween in municipal schools
In Tatuí, a town in the interior of São Paulo state, the Dia das Bruxas (“Witches’ Day”, as Halloween is known in Brazil) entered municipal legislation by way of a ban. Municipal Law no. 6,196 of 17 March 2026 “provides for the prohibition of the celebration of Halloween (Dia das Bruxas) in the public schools of the Municipal Education Network” (our translation). The text forbids parties, decorations and any activity alluding to the date inside municipal schools and asks the Municipal Department of Education to promote Brazilian traditions.
The law began as Bill no. 218/2025, by councillor Renan Cortez, filed on 31 October 2025. The council approved the text on 10 February 2026, in two rounds of voting, with 14 votes in favour each time. As the mayor neither signed nor vetoed it within the deadline, the president of the council promulgated the law, according to the news site g1 and the Tatuí council’s own documents. The rule applies only to the municipal school network; schools run by the São Paulo state government, private schools and events outside the school setting are not affected.
According to Article 3, the law aims “to safeguard the cultural, ethical and moral integrity of students and to preserve the educational and family values of the Brazilian people” (our translation). In the bill’s justification, as reported by g1, the author states that Halloween has no connection with Brazilian culture and that the festival involves elements linked to fear that can frighten children. The law has also drawn legal criticism. Speaking to g1, the Tatuí branch (26th Subsection) of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) pointed to a possible formal unconstitutionality, arguing that the subject concerns the guidelines and bases of education, a federal competence (citing Articles 22, XXIV, 24, IX, and 30, II, of the Federal Constitution), and said that, although the law does not deal directly with religion, the State cannot ban a cultural expression or impose certain ethical and moral standards over others. In July 2026, São Paulo’s Prosecutor-General filed a direct action of unconstitutionality (ADI no. 2172624-16.2026.8.26.0000) in the São Paulo Court of Justice, arguing that the law encroaches on federal competence, was introduced by the wrong branch of government and is incompatible with pluralism in education. The action contains no request for an injunction and the law remains in force; as of 19 October 2026, the court’s Special Body had not yet ruled on the case.
Curitiba: a bill under review
In Curitiba, councillor Eder Borges (PL, the Liberal Party) filed bill 005.00794.2025 in December 2025, which would ban Halloween activities in early-years and primary education (Educação Infantil and Ensino Fundamental) in the municipal network, including the CMEIs, the city’s municipal early-childhood education centres. The text covers costumes, symbols and decorations in the school setting and does not deal with private events. In the justification, the author argues that the festival is not part of Brazilian culture and that its symbols evoke fear.
In February 2026, according to the council, the bill was awaiting an opinion from the Constitution and Justice Committee. As of 19 October 2026, there was no public record of its approval, rejection or shelving.
The Dia do Saci
According to its founders, the Dia do Saci was created as a counterpoint to Halloween. In July 2003, a group meeting in São Luiz do Paraitinga (São Paulo state) founded Sosaci, the Sociedade dos Observadores de Saci (Society of Saci Observers). Among the founders were the journalist and geographer Mouzar Benedito and Vladimir Sacchetta and Márcia Camargos, biographers of the writer Monteiro Lobato. In September that year, Folha de S.Paulo reported on the “Grito do Saci” (“Saci’s Cry”), an event organised by the society calling for a Dia do Saci on 31 October. According to BBC News Brasil, São Luiz do Paraitinga passed a municipal law establishing the date that same year, 2003.
In the state of São Paulo, the date is law. Law no. 11,669 of 13 January 2004 began as Bill no. 1,128/2003, by state deputy Afonso Lobato (PV, the Green Party), and its Article 1 states (in our translation): “The ‘Dia do Saci’ is hereby established, to be celebrated annually on 31 October.” It was published in the state Official Gazette on 14 January 2004.
