Thread: Why do we celebreate Halloween More

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than they do in the country it originated? America is Halloween central but why in places like Ireland where it originated they don't do so much to celebrate?

I think because the type of Halloween we all here (even from different countries) are thinking of is American Halloween, not the original incarnation.

American Halloween gets bits and pieces from the British/Celtic version, yes, but we also incorporate tons of other practices along with it. Dressing up has an origin, "begging" or TOTing has an origin, festivals of the dead have an origin, etc., etc. but they were not necessarily all practiced in one big gala night originally.

It was only years after these bits and pieces came over to the U.S. via immigrants that it all culminated into what we now think of as "Halloween." In fact, even that didn't exist until approximately the 1950s in the U.S.

American Halloween is actually quite a far cry from Samhain; it is a far cry from the Roman rituals we get bits from, and a far cry from the "begging" ritual in Britain which, I believe, took place in the winter, not this early in the fall. It's a far cry from Mabon, though actually a lot of the imagery we think of may be closer to Mabon in Wales than Samhain...yet it takes place around/near the original date of Samhain. Take any one of those practices and none will really resemble Halloween as we know it today.

I respect the original "Halloween" as celebrated in the British Isles. Very much so. But I think American Halloween is just its own phenomenon. It combines so many attractive things at once that it's bound to be celebrated to the nines here. I think probably in its nations of origin, just transforming an ages-old observance into what is now "Halloween" probably feels a little weird to some people.

Just my view.

I think CM just about said it all. Can't think of a thing to add. Great post!

Originally Posted by CaliforniaMelanie

It was only years after these bits and pieces came over to the U.S. via immigrants that it all culminated into what we now think of as "Halloween." In fact, even that didn't exist until approximately the 1950s in the U.S.

I've thought a lot about this before. When you phrase it this way - I wonder if television played a part in solidifying the elements into the whole we now know as Halloween? Maybe TV helped set a bit of a universal standard. I've heard old radio shows where it sounds like the traditions were very much in flux.

Thanks for a great post.

First of all, The United States are weird.
In the history of civilization we are the odd man out.
When we embrace something here, it is embraced across the spectrum, by all immigrant cultures, each making their own contributions and adding their particular flavor to it.
Dozens of versions spring up in communities in every state, and eventually it morphs into an American version, a new creature, a mix of many symbols and ideas, becoming what will be seen as the classic American Halloween (or Christmas, or Easter, or whatever)

Unlike the US, the Republic of Ireland is a predominantly Catholic country. For many of them, All Hallows is merely the night before All Saints, which is generally a day of Mass, remembrance and perhaps a family meal. The pagan faiths appearing in Ireland are attempting to honor Samhain in the most respectful way they can, so they tend to focus more on history, the New Year and honoring the dead, an autumnal sort of Memorial Day.

In Ireland, Halloween was seen for many decades as a trivial holiday, nothing more than kids begging for treats and roaming the streets. Stories were told of ghosts and the little people, witches and the Pookha, the Bean-sidhe (banshee) and the Fir Dearg, but these stories were either light-hearted, or (very rarely)taken seriously by the few who were superstitious, who saw the night as threatening.
You ate a helping of Colcannon (cabbage and potatoes) and wondered what charm you would find in your spoon. You lit a turnip carved with Jack's grin and you oftentimes had to earn your treat with a song, a dance, a riddle or a joke.
And that is if you came from one of the few families making a modest living in a decent neighborhood. Remember that Ireland was until only a few decades ago an extremely poor nation with a very conservative and somewhat stern culture.
The culture has relaxed a bit by American standards, but even now they aren't a wealthy republic.

Halloween was exactly the same here, in America, once the Irish introduced us to it. While in Virginia the holiday "Snap Apple Night" was celebrated with apple-bobbing, courtship, stolen kisses and ghost stories (essentially the St. Valentines Day of the time), Irish children were trick-or-treating in the major cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, sometimes to the great disapproval of the neighbors. So apart from Virginia and some hill states, it was a childrens holiday.

After years of destructive tricking and rampaging gangs of youths, the country was hating the holiday.
It was saved by the town of Anoka, Minnesota. They declared Halloween activities officially, held a costumed parade and opened the streets for the kids for a certain set of hours, the first American city to do so. Madison Avenue smelled the market and costumes and decorations became commonplace, as did candy marketed for the holiday...

But it was still just a kids holiday, from the Great Depression until the 1990s.

It was when I was growing up.

