Trick Or Treating In AUS

[Wastedtime]

The one thing i keep seeing here is "It's an American Tradition Blah!" but as far as i can recall Hallowe'en was originally an Irish/British/Celtic thing, well not the halloween we know now, that's just comercialization at it's finest but i suppose having grown up with it in Ireland i dont see what get's people so miffed. But then i'd be pretty confused if people here started celebrating Thanksgiving so i can see why it would be annoying or even strange to other cultures/countries. Even then i allways though Hallowe'en was just about being geneours

 

[GLo Jones]

Halloween's just an American thing?

Yep. But due to the media and commercial influence of the states, it kinda bleeds into other countries. Here in the UK, businesses absolutely love it, all shops seem to have decoration and special stock, but the actual residents don't make half as big a deal about it as most Americans do.

Halloween makes a good night out here, but no-one bats an eyelid if you choose not to do anything.

Edit, due to poor wording:

Technically halloween started out as an English, Irish, American, and Canadian holiday. However, over time, it's become far more of a big deal in the US than anywhere else.

 

[blxtnsq]

Halloween in Australia is stupid. It makes me cry.
I can understand some people getting together for a 'Halloween party' which is just an excuse to get their drink on, but trick or treating is too far.
If any snotty-nosed brat came doorknocking here I would give them a good slap. Egg washes off.
Besides, I don't see the point of trick or treating here anyway. Sure, they may want to do it, but very few people here even realise Halloween is approaching, nobody would have any lollies.

 

[RabbiiFrystofsk]

wow thank you for making this post! only a few hours ago we had 2 groups of 6-8 children each with an escort come knocking at our door...

halloween is an american tradition, if people who choose to follow it they can but for people like me who dont really care and dont want to give their much loved chocolate or nearly empty pantry away to children who will go to no end to get something... it just makes me want to say something rude..

but on a funnier note: i was having a cigarette about 10 minutes after the last group left and overheard them almost kicking down a neighbours door, whilst being yelled at by their escort until the owner of the house turned on the porch light and open the door and give the children a choice this was a direct quote:

"i have an apple, a banana, and a kiwi fruit what do you want"... thats exactly how she said it i pissed my self laughing after i heard that...

so no i dont beleive trick or treating should be happening here although halloween parties are an enormous amount of fun... just last night i dressed up as "zena the zombie princess..."

Actually it's irish, you nicked it off them... just saying.

 

[fletch_talon]

I'm surprised Hallowe'en isn't celebrated in Australia. Do you guys have a major autumn holiday that rivals the United States' Thanksgiving or Hallowe'en?

Why would we 'celebrate' Halloween? What is there to celebrate?

OT: I posted a sign on the door saying "No candy. Piss off." XD

Good luck cleaning the egg and toilet paper off your house in the morning then. :|

It's not accepted practice in Australia. We'd call the cops.

It's not in the U.S. either, it doesn't stop people from doing it though.

Allow me to reword, it's not expected practice. We'd call the Cops, who would actually do something about it.

You seem to know a lot about the US and what happens in 50 states, I'll bow to the expert who doesn't actually live here. It was a joke to begin with, no need to get all serious about it.

I did not claim to know about the United States or be an expert, I didn't even know there were 50 states (I thought there were more). I was simply saying that regardless of what pre-conceptions you may or may not have about egging and papering houses, it's not acceped or expected in Australia and the cops would do something about it here.

I put that in on the off chance that in your region, maybe the cops look the other way on Halloween.

I'm sorry I just can't see it as a joke when people tespass, are rude, and then vandalise someone's property when they aren't given candy. I don't have candy, lollies, sweets, chips, soft drink or any other shit like that in my house and I don't particularly want to deal with shitty kids having a whinge about it and vandalising my place when I tell them so.

I don't buy junk food for myself, why would I buy it to give away to some random stranger?

Hey dude, wake up, no cop in Aus gives a shit if your house gets egged or papered. If it gets firebombed they might do something, but stuff gets egged/papered all the time and nobody cares.

OT: I'm not real big on Trick or Treating.

Safe to assume I think, that whether the cops care or not would depend on the area you live, who the cops are, how strongly you press the issue and whether or not they can in fact do anything about it.
You can damn well bet that if anything could be done then I'd make sure it gets done. I may not own this house but I'm the one who has to clean it up. If the cops can spare the time to break up domestic screaming matches across the road from me then they'd wanna take the time to haul in the little bastard vandals that egg my house.

But again, that is dependant on whether its even possible for them to figure out who did it.

 

[Kebabco]

Am I the only one who thought he meant Austria?

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I think alot of Australians celebrate it ecause they want to find reason in celebrating the affair. But there is little to no cultural connectivity, so the argument of whether Australians should celebrate Halloween is pretty self explanatory. Of course, but under no circumstance should it become a cultural icon.

