There's a Halloween contest running.
Anyone can offer up some broad and different story ideas, to help tune in the non-Americans who have only a fuzzy idea of what Halloween might be?
(And give thanks it's not a thanksgiving contest! Still can't grasp that)
It might not be as big a thing in Europe as it is in the US, but I am fairly sure that it is a thing in Europe as well as the US as the core traditions started there.
Halloween, All Hallows Eve, the night before the Catholic holy day All Saints day.
https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
It might not be as big a thing in Europe as it is in the US, but I am fairly sure that it is a thing in Europe as well as the US as the core traditions started there.
Almost nothing here in the Netherlands although commercial parties are desperately trying to make it a thing so they have another moment to sell crap. Halloween here is nothing like it is in the US. If it weren't for the online attention it gets I wouldn't know when it is or when it's passed.
Almost nothing is not nothing.
There's no family celebrations that I'm aware of, it's just in the last few years that some companies are trying to push it with some minor decorations to hopefully make it another cash-cow celebration. It sadly has nothing to do with the basics of the celebration, only greed, which is virtually the opposite of what thanksgiving should be about.
There's no family celebrations that I'm aware of
Saying people in Europe don't celebrate Halloween the way people in the Us do is a very different thing from saying that people in Europe have no idea what Halloween is.
Well, more or less indirectly, but American media dominate online narratives, at least in English language -- and as soon as you want to look outside your tiny town you pretty much have to switch to English in today's world,-- but also a lot of content on TV is translated.
That makes things like Halloween a perfect opportunity for commercialization. So no, nobody "celebrates" it here for real, but various merchants have more or less successfully pushed it as reason for a party, masked or not.
While in exact form it is foreign to local tradition, it isn't in hard conflict, at least with us "pagans" out there. There's some weak overlap with isn't exploited probably because said trade organizations are versed in local folk traditions much less than TV learned American customs.
While in exact form it is foreign to local tradition, it isn't in hard conflict, at least with us "pagans" out there.
A good chunk of the Christian traditions around Halloween/All Hallows Eve go back to pre-Christian Celtic culture Samhain traditions.
The "embrace, extend, extinguish" policy wasn't Microsoft's invention, Christianity used it to absorb, substitute and subvert local traditions as expansion strategy.
Strange things have born out of it and some have had successful secondary spread across the globe. Like, we claim the copyright of the Christmas Tree. It doesn't make sense on its own in either tradition, but the first documented occurrence of the phenomenon was ostensibly in Riga, in what might have been a creative attempt to marry the two.
And I didn't mention Winterfest here totally out of the blue, our tradition of mask wearing is more closely associated with that time, or more precisely, time before it, but "that time" starts with October 10th or about so. It differs of course, and isn't practiced anymore (although I have participated in some as recently as less than quarter a century ago).
How we did it, we mask up, with the emphasis of making yourself unrecognizable. There's also a bunch of traditional templates that while optional might be advisable to include to make the whole thing a little less freaky (none of them particularly scary, unless you see a literal strawman or "tall wife" holding fake head above the real one hidden in clothes scary) and then go on a surprise visit to relatives, friends or neighbors, family to family, or larger groups party crashing.
Part of the fun is trying to figure out who the fuck the guests are, but hosts are obliged to serve dinner regardless. Also worth mentioning that gender switching was staple in those masks, particularly for kids.
I can't see your reply... yet. Let's see how long it takes :)
ETA:
@Dominions Son
Now that I posted this I can see it. What's up with your posts that they take so long to show up ;)
Saying people in Europe don't celebrate Halloween the way people in the Us do is a very different thing from saying that people in Europe have no idea what Halloween is.
I never said that we don't know what Halloween is, just that it's not celebrated here (at least not in the Netherlands).
I never said that we don't know what Halloween is, just that it's not celebrated here (at least not in the Netherlands).
Yeah, but my comment on it being a thing in Europe was a reply to the OP who implied that no-one outside the US would even know what it is.
I know it's not as big a thing in Europe as it is in the US, but it is still a thing in Europe.
Yeah, but my comment on it being a thing in Europe was a reply to the OP who implied that no-one outside the US would even know what it is.
I know what it is! People go around in hockey masks stabbing teens. Do I get a gold star?
AJ
What is the point of arguing with Europeans about what is and isn't known about something in Europe? Europe's a big place.
