Tired of all this pumpkin and plastic skeleton crap everywhere. Thanks, marketing ghouls rage-cry

What, are we going to start celebrating the 4th of July next? Might as well with the NATO membership I guess

  • SoylentSnake [he/him, they/them]
    hexbear
    78
    8 months ago

    Nah legit the one part of anglo/American culture I will defend with my whole chest this shit is dope and the more of it that exists the better

  • thethirdgracchi [he/him, they/them]
    hexbear
    72
    8 months ago

    I'm not sure how to break this to you, but Halloween is European. Halloween was invented in Ireland, from the pagan celebration of Samhain. Even the practice of dressing up in costume and going from door to door asking for food is recorded as of the 16th century at the latest. Pranks, as well as "Mischief Night," also dates from the 18th century at the latest. This is all pre-Americanisation. It's not a continental European tradition but it's certainly European, not American.

    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
      hexagon
      hexbear
      37
      8 months ago

      Sure, but this shit started not really being a thing in non-anglo European countries sometime in the 90s

        • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
          hexagon
          hexbear
          22
          8 months ago

          I file Halloween with Valentine's Day under "Fake American holidays imported to sell tacky plastic crap"

          • Wheaties [comrade/them]
            hexbear
            17
            8 months ago

            That's ok, you still celebrate the biggest, fakest and most tacky plastic holiday of them all; Christmas.

            • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
              hexbear
              11
              edit-2
              8 months ago

              nah christmas rocks I get to see all my family and just enjoy the vibes and goodwill to all men

              plus past a certain age christmas presents become books and socks (this is one of the main reasons to keep reading as an adult)

                • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
                  hexbear
                  9
                  8 months ago

                  because halloween isn't a holiday anyone celebrates with family gatherings, and the themes of goodwill to all men is a very explicit cultural aspect of christmas when it isn't for halloween.

                  You don't even get a day off for halloween because it was never a big deal culturally

  • hotwarioinyourarea [he/him]
    hexbear
    62
    8 months ago

    Apart from the plastic shit everywhere I think I can get behind some spooky fun. It's so tiring stuffing all these apples with razor blades and heroin though.

    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
      hexagon
      hexbear
      23
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      I've always thought Halloween was a cool holiday but it's a completely hollow marketing exercise here, no actual tradition behind it all.

      Might as well pretend it's the Day of the Dead or Obon

        • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
          hexagon
          hexbear
          9
          8 months ago

          I just remember being a kid and my parents being baffled and borderline offended when I told them my school was holding a Halloween party

          • @wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
            hexbear
            14
            8 months ago

            That sounds like your parents were in tune with halloween just fine, america also has plenty of prudes complaining about people having fun in october too

            • ElChapoDeChapo [he/him, comrade/them]
              hexbear
              7
              8 months ago

              Yeah I remember trick or treating one year and a neighbor answered the door and just said "we don't celebrate Halloween" leaving me baffled and without any candy

              • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
                hexbear
                5
                8 months ago

                yeah that happened a lot with me and it happens more as you get older people really hate pre teens and teenagers trick or treating

                there was a strong feeling that the holiday is an americanism people only reluctantly get involved in

            • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
              hexagon
              hexbear
              7
              8 months ago

              I should stress that it wasn't some religious thing, they just thought celebrating American holidays was stupid nonsense

  • SpiderFarmer [he/him]
    hexbear
    50
    8 months ago

    Halloween is one of the few things America appropriated and made cooler. No disrespect to the Irish OG's that made it, mind you.

  • Ericthescruffy [he/him]
    hexbear
    45
    8 months ago

    When the communist revolution happens not only will Halloween remain as an informal Holiday: All saint day will become an official federal holiday to ensure there is no work or school the day after!

  • PKMKII [none/use name]
    hexbear
    44
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    TBF doing a big ass Fourth of July display in England would be a pretty funny troll job. Especially if you played up the French collaboration angle.

  • BynarsAreOk [none/use name]
    hexbear
    43
    8 months ago

    Halloween? At least it got some social meaning behind it.

    Wait until you realize how many countries specialy in the global south have "Black Friday" discounts now. I don't think there is anything quite as pathetic other than being a literal gusano.

    Anyway one of the best examples of cultural imperialism by capitalism, shoving some meaningless sign in the language of the imperial core to signify a holiday that these people don't even celebrate.

    I don't know if there is a better source somewhere or if it was discussed before, but anyway its quite obvious even on the wiki entry just look at the around the world section and you'll notice it literaly became a thing "overnight", since 2010s with the growth of online retail around the world.

    Actualy thinking about it now its quite scary to think, western capitalism was extremely effective here.

  • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]M
    hexbear
    40
    8 months ago

    Halloween comes free with your subscription to movie & tv monoculture having happened.

    Sorry, boomers existed and they made capitalism mandatory, and now we're stuck with the consequences forever.

