Since 2023, municipal councils and the Legislative Assembly of Santa Catarina (Assembleia Legislativa de Santa Catarina) have examined proposals to ban Halloween in public schools. One became law in Tatuí (SP) and is being challenged before the São Paulo State Court of Justice (Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo, TJ-SP). The background to the date and to Saci Day (Dia do Saci) is covered in Halloween in Brazil: Dia das Bruxas, the Tatuí law and Dia do Saci. Quotations from Brazilian laws, bills, court decisions and other Portuguese-language sources are our translation unless stated otherwise.
What has been approved and what is under consideration
In Tatuí, Bill no. 218/2025, by councillor Renan Cortez, was approved on 10 February 2026 and promulgated on 17 March by the president of the council (Câmara) as Law no. 6,196/2026. Under Article 3, the measure seeks “to safeguard the cultural, ethical and moral integrity of students, as well as to preserve the educational and family values of the Brazilian people” (our translation). The explanatory statement says that Halloween “has no roots in Brazilian culture” and cites the “culture of peace in schools” (our translation). The text does not mention religion. The council’s favourable legal opinion relied on Article 30 of the Constitution.
In Curitiba, Bill no. 005.00794.2025, by councillor Eder Borges, filed in December 2025, proposes to ban Halloween activities in municipal public schools. According to a news item published by the Câmara Municipal de Curitiba (CMC) on 6 February 2026, the explanatory statement says that “the introduction of symbols, narratives and practices associated with Halloween into the school environment may harm children’s psychological, emotional and social development” and that the festival “originates in foreign traditions that bear no relation to the cultural formation of the Brazilian people” (our translation). On the date of the news item, the bill was awaiting an opinion from the Constitution and Justice Committee (Comissão de Constituição e Justiça).
In Maringá (PR), Bill no. 17,211/2025, by councillor Giselli Bianchini, is the only one of the texts examined that expressly mentions a faith. Article 2 states: “A proibição fundamenta-se no fato de que o Halloween é uma festividade de origem estrangeira, que não faz parte das tradições culturais brasileiras, e pela consideração das crenças e valores da maioria da população de fé cristã, que não concorda com a celebração dessa data.” In our translation: “The ban is based on the fact that Halloween is a festival of foreign origin, which is not part of Brazilian cultural traditions, and on the consideration of the beliefs and values of the majority of the population of Christian faith, which does not agree with the celebration of this date.” According to the council, the Constitution and Justice Committee issued an opinion of inadmissibility, and the bill was shelved on 5 May 2026.
In Santa Catarina, Bill no. 447/2023, by state deputy Marcos da Rosa, was approved by the Assembly in December 2025. The explanatory statement cites the “psychological and emotional effect” of witches, ghosts and entities “associated with horror and the occult” (our translation), without mentioning religion. Governor Jorginho Mello vetoed the bill in full through Message no. 1,607 of 22 January 2026, which follows an opinion of the State Attorney General’s Office (Procuradoria-Geral do Estado) and points to a breach of the reserve of administration (reserva da administração) and of the separation of powers, as well as an infringement of the freedom to learn and to teach under Article 206, item II, of the Constitution.
What the Constitution says
Article 5, item VI, declares that “freedom of conscience and belief is inviolable” (our translation). Article 19, item I, the basis of the secular state, prohibits the Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities from “establishing religious cults or churches, subsidising them, hindering their functioning or maintaining with them or their representatives relationships of dependence or alliance, except, as provided by law, collaboration in the public interest” (our translation).
Article 22, item XXIV, gives the Union exclusive legislative competence over the “guidelines and bases of national education”, the subject of Law no. 9,394/1996 (LDB, the National Education Guidelines and Bases Law). Under Article 24, item IX, education and culture are matters of concurrent competence of the Union, the states and the Federal District. Article 30, items I and II, allows municipalities to legislate on “matters of local interest” and to “supplement federal and state legislation where applicable” (our translation). Article 206 includes among the principles of teaching the freedom to learn and to teach and “pluralism of ideas and of pedagogical conceptions” (our translation).
What the STF has already decided
The Federal Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal, STF) has not ruled on Halloween, but it has ruled on laws that barred school content. In ADPF 457, of 27 April 2020, the court declared unconstitutional Law no. 1,516/2015 of Novo Gama (GO), which banned material on “gender ideology” (“ideologia de gênero”) in municipal schools. The headnote (ementa) states that municipalities “do not have legislative competence to enact rules dealing with curricula, syllabus content, teaching methodology or the manner in which teaching activity is carried out” (our translation). The Union’s exclusive legislative competence also underpinned ADPF 460, of June 2020, concerning a law from Cascavel (PR), and ADI 5537, of August 2020, which struck down the Alagoas state law on the Escola Livre programme.
In ADI 4439, of 27 September 2017, the STF allowed optional confessional religious education in public schools. The headnote states that the Constitution “prohibits favouring or ranking the biblical and religious interpretations of one or more groups to the detriment of the others” (our translation). In RE 494,601, of 28 March 2019, it upheld a Rio Grande do Sul law that permits the ritual sacrifice of animals in the worship of religions of African origin. It is for the courts to say whether this reasoning applies to Halloween.
