Halloween is a crass American import – I'll never indulge it

For a whole bunch of reasons, it makes sense for sales to be coordinated between different countries, especially neighbors. It allows marketing dollars to be used more efficiently, the logistics of shipping and warehousing are simplified, etc.

Besides, Black Friday is more about kicking off the Christmas buying season than celebrating Thanksgiving. It starts the very day after the preceding major holiday (and when many Americans have the day off). Unless Canadians would be done with their Christmas shopping by now, it would not make sense to tie to Canadian Thanksgiving.

All traditions take up air. If you aren't conscious about which traditions you continue and which ones you let go of, we'll end up at a least common multiple drained of all meaning except profit.

> Who wants an excuse to have fun, have kids and co-eds dress up in flirty clothing, and eat candy?

Now that you mention it, kids in flirty clothing is one of the things which isn't great.

I agree, it seems downright easy to pick up. It also falls (at least here in europe) at the beginning of the colder half of the year at a time when summer events are winding down, with christmas still almost two months away. It's a pretty good thing to fill the gap. (Doesn't mean you should indulge overpriced decor though)

I don't know why you got downvoted, your sarcasm implies an insightful point that shows why it spreads the way it does.

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Halloween is easily one of the best holidays of the year. There's no seriousness or weight to it, there's no need to make travel plans, there's no need for a big dinner. You have no obligation to do anything, or you can go as deep into it as you want. It's entirely fun, and at least where I live, the weather is at the absolute best. It's going to be low 60s, sunny, and peak foliage today. I loved it as a kid, dressing up and going house to house; then in college/kid-free partying, and now with kids of my own to see it through their eyes. The only downside is that the next day it's November, and DST ends.

> https://www.historyhit.com/what-are-the-origins-of-halloween...

All Saints Day, which “All Hallows Eve" is the vigil celebration of, came not from the US or the Celts:

> […] so the Orthodox tradition celebrated All Saints on the Sunday after Pentecost (as it still does), while Syrian tradition held it on the Friday after Easter. On 13th May 609 AD (or perhaps 610 AD) Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon in Rome as a Catholic church dedicated to all saints and ordered an annual celebration of the saints in that church on this date, which is held to this day. At some point in his pontificate (731-41 AD), Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in St Peters to all saints and martyrs and some accounts say this was on November 1, making this the potential origin for the western date for All Saints Day.

* https://historyforatheists.com/2021/10/is-halloween-pagan/

This date then became popular under the rule of Charlemange:

> This urging suggests that All Saints Day was perhaps celebrated on other dates and Alcuin, by this stage back at the court of the Frankish ruler Charlemagne at Aachen, preferred the tradition he knew from England. Or it could be that he is urging the importance of the feast rather than the date of the celebration per se. What we do know is the November 1 date caught on in Frankia, with Pope Gregory IV promulgating it as the date for All Saints Day for both East and West Frankia, and this was reinforced by an edict by Louis the Pious in 835 AD as recorded in the entry for that year in the Chronicon of Sigebert of Gembloux. With the date established across the Frankish Empire, it became more widely adopted and over the next two centuries became standard Catholic liturgical practice across Europe.

* Ibid

But it was not a universal date yet, as the Irish/Celts celebrated the feat on a completely different day:

> The Félire Óengusso or “Martyrology of Óengus” is another martyrology, attributed to Saint Óengus of Tallaght. It seems to date to the ninth century and is based on earlier English martyrologies (like that of Bede), but with significant local Irish additions. It mentions a feast of All Saints in its listing for April 20:

* Ibid

The History Hit article mentions Pope Gregory VII (1073–85), but November 1 was already around before he got there. He mainly told the folks celebrating in April/May to stop and to celebrate in November.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints%27_Day § History

The octave wasn't added until much later, under Pope Sixtus IV (1471–84), and so any kind of festivities on October 31 (vigil) were even later.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octave_(liturgy)

Little more than the word.

It seems part of your comment may be alluding to today, the anniversary of the Itaewon crowd crush.

I want to emphasize that Halloween was not commodified or appropriated to express dissent here. It was a very localized phenomenon primarily celebrated in the traditional "foreigner neighborhood" near the now mostly defunct yongsan army base.

The deaths were a failure of the government, on several levels, to control excessive crowding in alleyways. Our friends that died that day were not protesting, they were just out having fun

Yeah, but good luck getting that to go viral on Twitter.

But great article if you enjoy reading grumpy British humor roasting America

In the Netherlands, on the “elf” of November, children make handmade lanterns and wander door to door, singing for candy. It’s frikkin cute— that’s why Halloween is discouraged.

Right? Conservative voice going to yell about younger generations playing their music too loud.