The internationalisation of Halloween.

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Wow, man, I had no idea the Grinch had so many cousins who decided to hate Halloween. It's the best holiday aside from Christmas, as far as I'm concerned. But then I'm an American.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

which hasnt caught on for the most part with other countries

Yeah, yet for some reason a lot of North Americans don't seem to get that. I remember 10 or so years ago on a forum getting called 9 kinds of **** for explaining that when I was an ankle biter we used to get warned around this time of the year that Halloween and especially Trick or Treating were not part of Australian culture and that Trick or Treating was punishable under state Panhandling laws (not to mention living in Adelaide's northern suburbs, you'd be more likely to be raped, beaten, murdered and/or have someone set their dogs on you than get lollies... yes, even in the late 70s/early 80s). Apparently it was assumed on that forum that this was all my fault and that I hate fun.

 

[soren7550]

... "scary" or even macarbe is no longer the focus....instead its full of retarded costumes...worst being the "sexy" costumes

While I pretty much agree with sexy costumes being stupid, but dressing up is half the fun! Who cares if it's scary or not?

Scary can be quite painful (FF to 3:50 or so):

Spoiler: Just look at how much fun we're having!

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

which hasnt caught on for the most part with other countries

Yeah, yet for some reason a lot of North Americans don't seem to get that. I remember 10 or so years ago on a forum getting called 9 kinds of **** for explaining that when I was an ankle biter we used to get warned around this time of the year that Halloween and especially Trick or Treating were not part of Australian culture and that Trick or Treating was punishable under state Panhandling laws (not to mention living in Adelaide's northern suburbs, you'd be more likely to be raped, beaten, murdered and/or have someone set their dogs on you than get lollies... yes, even in the late 70s/early 80s). Apparently it was assumed on that forum that this was all my fault and that I hate fun.

You know, you might not hate fun, but it sounds like whoever had enough of a stick up their butt to warn a child about panhandling laws did. Seriously, WTF?

 

[ThePS1Fan]

Whole day of socially acceptable cosplay, who the fuck would pass that up?

 

[Vault101]

Spoiler: Just look at how much fun we're having!

that expression on her face is actually pretty "in-charachter".....alightly annoyed Samara (damn good costume though)

 

[Slayer_2]

One of the worst Halloweens of my life was when I was 12 and stuck in Australia. No free candy

 

[soren7550]

Spoiler: Just look at how much fun we're having!

that expression on her face is actually pretty "in-charachter".....alightly annoyed Samara (damn good costume though)

That's because it's Rana McAnear, the model for Samara/Mornith. Very nice lady.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

One of the worst Halloweens of my life was when I was 12 and stuck in Australia. No free candy

As an Aussie I feel entitled to laugh, because its what we do to foreigners.

 

[Dimitriov]

Halloween is certainly a big deal here in Canada, but then Canada and the US both have large populations descended from Irish and Scottish immigrants... mix that with modern North American commercialism/consumerism and the resulting holiday is hardly surprising.

It also kicks all kinds of ass, and at least where I live it has definitely become a drinking holiday that rivals New Years, Canada Day, and St. Patrick's Day.

I honestly thourght it was an american thing that came from the time of pilgrims and witch trials.....

Actually it mostly has it's roots in Celtic culture, and the name comes from the Christian All Saints Day.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

which hasnt caught on for the most part with other countries

Yeah, yet for some reason a lot of North Americans don't seem to get that. I remember 10 or so years ago on a forum getting called 9 kinds of **** for explaining that when I was an ankle biter we used to get warned around this time of the year that Halloween and especially Trick or Treating were not part of Australian culture and that Trick or Treating was punishable under state Panhandling laws (not to mention living in Adelaide's northern suburbs, you'd be more likely to be raped, beaten, murdered and/or have someone set their dogs on you than get lollies... yes, even in the late 70s/early 80s). Apparently it was assumed on that forum that this was all my fault and that I hate fun.

You know, you might not hate fun, but it sounds like whoever had enough of a stick up their butt to warn a child about panhandling laws did. Seriously, WTF?

That would be the South Australian Department of Education, who used to have this CRAZY POLICY of trying to discourage kids from committing criminal acts...

You see, it was kids born in the late 60s and early 70s who were the first ones in Australia to be brought up on a steady diet of American tv shows from day 1... That led to us being exposed to a shitpot of cultural artifacts we had no context for and didn't exist in our culture... with the inevitable results of a lot of kids not only 'doing it wrong' but also trying it in a community/society that found, at the time, the entire idea antagonistic (long story, suffice to say that Australian society was just starting to grasp the idea of Australia having a culture and blah blah blah).

Suffice to say, the police got mighty sick of rounding up a few dozen kids every Oct 31 because a few miserable pricks called them and complained about 'kids begging for lollies' (that would be 'candy' to americans) instead of just telling the kids to piss off... so by the late 70s they'd gotten the SA Dept Ed to issue the notice to schools and have all the kids told.

Here Endeth the Sermon.

 

[Nazulu]

It's 3 things.

- A fun tradition that's worth celebrating any where in my opinion. Mainly for scaring part though.

- Commercial enough to sell crap, but sometimes there are good things.

- Too dangerous to send kids out by themselves. Not everywhere, but of course that's just how the world is today. What a shame.

 

[Vausch]

In Japan, Halloween is big. Parades, festivals, costumes galore, it's amazing. Oddly enough they don't trick or treat.

 

[redmoretrout]

I live in Canada and it is very big here, every kid goes trick or treating and every bar puts on a halloween themed night.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

One of the worst Halloweens of my life was when I was 12 and stuck in Australia. No free candy

As an Aussie I feel entitled to laugh, because its what we do to foreigners.

That's mostly because we're never sure if there'll be any coming to our door to justify making candy coated, cellophane wrapped, hospital-strength laxatives... so we just wait until Easter to exercise our guerilla confectionary urges.

 

[kortin]

I hate Halloween so much. I'm glad I live in Australia where I only have to deal with like one or two kids a year.

OT: I actually quite like Halloween. I don't dress up anymore (not to any large extent, at least), but it's still a fun holiday. Cosplay is socially acceptable and candy is given out free, what's not to like?

 

[Slayer_2]

As an Aussie I feel entitled to laugh, because its what we do to foreigners.

Damn you and your backwards country!

 

[crimson sickle2]

I love the idea behind Halloween, but how some people go about it really makes me sad. A day about instilling a little fear in the latest generation, and then laughing about it, is something I can get behind. Currently, I'm in College so I'm too busy and with a deficit of neighboring little kids, so I can't scare anyone. I will one day be known for setting up some kind of scare, just not yet.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

As an Aussie I feel entitled to laugh, because its what we do to foreigners.

Damn you and your backwards country!

It's that kind of talk that gets people 'barreled'.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

so I can't scare anyone

Print out a bunch of economic forecasts and drop them in people's letterboxes.

Who says you can only scare kids?