  • Gorillatactics [none/use name]
    hexbear
    40
    8 months ago

    The calvinist countries went too far in abolishing its traditional holidays and now they have to import foreign ones to mend its ecosystem.

  • CthulhusIntern [he/him]
    hexbear
    39
    8 months ago

    Of all things you could complain about with Americanization, you complain about Halloween? The best holiday ever conceived by any culture ever?

      • LeylaLove [she/her, love/loves]
        hexbear
        15
        8 months ago

        It doesn't, but it's also the only truly communal American holiday. Christmas creates a lot of good will amongst people, I know my union my Grandma represented adopted HUNDREDS of families for adopt-a-christmas every year. However Christmas is still about. But modern Christmas is still based in celebrating your family, not people as a whole. Adopting other families isn't essential for a Christmas celebration. Halloween is a day for children to walk around feeling cool in their costumes, get candy, and just have a good day. It's the one day of year Americans can actually knock on their neighbors door without it being weird. Even St. Patrick's day, the second most communal holiday in America, is entirely based around parades and not homes.

        On one hand, I don't think Halloween would mean much to nations with closer communal ties. I get why other nations don't understand why America loves Halloween so much. On the other hand, Halloween's cultural significance of being the only inherently community building holiday in America makes it a more worthy holiday than many others. With how alienated people are becoming from each other, I think Halloween is a more important holiday in America than ever.

      • Adkml [he/him]
        hexbear
        3
        8 months ago

        Would you prefer the Christmas decorations already be there instead?

    • Vampire [any]
      hexbear
      4
      8 months ago

      WTF is this thread?

      Americans are trying to claim Halowe'en as their thing now??

      Fucking stop trying to make yourselves the main characters.

      Idiocy.

  • Tripbin [none/use name]
    hexbear
    36
    8 months ago

    Whatever. Youre missing out on the only semi decent holiday in existence.

    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
      hexagon
      hexbear
      16
      8 months ago

      But it's not a holiday over here! There's no real tradition behind it- it's literally just a reason to sell shit with cobwebs and bats on it

      • @HornyOnMain
        hexbear
        27
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        It's the egg holiday, it's like a yearly tradition of eggs to go "haha, wouldn't it be so funny and ironic if I dressed as a girl/guy/non gendered thingy majiggy this year guys haha" every year until they crack

        • CthulhusIntern [he/him]
          hexbear
          8
          8 months ago

          Not to be confused with the other egg holiday in the spring, except with literal eggs.

  • ReadFanon [any, any]
    hexbear
    36
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    I don't think that anyone in their right mind would say that we are suffering from an overabundance of joy in the world.

    Nobody is forcing you to celebrate Halloween but it's okay to abide people having harmless fun. Life is short and far too often it's filled with misery and suffering and there's no need to add to your own misery unnecessarily, especially when it's because other people are celebrating.

    At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love [for the people]. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.

    — Che Guevara

      • ReadFanon [any, any]
        hexbear
        16
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        I don't disagree with this take.

        But until we build strong, healthy, connected communities that centre alternative activities which bring joy to people outside of vapid consumerism then this is what people will gravitate towards for experiencing joy. That's not the fault of the people who are surrounded by commercialism who effectively have no other options available to them, any more than it's the fault of kids who grow up in a suburban hellscape surrounded by busy roads (patrolled by cops who will arrest them on any pretext) with little access to recreational third spaces for spending all their time indoors on social media and gaming.

        We must remind ourselves to be materialists in all things, including this matter. The material reality that fosters this sort of vapid commercial exercise is the problem and the exercise itself is merely a consequence of this reality. The people who participate in it are just trying to have fun and to take part in a community celebration with what's available to them.

        I'm not saying that your opposition to this is wrong but it's important that we don't misplace our frustrations by blaming people for this. It's people like you and I who know better and yet if we haven't put in effort to make something outside of this late capitalist hellscape to prove to people that there are better options then, if anything, we are more to blame for the state of things than the person who lacks class consciousness and who just goes along with the Halloween trend because, essentially, they don't know any better.

        • LeylaLove [she/her, love/loves]
          hexbear
          8
          8 months ago

          Glad someone explained this better than I could. Halloween is essentially the only holiday in America where people come together just to make a good day for the kids. As long as there is no real community centers in America, events that foster community are essential for the working class. The closest holiday we have that's just a community celebration is St. Patrick's, and that's still centralized around parades and being 21+ instead of just the normal people around you. It's the one day of the year that Americans can knock on their neighbors door without any real concern.

          Halloween is extremely consumerist because everything in America is consumerist. But Halloween being the most popular holiday in America is a function of worker's alienation from each other. Trunk or treat is a great example of this. People in rural areas with no real way to walk to each other's houses just pull up to a school parking lot with enough candy for kids to walk around 3-4 times. We buy $30 dollars worth of candy for the sole purpose of giving it to other people, we buy cheap yard decorations to make our community happy. It's the only American holiday that we're supposed to give to the greater community.