The internationalisation of Halloween.

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I live in Australia too, and from what I can tell it's non-existant as trick-or-treating except for certain <12 year olds, but it's still plenty of reason for parties and themed events. WEhich can be good, but generally no, it annoys me. Still, I await the day when I can give a child a piece of cork in a wrapper and when I give it to him say "Well, looks like you got a trick."

 

[RicoADF]

at this rate we may as well raise the red white and blue :-/

Why would we be raising the UK flag?

You know the one I mean lol
Its not Halloween itself, but rather 1 in a long line of things causing issues.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

at this rate we may as well raise the red white and blue :-/

Why would we be raising the UK flag?

Because it's stuck in the top left corner of our flag.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

I hate Halloween and I'll tell you why.

In my country, we have a bunch of our own traditions (several superficially similar to Halloween), but they're dying out. Back when I was a wee lad, schools would do those and there was some effort in promoting them to the youngest generation.

Now it's just fucking pumpkins and vampires. The same people who dismiss traditions we have are embracing the commercialized mess that Halloween has become. And that gets on my tits.

We had two separate "dress up and go around houses" days. We had the "scary stuff connected to the dead" day. Now it's all dumped in favour of a commercialized holiday celebrated on a day which used to be just a regular day of the week maybe 10 years ago.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

It is just a Celtic holiday taken in by the Christian church to convert more pagans. I would have assumed it would have been a bigger thing in Australia given where a lot of the current population originates from. That stuff like what was said above me is sad. For any country that has a lot of Christians the religious part of it should be relevant and for any country with a high portion of the population descended from emigrants from Celtic countries the bonfires and sweet giving is at least relevant.

 

[Pinkamena]

I don't like the extreme capitalistic point of it all. It's been imported because toy companies saw an opportunity to earn a buck, and I know that a lot of the adults here don't like it. I just like it because it gives me an opportunity to dress up! I was Frank this year.

Spoiler

 

[TheCrapMaster]

I live in sweden and we dont realy have halloween in the same sence. When i think of halloween i think of "trick or treating", not sure what is celebrated, something with "all saints day".

The closest we got is "eastern" but instead of the easter bunny the kids dress like a nice version of a witch with freckels with lots of colerfull feathers, the boys get a hat and a painted on mustach. And our easter eggs have chickens and roosters on them so our "bunny" is basicly a chicken/rooster.

Tho we do dress up and party at hallowen and it seems some kids actualy go out and go "trick or treating". But usualy its just one more exuse to get hammered in a wierd costume for us swedes. Atleast thats what it is for me and my friends.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Were already being culturally taken over by the states and its another example of it.

That's not entirely true, for 2 reasons...

First is that it's not US culture we're being piled under by but the hollow mass media imitation of it.

Second is that not only is 'taken over' hyperbolic in reference to the scale of the effect but also misrepresentative of who's really to blame... and the sad fact is that most Australians have neglected, ignored or outright shunned all but the most crass and base aspects of our culture and identity.

Besides, it's not like the seppos come over here and force us to buy their shit at gunpoint.

 

[zumbledum]

here in England i see no option but to Love halloween , as a kid it was a massive sweeties binge and as an adult its the night where all the hotties get dressed up in revealing and sluty costumes and go out drinking far too much , its another candy binge!


as to where it comes from? hard to say lots of different views on that but i think it comes from the pagan festival of samhain from western Europe

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

it's still plenty of reason for parties

Since when have Australians needed a reason for a party?

I mean, shit, you know how it goes, you're having a barbie with some mates on a saturday arvo and decide to get more beers, and then people start going "oh, I was gonna go see Davo later" and instead Davo gets invited around, and then Davo says he's got some mates over for beers, so they come as well and so on... and a few hours later you've got 300 people at your place, 5 kegs, a live band and the cops banging on the door.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

as an adult its the night where all the hotties get dressed up in revealing and sluty costumes and go out drinking far too much

Really? Here in Australia we have 2 nights like that... Friday Night and Saturday Night.

 

[lord canti]

Are people really complaining about Halloween now? It's like any other holiday it comes people have fun with it and then it's over. Yes it's nothing more than a big marketing strategy but it's one I can get behind. I mean free candy, scaring kids, and dressing up like a fool and will say anything whats not to love?

 

[Myndnix]

As a couple of other people have said; it's mostly just an excuse to party here in the UK.
And to vandalise people's homes. Which is why I hate it.

 

[Woodsey]

It's always been pretty big for friends I've known over here (UK). Doesn't really do it for me, although now I'm older it's at least an excuse to get pissed (as if I needed any more).

 

[smithy_2045]

Trick and or treating can just piss off as far as I'm concerned. Damn kids get off my lawn.

I don't mind the various parties and events that come with it, just gives an easy theme to work with.

Melbourne Cup Day is better though. The sluts are a bit classier, and since it's a public holiday (unlike Halloween) you have all day to get smashed, and its all because of a silly 3 minute horse race. It's practically a public holiday celebrating our two national pasttimes, gambling and drinking.

 

[ResonanceSD]

as an adult its the night where all the hotties get dressed up in revealing and sluty costumes and go out drinking far too much

Really? Here in Australia we have 2 nights like that... Friday Night and Saturday Night.

Amen to that brother, no need for shitty holidays to do that =D

Trick and or treating can just piss off as far as I'm concerned. Damn kids get off my lawn.

I don't mind the various parties and events that come with it, just gives an easy theme to work with.

All of this, scary theme party? Fine. Fat kids begging for lollies? No. Many times No. Get off my front lawn or I'll get you with a hose - no.

 

[Joccaren]

Eh, as has already been covered, Halloween's not that big in Australia.
You get people who throw themed parties because its as good an excuse as any to get smashed, and you get stores selling more lollies and decorations.
You get the occasional kid coming round for lollies, but in general I just grab one from the nearest bag, shove it in my mouth and tell them I'm all out whilst eating it and closing the door. Gets the message across well enough, and the more who come, the more lollies I get =D

 

[wilting]

Growing up in Ireland, we were always taught that Halloween was celtic/Irish, coming from the samhain festival, about the barrier with the spirit world and ours becoming thinner or some such. It was pretty much celebrated in the same way as the stereotype, less 'candy' more nuts and apples, also for some reason there would be a brack (read: tea cake) with a ring inside it. Always find it kind of annoying when people refer to Halloween as American, but what can you expect with American TV/Films everywhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween#History

Its not traditionally celebrated in most of Europe as far as I can tell, plenty of different festivals, although it is certainly spreading around. Last year I was given advance warning that some of the grandkids of people in the neighbourhood were going to come trick or treating, I had fun making the front door/myself appropriately spooky. Some of the kids live mostly in France and hadn't seen Halloween before, they loved it. Of course there are two different Halloweens; the kids and sweets variety, and the young adults and alcohol variety. I've also had a whale of a time hosting the latter.