Remember, we are the first generation to really embrace it as adults. In a larger sense, we are the first to discard the idea that holidays or customs of any sort are "just for kids".
We don't buy it.
Life is too short, and the year too banal and boring without these colorful moments on the calendar.
Maybe all the music and the movies, the cartoons and the haunted attractions helped us learn to love the 31st of October, but it took us almost a century to really embrace the holiday nationwide.

Ireland has had many struggles in its past, but like any nation, it can be deeply loyal to its traditions. America, which was never predominantly one faith or one culture, allowed Halloween to flourish into the hilarious, horrifying madcap marvel it is for us.
In Ireland, it may remain the quieter, more child oriented festival it has always been.
They may crank it up a notch, who knows? They say American movies and songs are revitalizing the holiday abroad.

Either way, I'd rather that Ireland kept Halloween as they see fit, whether it matches ours or not.

Sadly, between movies, the internet, international television and globalization, Halloween may lose some of the distinctive flavor it has in some regions.

It seems a shame that one day you won't spy a grinning turnip floating and swinging down a village lane in the dark of night in some small Irish town. I'd love to sit by a peat fire and hear the old seanachie clear his throat and say "It was on this very night Matt O'Donnell met the Bean-Sidhe, sitting on the churchyard wall, weeping as she pulled a comb through her hair in the moonlight, and him a sober man of five years..."

I hope those things never die.

Wooohaaaa

Now hold on a moment my colonial cousins. The fact is Halloween is celebrated in the UK (not sure about Ireland), with activities at schools, Halloween parties for kids, trick or treating, and supermarkets all carrying Halloween goods. There are also plenty of Halloween events at attractions:

I refer you to these websites:

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/whatson/...ature-395.html
http://www.chessington.com/plan-your-trip/events.aspx
http://www.altontowers.com/short-breaks/halloween/
http://www.painshill.co.uk/showEvent...adventure.aspx

We certainly do celebrate it but I think our focus is more on the supernatural and tradition than Hollywood fare.
So you're likely to see kids dressed as ghosts, witches and zombies far more than Freddy Kruger, Superman or a Jedi.

The secret when visiting Britain (as I always say to my Japanese relatives), is to get out of London. London is a country of its own with few English people still living there; but outside the capital the traditions are still very much alive.

I'm British and we do celebrate it, but there's definitely a whiff of 'it's so american' among the older generations. My parents don't have anything to do with it because my dad felt it was all very tacky and commercial, which is why this is my first year having a party now I'm moving out.

And I definitely get the feeling that you americans have it easier! Finding decorations and unique items has been a massive chore. There's stuff available on amazon.com for example that I can't get on amazon.co.uk. The supermarkets here have only just got their halloween stock in properly, less than a month before halloween. And in a lot of places, they've got their christmas stock out already but either have only a very small amount of halloween stock, or haven't bothered with halloween at all.

It's getting bigger, but it's not on your level yet, which is a shame.

There's no doubt that America has more of industry to support Halloween, but as you say HKitten the UK is catching up there.

Halloweens still celebrated here in Ireland too infact each year it's growing bigger and bigger...I grew up in rural communities and imo Halloween was always a bigger event in little villages/towns than it was in the cities...our schools centred around Halloween crafts and histories of witch trials etc in the weeks run up... community groups always had street parties with firework displays and bonfires and i can barely remember a house/family that didn't welcome ToT's or have carved turnips on their doorsteps (pumpkins not being widely available here )

I do think Halloween here is becomming slightly Americanised but that's a good thing as props, decor and a multitude of lights/foggers etc are now alot more widely available.
Last year on Halloween night i went to the local tesco and was transported back to childhood every teller was dressed up (mostly as witches) people were shopping in costumes there were kids everywhere with costumes, masks,face paints and the atmosphere was just as i remembered it 20 years ago.
Here's hoping that over the next few years it'll grow as big as it is across the pond!

THANK YOU to everyone in the UK who has chimed in here! It is good to know these things first-hand.

I think those of us who answered about American Halloween were taking the question as "why don't UKers celebrate *the same* way, or in as big (yes, sometimes tacky, LOL) way as in the U.S.?" not, "Why don't UKers celebrate Halloween at all?" so that may have been misunderstood here.

That said, I am thrilled to hear about how the originators of the holiday, actually celebrate the holiday. It gives me a spooky happy chill, somehow. I love to hear about traditions continuing in an unbroken way, year on year and century on century. It's just cool.