It is a festival that has nothing to do with Australian culture, and whilst yes it gives us a reason to celebrate, but then the argument of whether we should 'celebrate' the anniversary of the first post office in Goulburn (signiying the proper creation of the town) comes into question.

We have more reason to celebrate that then we do Halloween, because it was the first proper inland habitation developed by colonists.

So Halloween of course should not be recognized as a cultural icon here in Australia because that would be stupidly inappropriate, but should it exist as a means for us to let loose and relax? Of course.

 

[moose_man]

Actually it's Irish/Celtic. It just sort of expanded.

 

[Harbinger_]

WHy ares kids going around for asking treats in Australia? ive had 5 kids in 2 groups ask for chocolates like really its a american holiday i got nothing against the americans its just that why are kids in Aus celebrating it?

every kid that comes to my door i just wanna say go away and i do expect politely for instance 'Halloween is a American thing' and 'Santa doesn't exist'[Not Really] but what do you say to kids that come to your door?

When they threw all the europeans onto the island of australia to begin with was there some sort of super secret pact to not celebrate a single european holiday?

Oh and by the way I did look it up on a non-wikipedia website just in case you think I managed to ninja in there and edit it. (Btw I'm a pirate not a ninja, my ancestors were actually corsairs, not music pirate if thats what you're thinking.) and it is an european holiday originally a pagan one celebrated by celtic druids.

http://www.halloween-website.com/history.htm

 

[Eggsnham]

So what if it's an American holiday, it's still an awesome holiday and a great excuse to buy more candy than you'll ever need.

 

[Isaac The Grape]

Halloween's just an American thing?

i rekon its alot to do with American Cartoons and Tv shows as well

Maybe you assume that because other countries don't make many cartoons?

Hell no. We get shitloads of Japanese stuff. But not much of it makes onto prime time TV. And even if it does it's dubbed in English and marketed as a kid's show. Plus: American Voices? Then it's obviously American. It took me three years to learn that stuff like Transformers and Dragon Ball Z came from Japan.

Oh wait. The ABC shows a lot of non-American shows. All dubbed in English, but not by the same people from San Diego that dub any anime that hit's our TV screens (thankfully they leave the DVD's alone). I've seen a lot of really good French stuff. Like Skyland. Horribly butchered storyline when they dubbed it but holy shit it looks awesome. Go find an episode somewhere, none of the promotional material does it justice.

Aha. Look. Found this I have.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gBI9uGxzRE[/youtube]

For some reason this was all I could find.

 

[Double A]

In Oz, do you guys give out Tim Tams?

 

[Isaac The Grape]

In Oz, do you guys give out Tim Tams?

Fuck no. We want them all for ourselves.

 

[Holy_Handgrenade]

No we have nothing like that. Actaully I wouldn't even know wtf Thanksgiving is celebrating. (and i refuse to google it)
We have no spring holiday, just these:
Easter (Monday+Friday)
Australia day (26th Jan) - same as your 4th july
Christmas (25th)
BOxing Day (26th Dec)
Queens Birthday (Monday 2nd week June, unless WA which is in October)
Labour Day (State holiday, dependent on state see above)

I think that's it. Every weekend in Aus is like a holiday anyway We are very lucky.

Do you mean you celebrate the Queen of Englands Birthday or am I just being dumb, because we don't even do that in England.

 

[ZydrateDealer]

Erm...Halloween isn't an American custom, it's a european festival really so yeah it's ok for those kids to celebrate halloween in AUS as long as they have european ancestors.

The Welsh equivalent of this holiday is called Nos Galan Gaeaf which marks the beginning of the dark half of the year and it officially begins at sunset on October 31..which is soon!! XD

 

[Plazmatic]

WHy ares kids going around for asking treats in Australia? ive had 5 kids in 2 groups ask for chocolates like really its a american holiday i got nothing against the americans its just that why are kids in Aus celebrating it?

every kid that comes to my door i just wanna say go away and i do expect politely for instance 'Halloween is a American thing' and 'Santa doesn't exist'[Not Really] but what do you say to kids that come to your door?

Apparently your american commercials redone in an Australian accent aren't helping much XD.

Also this isn't solely american, it is also celebrated in some parts of Europe.

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

Whaaat. I know it's technically an American holiday, but I thought other countries would celebrate it too. Damn me and my stupid American ego.

It's just so goshdarn fun though. Who cares if it's commercialized. I haven't gone trick'r'treatin in a while though. Too much work.

 

[Wintermoot]

i rekon its alot to do with American Cartoons and Tv shows as well

yeah thats pretty much it here in holland the younger brothers of a friend of mine also went trick or treating whilst we already have similair holiday you cna call it Americanization of the world

 

[imnot]

I'm surprised Hallowe'en isn't celebrated in Australia. Do you guys have a major autumn holiday that rivals the United States' Thanksgiving or Hallowe'en?

Why would we 'celebrate' Halloween? What is there to celebrate?

OT: I posted a sign on the door saying "No candy. Piss off." XD

I am so doing that!