Legal challenges
Against the Tatuí law, the Prosecutor General of the State of São Paulo (Procurador-Geral de Justiça, head of the state Public Prosecution Service) filed on 8 July 2026, without requesting an injunction, Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) no. 2172624-16.2026.8.26.0000 before the Special Body (Órgão Especial) of the TJ-SP, with appellate judge (desembargador) Donegá Morandini as rapporteur. According to the initial order, the action alleges an infringement of the Union’s competence and a defect of initiative. Referred to the rapporteur (concluso) on 13 October 2026, the case had not been decided as of 19 October.
Religious and cultural dates already enshrined in law
Law no. 662/1949 includes Christmas and, since Law no. 10,607/2002, All Souls’ Day (Dia de Finados) among the national public holidays. Law no. 6,802/1980 declares 12 October a public holiday “for public and official worship of Our Lady of Aparecida” (our translation). Law no. 9,093/1995 allows municipalities up to four religious holidays, “Good Friday included among them” (our translation).
Law no. 14,555/2023 recognised the festas juninas (June festivals) as a “manifestation of national culture” (our translation). Law no. 10,639/2003 made the teaching of Afro-Brazilian history and culture compulsory and included 20 November in the school calendar. Law no. 11,645/2008 added Indigenous history and culture.
The “Brazilian culture” argument
Christianity arrived with Portuguese colonisation, and Pêro Vaz de Caminha recorded the first Mass in his letter of 1500. Indigenous peoples already had their own spiritualities, and religions of African origin arrived later, with enslaved Africans. Article 215, § 1, of the Constitution requires the protection of “the manifestations of popular, Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian cultures, and of those of other groups participating in the national civilising process” (our translation).
On the Saci, commemorated on 31 October as an alternative to Halloween, BBC News Brasil reports that Câmara Cascudo observed that colonial chroniclers “do not mention him” (our translation). In the report, Professor Fernando Pereira, of the Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (Mackenzie Presbyterian University), describes the figure as “the amalgam” (our translation) of Indigenous, African and European elements.
The arguments on both sides
The official explanatory statements argue that the festival is foreign, that symbols of fear may affect children and that families have the right to a school compatible with their convictions. Article 227 of the Constitution, invoked in Curitiba, assigns to the family, to society and to the State the duty to protect children and adolescents.
The opposing arguments cite the Union’s competence over the guidelines and bases of education, the freedom to learn and to teach, secularism, freedom of belief and the cultural diversity of Article 215. In Maringá, the grounds for the committee’s opinion are not published in the council’s system.
Questions answered
Is there a federal law banning Halloween in schools?
None was found. The proposals identified are municipal or state-level.
Is the Tatuí law in force?
Yes. It was promulgated on 17 March 2026, and the action before the TJ-SP did not request an injunction. As of 19 October 2026 there had been no decision.
Is Halloween a religious festival?
It depends on who is celebrating. For some followers of Neopagan religions, such as Wicca, 31 October has a religious character; in commerce and in many schools, the date appears as a fancy-dress party. The Tatuí and Curitiba explanatory statements treat Halloween as a foreign festival, without calling it religious. Santa Catarina’s refers to “ocultismo” (“the occult”), and the Maringá bill invokes the beliefs of the “maioria da população de fé cristã” (“majority of the population of Christian faith”, our translation).
Can a public school hold a festa junina or a Christmas celebration and ban Halloween?
None of the laws and proposals examined mentions festas juninas or Christmas. Law no. 662/1949 declares 25 December a national public holiday, and Law no. 14,555/2023, as amended by Law no. 14,900/2024, recognises the festas juninas and quadrilhas (June square dances) as a “manifestation of national culture” (our translation). Neither of them regulates school activities. As of 19 October 2026, no court decision had been found on whether secularism is compatible with treating Halloween differently. According to the initial order, the action against the Tatuí law concerns competence and initiative.
Does the Tatuí law apply to private schools and to events outside school?
Going by its text, no. Article 1 of Law no. 6,196/2026 limits the ban to “public schools of the Municipal Education Network, in the Municipality of Tatuí/SP”, and Article 2 applies it to events “on their premises” and “within the school environment” (our translation). Private schools, schools run by the São Paulo state government (escolas estaduais) and parties outside school do not appear in the law.
Mini-glossary
- ADI: Ação Direta de Inconstitucionalidade (Direct Action of Unconstitutionality), which seeks the annulment of a law for contravening the Constitution.
- ADPF: Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental (Claim of Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Precept), an action before the STF used, among other cases, against municipal laws.
- Exclusive legislative competence (competência privativa): a matter on which only one entity of the federation, here the Union, may legislate.
- Secular state (Estado laico): a state that adopts no official religion and neither favours nor hinders any form of worship, in accordance with Article 19, item I, of the Constitution.
- Promulgation (promulgação): the act declaring the existence of an approved law, carried out in Tatuí by the president of the council.
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