At federal level, there is no law. In the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of Brazil’s National Congress), PL 2,479/2003, by deputy Angela Guadagnin (PT-SP, the Workers’ Party), and PL 2,762/2003, by deputy Aldo Rebelo (PCdoB-SP, the Communist Party of Brazil), which was attached to it for joint consideration, were approved by the Education and Culture Committee in 2004, on the report of rapporteur Chico Alencar. Both were shelved on 31 January 2007, at the end of the legislative term. In 2017, Chico Alencar introduced PL 8,985/2017 with the same aim; the Chamber’s presiding board returned the bill to its author on 10 November 2017, under Article 137, §1, item I, of the Chamber’s Standing Orders. Web pages claiming national recognition in 2013 find no support in the Chamber’s records.
The Saci has a long history in written culture. In 1917, Monteiro Lobato asked readers of the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo for accounts of the figure and published the results in O Saci-Pererê: resultado de um inquérito (“The Saci-Pererê: results of an inquiry”), his first book. The folklorist Câmara Cascudo, in the Dicionário do folclore brasileiro (“Dictionary of Brazilian Folklore”, 1954), quoted by BBC News Brasil, describes the Saci in the racialised language of his time as a “pequeno negrinho, com uma só perna, carapuça vermelha na cabeça” (“little Black boy, with only one leg, a red cap on his head”, in our translation); the phrase is reproduced here as a historical document, not as a description this post endorses. Cascudo also notes that the colonial chroniclers do not mention him.
Replace or add?
The debate about “replacing” Halloween with the Saci has no consensus even among defenders of folklore. In a BBC News Brasil report (quotations translated from the Portuguese), Mouzar Benedito calls Halloween a “cultural invasion”. José Oswaldo Guimarães, of the Associação Nacional dos Criadores de Saci (National Association of Saci Creators), says he does not want to do away with Halloween and would prefer the Dia do Saci to have a different date: “Justifying one date by killing another is pointless.” The curator Tatiana Fraga sums up the position of those who want both festivals: “Myths can coexist.”
Many images of witches on 31 October arrived through a commercial filter. For many of today’s witches, on the other hand, including those who follow Wicca, the date has a religious meaning. The same day is also the Dia do Saci, and some people celebrate neither.
In the southern hemisphere, it is Beltane time
For those who follow a Wheel of the Year adapted to the local seasons, 31 October in Brazil is the time of Beltane, the festival of spring, flowers and fire. Samhain falls at the end of April and the beginning of May. Some prefer to celebrate Samhain on 31 October alongside the northern-hemisphere community, and the post Samhain 2026: Three Dates, Double Retrograde (Venus + Mercury) and the Southern Hemisphere Criterion explains both approaches without dismissing either.
Questions answered
Is the Dia das Bruxas a public holiday anywhere in Brazil?
I found no law that makes 31 October a holiday because of Halloween. In Tatuí, the date appears in municipal law only to ban parties in municipal schools.
Is the Dia do Saci a national day?
No. It is official in the state of São Paulo, under Law no. 11,669/2004, and in some municipalities. The federal bills of 2003 were shelved in 2007, and the 2017 bill was returned to its author.
Does the Tatuí law apply to private schools?
No. The text refers only to the publicly run schools of Tatuí’s Municipal Education Network.
Do today’s witches celebrate Halloween?
It depends on the tradition and the hemisphere. Many people who follow Wicca in Brazil celebrate Beltane on 31 October and Samhain in the southern autumn, while others follow the northern-hemisphere dates.
Mini-glossary
- Halloween: the 31 October festival spread from the United States, known in Brazil as the Dia das Bruxas.
- Sosaci: Sociedade dos Observadores de Saci (Society of Saci Observers), founded in 2003 in São Luiz do Paraitinga (São Paulo state).
- Promulgation: the act that makes an approved law official; in Tatuí it was carried out by the council president because the mayor did not respond within the deadline.
- Attached bill (apensado): a bill that proceeds through the legislature together with another on a similar subject.
- Beltane: a Wheel of the Year festival linked to spring, celebrated in the southern hemisphere around 31 October.
Bibliography
BARROS, Lilo. Condomínios se rendem às festas de Halloween. Folha de S.Paulo, 28 Oct. 2012. Available at: https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/cotidiano/74705-condominios-se-rendem-as-festas-de-halloween.shtml.
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