The BBC reports encouraging news from France:Norfolk Blogger does not like the new festival either. And I had my say last year:Halloween is said to be dying in France after a short-lived bonanza, according to media reports.
It seems the festival, which came to prominence in the late 1990s, is in decline because it is perceived as "too American".
An association called No to Halloween - which was set up to combat the trend - has now wound down as a result of the festival's waning appeal.
It said Halloween was artificially inflated to serve commercial interests.
good honest begging, involving some creative effort and hours of shivering on street corners, has gone. It has been replaced by a form of demanding money with menaces: Trick or Treat?
I can vouch for that - I have a whole box of Quality Street to eat because none of the little beggars knocked on our door...
ReplyDeleteI said it last year and I'll no doubt say it again this year: Mischief Night is as English as Roast Beef and is far more sinister than Trick or Treating. Indeed, the more nasty aspects of Halloween seem to be a combination of a US (actually Irish AIUI) custom and the English tendency towards thuggery.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it a bad custom because it is "American"? Why not campaign against the traditional Christmas (tree, etc.) on the basis that it is fundamentally German?