Does anyone really celebrate Halloween anymore?

[Celianna]

I'm Dutch, so Halloween isn't a thing in the Netherlands, but I was delighted when I had kids ring my doorbell last year and ask for candy.


This year I'll decorate my windows so they know I'll have some candy to spare I'm excited about decorations!

 

[AwesomeCool]

I have noticed that people in neighborhoods and communities do not really try to connect with each other anymore (and is getting worse and worse).  Which leads me to believe that it would have a big impact on such events that rely on connections with neighborhoods and communities (like Halloween).  

I also find that people generally are talking less to each other in general and sometimes even have problems communicating (job interviews at where I work are showing BIG differences in communication skills between age groups that never use to exist).  Which could also be impacting such events (make kids uncomfortable to talk to strangers).

tldr: KIDS AND THERE DANG CELL PHONES!  Back in my day, kids use to communicate with each other in person and actually spent time with each other.  None of this fake friendships stuff via texting and Facebook.

 

[Tsukihime]

tldr: KIDS AND THERE DANG CELL PHONES!  Back in my day, kids use to communicate with each other in person and actually spent time with each other.  None of this fake friendships stuff via texting and Facebook.

Halloween needs to get with the times.


They need to provide incentive for people to come to their doors to get likes and retweets.

 

[Hudell]

Halloween was never popular here, but two years ago I was surprised to find out that my condo had organized a Trick or Treat. I didn't know about it until I heard the kids knocking on every door, so I just pretended I wasn't home.


Last year I bought candies, but just two or three kids showed up that time.

 

[Blinn]

Many people die at age 25 and don't get buried until age 65.

 

[Kes]

Halloween, with all the pumpkin stuff and trick or treat, is a US tradition which has only arrived elsewhere comparatively recently.  Other countries have/had different traditions about what happens on the eve of All Hallows (hence the name Hallowe'en).  Generally it was about the souls of the dead rising on that night (or maybe the banshee, depending on where you lived).  It was not something that was 'celebrated'.

So to some extent, the answer to the question is very culturally specific.

EDIT

It has probably also been ruined for many people by commercialization.  I have just this minuted received an email from the company which makes my backup program wishing me Happy Halloween and offering me 20% off if I buy something else.  It's a backup program, for goodness sake, it's got nothing to do with Halloween and if you know what Halloween is all about, wishing you Happy Halloween is total nonsense.  It's just marketing, and I think that sort of thing turns a lot of people off whatever it is the marketer is trying to latch on to.

 

[lPaladinl]

It's definitely not the same around here than when I was a kid. Some people still trick or treat but not nearly as many, and not nearly as many people bother to decorate their houses.

People are still willing to hand out candy and party though, it's just not as much effort is put into scenery or dressing up.

 

[Vox Novus]

Well I'v lived sort of just slightly out of town even when I was a kid so we never really got trick or treaters other than an extremely rare occasion or a few times when of my friends was able to convince their parent to drive out to visit our place; I mostly stuck to visiting relatives, immediate neighbors and stopping by friends places. My sister does it now and it still seems like its going on more or less.

I can see now that a lot more parents I think are more conservative about it or careful where they choose to go out, Halloween also attracts a lot of idiots that get into trouble.

Anyway I've also noticed more nearby areas like grocery stores doing stuff for the kids so they can sort of go their rather than going out to specific houses.

Being older there is also ways to enjoy Halloween, throw parties with friends or family or just have a movie marathon or something.

 

[Soldowner]

Halloween just so happens to be my birthday, so I still happen to celebrate it. I'm sure up into my old age, I'll still make an attempt for my favorite holiday out of the year.

 

[Omega Weapon]

@Cel: Do you guys celebrate 'St. Maarten' over there? I know they do where I live, but I know that it isn't celebrated everywhere in the Netherlands.