In the part of Europe I'm in, trick-n-treat and dressing up would be deeply frowned upon at Halloween, and is just another americanism that everyone talks about not wanting to import. Quite what is actually involved probably isn't very understood.
Of course, we have our own kids-dressing-up-as-witches-and-going-house-to-house, swapping homemade paintings for sweets. Only that's at Easter...
On the gripping hand, the Christmas tradition here is really really different from in the US (which, I'm kinda sure, is like the UK Christmas lite). Its celebrated on a different day, there are goats involved and santa-equiv is a kinda franchise and does real house calls and small children get threatened.
I've watched immigrant families make rather amusing secular attempts to celebrate Christmas.
So, anyway, I've been looking at previous halloween stories and I can kinda imagine a quick finding-true-love-at-fancy-dress thingy, but the halloween vibe is really monsters and horror and that's not thing.
Delay again
And it's Keet again. What's up with his posts that they take forever to show up.
Well i thought about a "stroke" story involving the fictional character of marty deeks and kenzy bly from NCIS: Los angeles playing shaggy and one of the girls from the old scooby doo series.
Though i kind of firmly debate with myself which of the mystery machine girls kenzy bly should play, velma dinkley or dafny blake.
It has long since grew past it's roots as All Saints Day/All Hallows Eve.
It's been commercialized heavily as a reason for costume parties and mass distribution of various treats to future diabetics.
ETA: Any story fitting in supernatural events would work. Especially of the horror type.
to help tune in the non-Americans who have only a fuzzy idea of what Halloween might be?
I never realized that it was a U.S. thing. Kind of late to ask, though. Submissions start tomorrow for 2 weeks.
If non-Americans have only a fuzzy idea, it's the same with Americans.
There's no real meaning, and nobody really cares, it's currently just an excuse to buy some candy, and hope no kids show up so you can eat it all yourself.
Many years ago when people actually lived on farms, it was a good time to celebrate a harvest festival - cool nights, hay rides, bonfires, and chances for young people to match up...
And relatively recently, in cities, it has turned into an opportunity for yuppies to wear sexy costumes, get drunk and do stuff that they may regret in the morning.
Observation seems to vary regionally. For example, where I live now, not a single "trick-or-treat" kid (or adult) has shown up in the past 40 years. Other places, kids still go from door to door (accompanied by "helicopter parents" of course).
If you go back to the Scottish and Irish roots, you find "neeps lanterns" and the practice of dressing kids up in scary costume to ward off evil spirits. Those have been imported to the US due the the large number of Irish and Scots who immigrated here.
All of this started in Europe, specifically Ireland, Scotland and England, long before the US existed. Don't know why it should be little-known there.
Same applies to Thanksgiving, which is just a harvest festival imported from Germany, Norway, and probably every other area that was successful in growing enough food to store for the winter.
Once the cider ferments, what else to do but have a party?
But to answer the original question, the answer is no. Halloween being mostly vague and meaningless in the US, writing an interesting story based on that doesn't seem practical.
Maybe one set in a scary Edinburgh castle... but then, non-American readers would have to be familiar with their own history, otherwise it's still going to take a lot of explaining.
So, anyway, I've been looking at previous halloween stories and I can kinda imagine a quick finding-true-love-at-fancy-dress thingy, but the halloween vibe is really monsters and horror and that's not thing.
Google "halloween for adults" images and you'll see that monsters aren't all that popular - it's more like cosplay, with less Japanese manga influence.
Plenty of opportunity for encounters.
Google "halloween for adults" images and you'll see that monsters aren't all that popular
Sure, real world Halloween parties for adults are like that.
But Halloween stories tend to spooky ghost stories, monster stories where the monsters are real in the story world, and slasher/serial killer horror stories.
In the part of Europe I'm in, trick-n-treat and dressing up would be deeply frowned upon at Halloween, and is just another americanism that everyone talks about not wanting to import. Quite what is actually involved probably isn't very understood.
Not much to understand. Little kids knock on doors, people hand out candy. That's the "treats". Mom, Dad, or older teen usually escort the little ones.
People who are willing to hand out candy often decorate the front porch with pumpkin lanterns (in homage to the original neeps), now mostly plastic and UL Approved with LED lighting.
There are seldom any "tricks" involved, unless the kid is old enough, has some spare cash, and the neighbor is a hooker.
And of course, if your neighborhood is one known for hookers, Halloween is probably one of the safer nights to be out roaming the streets.