It’s a weird thing, Halloween. It started out as Samhain, a pagan festival that celebrated the end of the lighter half of the year – a time when the barriers between the worlds of the living and those of the dead were supposed to grow thin. Popes in the 700s and 800s tried to supplant the festival by moving All Hallow’s Day, a day of solemn contemplation of Catholic saints, to the same date; eventually it shifted from October 31 –
Samhain – to November 1. Samhain became All Hallow’s Evening, then Hallow’s Even’, then Halloween.

And just as the language blurred, so too did our understanding of the holiday. Now, instead of welcoming winter, we get dressed up as cartoons and go clubbing.

Oh well, there’s no point trying to fight it. And we like the idea that pagan revelry and celebration wouldn’t look too dissimilar from a bunch of clubbers kicking up sand at Barasti – well, if you ignore the pirates and robots. You can read a bit about the Jazzie B and Hisham Samawi-headlined Barasti night on the previous page, so let’s move on to the other events that are haunting Dubai on the night.

On October 30 – Halloween-een, if you will – the kitschy Cavalli Club will get even more tacky and goofy as costumed fans come to see Gary Dourdan (of TV’s CSI fame) and his Bell Café Band play funky rock. More on that in Music, page 105. Meanwhile, The Irish Village – not somewhere that Roberto Cavalli hangs out at much, we expect – will host its own spooky shindig on October 30, with The Maplejacks providing live band duties and DJ Marky Mark playing modern chart music.

Not too far away, Chi will be encouraging punters to get their mad rags on by waving a Dhs10,000 prize for best costume. There have been some truly spectacular examples in the past – including last year’s upside-down man, who pretended to walk on his hands all night – so if you want to get the dosh, make sure you go the extra mile. If you’d rather go alfresco that night but don’t fancy Barasti, get yourself along to Nasimi, which will be holding another of its full-moon parties. Let’s just hope there aren’t any werewolves in attendance.

And if you just have to do everything properly and want to wait for October 31, then The 400 Club and 360° are both there to compete for your attention. The 400 Club will be offering commercial house and R&B courtesy of Jean B, while 360° will be enjoying soulful house from Pacha Ibiza resident Kiko Navarro.