Thread: Halloween in europe?

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Is Halloween actually celebrated in europe?
And how they celebrate it? Like the Americans?
I was wondering if there are any Europeans on the forum.

they actually celebrate it very differently.

On Rotting Flesh Radio we have crew in Europe and they do a segment called haunted Europe.

First, all haunted attractions in Europe are called Scare Attractions. Anything 'haunted' means it is a real haunting or paranormal.

They have had two ScareCons recently which we covered and it was a step forward to have a haunt industry convention and event there.

I'll get our crew member stationed in Europe on here to talk about it. He can do it more justice.

There are quite a few European forum members - from the UK, Sweden, Norway, etc...

Hopefully they'll chime in when they see this. I know quite a few are trying to get trick or treating (TOT) going in their neighborhoods and lots of parties, decorating and whatever they can do over there to keep Halloween alive... technically, the UK is the birthplace of Halloween.

I'm from the UK, so sort of Eurpoean :-)

It varies hugely depending on where you go. In London it's very much on a street by street basis. I live in South West London and the three roads in my miny community have loads of trick or treaters, all decorate with pumpkins in the gardens on and around Halloween. But go a mile South and Halloween is much less evident. Once you're outside the big cities it generally becomes more popular, and the week from Halloween to Bonfire night (Nov 5th), is widely if quietly celebrated and firmly rooted in tradition.
Most schools do something for Halloween. All Supermarkets have Halloween items for sale. Most of the TVchannels will show show Halloween movies or do something special in the days around the 31st.

Hope that's of some interest

well we are from the UK and to be honest it's a bit of a blink and you miss it time of year but this year we will be flying the flag again with our Halloween party.And this is the first year we have made our own props and hey some of them move too.And not just when the wind blows them over I will have you know lol.. I think next year we are going to pop over to the states to see how it should be done. the biggest decision is where will we stay...

We still have plenty to finish making and I think some things will have to wait untill next year now. We have been to a number of shops today and none of them had any plastic skulls in of any real size. so next year I think we will order a batch from the states so we can start modding them.. and forget trying to get hold of a skeleton over here they are like hens teeth

I'm quite looking forward to the TOTs this year again. poor little kids wont know what's hit them lol

Originally Posted by Jonathan

First, all haunted attractions in Europe are called Scare Attractions. Anything 'haunted' means it is a real haunting or paranormal.

This difference in terms is something I really wish Americans would adopt.

Er, maybe I'm being pedantic, but surely what 'haunted attractions' are called in European countries will vary depending on the country and the language spoken?

Anyway. I'm also from the UK but would be interested to hear from people in other European countries. I did wonder if Spain had anything similar to the Mexican Dia de los Muertos, but Wikipedia seems to suggest that a lot of European countries concentrate mainly on the religious festivals of All Souls and All Saints Day.

Originally Posted by scarybella

well we are from the UK and to be honest it's a bit of a blink and you miss it time of year but this year we will be flying the flag again with our Halloween party.And this is the first year we have made our own props and hey some of them move too.And not just when the wind blows them over I will have you know lol.. I think next year we are going to pop over to the states to see how it should be done. the biggest decision is where will we stay...

We still have plenty to finish making and I think some things will have to wait untill next year now. We have been to a number of shops today and none of them had any plastic skulls in of any real size. so next year I think we will order a batch from the states so we can start modding them.. and forget trying to get hold of a skeleton over here they are like hens teeth

I'm quite looking forward to the TOTs this year again. poor little kids wont know what's hit them lol

Yep, thats what It's like for me too. Depressing isn't it really.

Im from Denmark and we dont have any halloween traditions. Since 2000 we have slowly started to adopt the day and a few shops took in halloween stuff etc. Its now beginning to be known all over, but many people still think its an annoying shop commercial thing because it isnt a tradition ( they obviously forget that at some point ALL traditions where adopted from other places just like the americans adopted halloween from the irish Samhain)
So a number of people are now havcing halloween parties, but we dont really do the outside decor -other that a carved pumpkin. We dont have any haunted or scare attractions either, but Some of the large amusementparks and local attractions do a halloween version -like Tivoli in denmark that decorate in halloween, and have roleplayers all over in zombiecostumes etc, its very nice for the kids. We dont really have TOT here at halloween. This week there is a autumn holiday for the school and this is really where halloween takes place for the amusementparks, and I think it will be the danish style halloween from now on to do it this week.

We have a very similar tradition wich is also traditionally a christian holiday rooted in a pagan tradition just like halloween. Its in february, and we dress up in costumes ( not scary just costumes) and we have a wodden drum barrel with goodies in that we hit like a pinata. The winner is who ever gets the bottom out of it, and he/she wins a crown like the one my avatarrat is wearing and is crowned cat-king. The person who gets the last board down is the cat-queen. The barrel is filled with candy. In old times there wa a cat inthere -a real one, representing the evil and the cat was brutally chased and murdered to show evil what we thought of it ( i know horrible but this is in the time before reformations and the world was a different place)
After fastelavn as its called people had a faste untill easter so on this night they feasted. The poor from the poor houses was on this one day allowed to go from house to house and beg for food or money -today we have a similar thing to TOT where the kids go from door to door and sing a song that basically means give us bread or money or we will make a fuss -same -same so the kids are given special fastelavn buns wich are lovely creamfilled danishes or loose change u have. mostly money actually haha..

so its very similar and propable have the same origins -thats why many here in Denmark feel they dont want to do halloween as we already have fastelavn -but i dont agree -halloween is much more gore and haunts, where fastelavn is really more of a kid party. so i will have both hehe..

Thats really interesting Hallows Eva. Thanks for posting that.