For those who don't know: St. Maarten is to a certain extent our version of Halloween. We celebrate the day of St. Maarten (AKA Martinus of Tours) Kids go around town, but instead of saying trick or treat, they sing a song to get candy, and they carry their bags and a beautifully crafted lantern around, instead of a costume. It's pretty cute to see a 3-year-old at your doorstep and they do their best to sing 'Sintermèrte's vögelke' (one of those songs, in our local dialect)

After the whole going from door to door, we all gather at a central point, where St. Maarten does his speech (a guy dressed like St. Maarten) and we get a waffle and some hot chocolate. Then St. Maarten lights a bonfire.

In short, near me, we don't do Halloween, but we have St. Maarten instead.

 

[Ellie Jane]

I'll be working in full costume.

Halloween, with all the pumpkin stuff and trick or treat, is a US tradition which has only arrived elsewhere comparatively recently.

Well, it's been in England since I was a very little kid. But the tradition seemed to be to trick or treat and egg houses or smash windows if they didn't answer. Also to put fireworks through letterboxes.

 

[DarknessFalls]

horror movies and candy yo!

 

[captainproton]

I live in a lower middle class subdivision about three miles from city limits, and what kids do live here do TOT. Most people, though, make the drive into town (ah, rural living) and hit up the streets where rich people live.

 

[DarknessFalls]

I live in a lower middle class subdivision about three miles from city limits, and what kids do live here do TOT. Most people, though, make the drive into town (ah, rural living) and hit up the streets where rich people live.

rich people ======= tripple the candy

 

[captainproton]

rich people ======= tripple the candy

Exactly. I don't know how it is now, but, when I was a kid, there were two streets all the kids hit. These people didn't mess around with any "fun-size" nonsense. You got the real deal.

To my knowledge, the parents out here still allow some of that "free-range children" spirit we experienced, but with a watchful eye. I suppose it helps that this is a small community, where most people not only know each other, but are related. (For real; my family's lived here for almost thirty years and we're treated like foreign invaders.)

 

[bokunoyuki]

very few kids in my neighborhood still celebrate it, as in, they dress up and get candy from house to house. But in a very loose sense, many people celebrate Halloween throughout the month by playing scary games and watching scary movies. Halloween is fun for kids, and an excuse for adults to party while dressing up

 

[AwesomeCool]

@bokunoyuki - Back in my day, people went outside.  Now kids just stare at electronic flip books till there brain rots.

 

[captainproton]

If I had things like time and money, I would be making elaborate costumes and just going all out. Sadly, I have neither. I'll actually be working this Halloween, so I can't even go with my usual tradition of watching old horror movies and trying not to eat all the peanut butter snickers.

 

[byronclaude]

Here in St. Louis, it has become too risky to let your kids go trick-or-treating...  and too dangerous to open the door to possible trick-or-treaters.

@AwesomeCool - When I was a kid, it was a thing for parents to DEMAND that us kids "Go outside and play!" (With the key-words being 'go outside').  Nowadays, kids have no choice but to veg in front of counsels, or mobile units.  There is no longer any place that tolerates kids playing outside.  They can't be in the street, or on the sidewalk, or in a parking lot, or virtually anywhere else due to 'liability' (the result of an age where everyone sues everyone for everything now).  It must be hard to be a kid nowadays.

 

[Celianna]

@Cel: Do you guys celebrate 'St. Maarten' over there? I know they do where I live, but I know that it isn't celebrated everywhere in the Netherlands.


For those who don't know: St. Maarten is to a certain extent our version of Halloween. We celebrate the day of St. Maarten (AKA Martinus of Tours) Kids go around town, but instead of saying trick or treat, they sing a song to get candy, and they carry their bags and a beautifully crafted lantern around, instead of a costume. It's pretty cute to see a 3-year-old at your doorstep and they do their best to sing 'Sintermèrte's vögelke' (one of those songs, in our local dialect)


After the whole going from door to door, we all gather at a central point, where St. Maarten does his speech (a guy dressed like St. Maarten) and we get a waffle and some hot chocolate. Then St. Maarten lights a bonfire.


In short, near me, we don't do Halloween, but we have St. Maarten instead.

They did, back when I was a kid. Nowadays I see no kids outside during St. Maarten, I don't think it's a thing here anymore.