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How did Halloween get to be so popular worldwide?

LTC8K6 said:
No one has knocked on my door on Halloween in a very long time. Once in a while, I'll see a few people out, but it's pretty rare. And those folks are being driven around, not walking like I did.
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I blame my daughter. In 1990, at the age of 11, she went out trick-or-treating as the Log Lady from Twin Peaks. You could hear the collective kvetching from the parents of America, "The little snots are hipper than we are. No more candy for any of them."

Seriously? It was Stranger Danger, Razor Blades in Apples, Kids on Milk Cartons and other assorted urban exaggerations. As late as '68, I can recall kids still trick or treating and no one taking any of the fear-mongering seriously. I worked for a guy who had a shop in the West Village and in a moment of Hippy Dippy Earth Mother Health Awareness he decided to not give out candy, but something healthy. No, apples wouldn't do. He gave out whole raw mushrooms.... loose. When Timmy and Tammy got back home and mom and dad were inspecting their loot and asked who gave them mushrooms and they said "Oh, the guy with the braided long hair and the four earrings..." He actually got visited by the cops and they explained, rather nicely, "Hippies, mushrooms, Halloween.... not probably a great idea." And they went on their merry way.
 
Jrrarglblarg said:
I've never heard the term "trunk or treat." What does it mean?
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Parents and interested adults show up in a parking lot with their cars and kids and bags full of goodies to give out. Instead of going door-to-door, the kids go car-to-car. They get to run around in their costumes for an hour, get a bag full of swag, and mommy and daddy don't have to worry that the baby raper of Mulberry Lane has got a hold of them. It's turned more into a party in most places than the actual gathering of treats from folks getting them out of their car trunks [boots].
 
Foolmewunz said:
It's a pretty small manufacturing sector. I doubt many Chinese are exposed to Halloween just because the costumes and masks are made there. If that was a good reason, then the Chinese would be into every non-food item you see in your retail stores, 'cuz just about everything is made in China, now.

As to the popularity of the holiday.... the most that kids do over here in Asia is have a coloring page to do in school or maybe a party with cupcakes. Trick or Treating is not a thing. It's an adult holiday, not dissimilar to St. Patty's Day or New Year's Eve or for those who are in those countries, the Mardi Gras/Carnival.
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In Malaysia it had no effect other than the cinemas showing even more horror films than they normally do (they love horror films here). I had to eat all the sweets I bought in expectation. But then we're about to move into the Chinese month of ghosts, which is not only more serious than Halloween, it genuinely seems to have kids scared.

FMW - do you know if the Chinese community where you are does the same thing?
 
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gypsyjackson said:
In Malaysia it had no effect other than the cinemas showing even more horror films than they normally do (they love horror films here). I had to eat all the sweets I bought in expectation. But then we're about to move into the Chinese month of ghosts, which is not only more serious than Halloween, it genuinely seems to have kids scared.

FMW - do you know if the Chinese community where you are do the same thing?
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Momentary derail [to be polite, after all]. Ghost month is minor here. It's much bigger in both Malaysia and Singapore than in China, actually. Taiwan is also heavily into it, but that's to be expected as they are more Chinese than the Chinese, in terms of culture. I'm not saying that China ignores it, there's always something going on at Temples when you've got a population of a billion superstitious folk. But "Tomb Sweeping Day", for instance, is much more observed.
 
Foolmewunz said:
Momentary derail [to be polite, after all]. Ghost month is minor here. It's much bigger in both Malaysia and Singapore than in China, actually. Taiwan is also heavily into it, but that's to be expected as they are more Chinese than the Chinese, in terms of culture. I'm not saying that China ignores it, there's always something going on at Temples when you've got a population of a billion superstitious folk. But "Tomb Sweeping Day", for instance, is much more observed.
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Thanks, interesting (and sorry to others for derail) - Tomb Sweeping Day here is accompanied by Setting *********** Fireworks off at 6 in the morning Day. In-laws' house is next to a Chinese cemetery.

Anyway, Halloween was bigger in Belgium than in Malaysia (do you think they noticed?).
 
Cainkane1 said:
How was it in your day?
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It was called guising. Children would, with the help of their parents, make the scariest costume they could imagine from stuff found around the home and various discarded items. Sadly, some kids and parents lacked imagination but seldom effort. If death was your chosen theme, Scythes were most often real and taken out the shed. Face paint took three days to clean off. It was during this time over eager kids would be collecting wood for bonfires for Guy Fawkes and you had to be quick to avoid pissing off adults who had no more friendly answering of the door in them.

We went around the streets unencumbered and knocked random doors which, upon being opened, we would perform a rehearsed song, poem or joke. You were pretty much rewarded on the strength of your performance and wall flowers could expect to be encouraged to try again. Cold, hard cash of the smallest denomination was our pay and it wasn't unknown to make 10 new pennies each on a good night. Other rewards were eschewed as they consisted of fruit or nuts and perhaps toffees and couldn't be bartered or spent. Warnings went ahead of offending households to avoid.

The thought of punishing any of our more parsimonious victims never entered our head, our parents would find out and if Dad didn't leather you for disrespecting the neighbourhood, I'm sure the object of any such attention would break his foot off on our arse.

It wasn't all roses and sepia tint. It was cold, there were some awful and mean people behind them doors and one often had to run to ensure that your spoils weren't taken by the "big boys".


Now it's, off the shelf, American ******** that has invaded our culture to our eternal detriment.
 
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Foolmewunz said:
Parents and interested adults show up in a parking lot with their cars and kids and bags full of goodies to give out. Instead of going door-to-door, the kids go car-to-car. They get to run around in their costumes for an hour, get a bag full of swag, and mommy and daddy don't have to worry that the baby raper of Mulberry Lane has got a hold of them. It's turned more into a party in most places than the actual gathering of treats from folks getting them out of their car trunks [boots].
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Thanks for explaining. Thats horrible.

I'm pleased to report this has insufficient cultural penetration to have reached my consciousness.
 
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I was surprised at my first Halloween in Britain in 2005. In suburban Salford we did indeed get a few knocks on the door from costumed kids trick or treating. Lots of decorations, themed chocolate, props etc very prominent in supermarkets leading up to it. Halloween parties are very common. Trick or treating seems to vary by area, but people I know in various corners of the country lay in sweets in the expectation of getting at least a few knocks on the door.
 
Monza said:
It's also an excuse for women to wear sexy costumes. It seems almost all women's Halloween costumes are described as "sexy [insert occupation here]".
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sexy proctologist, sexy trash collector, sexy cow midwife, sexy fish cutter....
 
Halloween was relatively minor in Berlin, and trick or treating was non-existent, except in the areas immediately around the military housing neighborhoods my first year there (1987). During my 5 years in country, non-American trick or treaters grew dramatically, so that by the time I left, German children outnumbered Americans by at least 10 to 1.

Here, Halloween is huge, probably the holiday with the most numbers of participants in organized celebrations. I live n a gated golf-country club community of about 600 houses. We have a decorated golf cart parade in the early evening, then those carts roam the neighborhood during the trick-or-treating period. Many, many private parties and half a dozen block parties with adult refreshments and pooled candy for the trick or treaters. Costume party (and contest) at the club, etc. Usually requires careful planning to hit all the parties you have a social obligation to attend. I LOVE Haloween.
 
Kids still guise here, and do a piece. Otherwise it's just begging.
 
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