HALLOWEEN_AGAINST (writing for speaking)

Browsing the net in search for information about Halloween, I found out that behind tricks and costumes there are serious cultural traditions that have survived through centuries and generations.

As we all know, the festival and its folklore have nowadays been imported to Italy and have hence lost part of their original features and meaning. I consider such exports as culturally interesting because they represent a sort of tribute to other countries' costumes and traditions and are therefore an unavoidable consequence of globalisation.

Nevertheless, they can also reveal their drawbacks: Halloween is nowadays celebrated by almost the whole of Italy but no one knows the roots of this festivity and its real implications. It is all reduced to decorated pumpkins, colourful costumes, children knocking on house doors with the request: “Trick or Treat!?”… but almost no one knows what the whole thing stands for!

All in all, Halloween is here in Italy just an excuse to dress up and have parties and, for children, to scrape up some chocolate and candies through the practice of the “trick or treating”. Actually, I found out that all these rituals, in their original context, represent a way to exorcise the fear of strangers!

I will cite a passage taken from “Why Bother to save Halloween?”, an essay written by Richard Seltzer which (to me) perfectly embodies the original spirit of the festival and explains the implications of the abused “trick or treating”:


Halloween is a time that reconfirms the social bond of a neighbourhood (particularly the bond between strangers of different generations) by a ritual act of trade. Children go to lengths to dress up and overcome their fear of strangers in exchange for candy. And adults buy the candy and overcome their distrust of strange children in exchange for the pleasure of seeing their wild outfits and vicariously reliving their own adventures as children.

Hence, in the light of all this, are we still convinced of the utility of celebrating a festival which has never belonged to our history and culture?

Just think it over…

On the Internet, there is a huge amount of websites about Halloween and its origins. Here, I’ve chosen the most interesting ones. Some sections are quite boring because they focus mainly on the history of this festivity, whilst others really open up new perspectives on the whole thing!

I hope you have fun!

http://www.neopagan.net/Halloween-Origins.html

http://www.halloween.com/

http://www.history.com/minisites/halloween/

http://www.jeremiahproject.com/culture/halloween.html
(this one made me laugh because, at the end of the page, there’s the act of contrition…you might have heard that celebrating Halloween is condemned by orthodox Christians…)

That's all!

(Jack Skeletron- from "Nightmare before Christmas")

Alessia