To Not "Get" Halloween ?

[dottiedodah]

Dont get me wrong here .I dont have a problem with Trick /Treat people at the door ,and have some chocolates ready for them . Its just the whole tackiness of it . Lurid coloured tacky sweets ,Children dressed as Zombies ! Horror films on all week! .AIBU here or does anyone else feel the same way?

"Don’t accept them from random people. You wouldn’t do it on the street so why would you do it just because it’s Halloween"

For similar reasons as to why it's suddenly soon, going to be ok for a strange old man, playing dress up, in a suit that's seen better days, totally disguising his identity, to sit children on his knee and have his picture taken with them.

On our local neighbourhood web page you can add your house to the 'Halloween trail' of acceptable houses to knock on. Which is a good idea.

I think it's time to get out the well worn MN Halloween Bingo Card out. Anyone said 'begging' yet?

Orange twirl gate .Sorry I didnt see the other thread ,but obviously not just me then! I see that children enjoy dressing up and getting sweets ,but its not just the night itself .Its the lead up ,Horror Films on TV all weeknights,Shop windows done up "spookily" that have zero interest normally .Just having a grumble really!

I love hallowe'en, I love this time of year when the leaves are changing and falling, the cold but bright days, all the autumnal colours 😍

Trick or treating (or guising/galoshin as we call it) has become ridiculous. Traditionally children would knock on doors and do a 'trick' (a wee dance, tell a joke or sing a wee song) to earn their treat, there was no 'threats'.
And as for pumpkins, I didn't see a real life carved pumpkin until i was an adult, we carved turnips, put a candle in and string through to carry as a lantern. All costumes were hand made, no shop bought outfits here. Monkey nuts were given out in abundance but that has fell away now due to the risk of allergies, apples and tangerines were also popular or one small sweet/lolly, sometimes people would even give out some small amounts of money (20p or the like).
It was also tradition to end the evening going to peoples houses and dooking for apples, telling spooky stories, or playing other games.

Hahaha I'm sure most responsible parents only take their dc to the houses of neighbours they know! My dc love it, it's a bit of fun and dd age 7 has been learning about the origins of Halloween at school...if you don't want people knocking leave the lights out and don't answer the door

As i said ,its not the night itself so much ( We have neighbours /friends children at the door and give them some chocolate).Its just that it seems to be so commercial now (Chergar your Halloween sounds lovely)!

Meh. I love decorating my garden up for Halloween but shudder at the mere thought of pissing about with tinsel, fairy lights and all that other Christmas shite.
I prefer zombies and spooky fun to jingle bells and a fat bloke in a red suit.

I guess we're all different eh?

Read Tam O'Shanter by Robbie Burns. Great poem.

I don't like it much, but to those saying they're not aware of "tricking", I've had my car covered in eggs and flour twice (and wasn't living in a rough area) when I was actually out at a friend's so couldn't open the door to them, and a friend had his front windows covered in eggs and flour one year when he wasn't home either. And it's a real pain to remove, sticks like concrete. So I'd rather not be disturbed when having my evening meal or sat watching tv with my cat on my lap, but I'll have to open the door to avoid being "egged".

OP, where on earth do you live because I live in the UK and other than the Strictly Halloween special I've not seen anything else related to it on television and certainly haven't seen any horror films on television 'every night'?

It has become a bit of a confusing mish mash of the Pagan festival, Scottish traditions and Mexican Day of the Dead.
I'm not sure where zombies, freaky clowns and plastic axes with pretend blood on come into it!
Or witches thinking about it. Off to Google....

Everything reginafelangee said.

Halloween is an age old tradition. It isn't about 'begging' it is about the community coming together to celebrate the passing of summer, remember their ancestors, enjoy the light and warmth of fires as winter approaches, ward of evil spirits, tell tales in exchange for gifts (sweets in the modern world).

Nobody is forced to join in but it is a massively important part of my culture and that of many other cultures across the world.

I quite like Hallowe’en and its associated traditions, but I also live in an area that gets “egged” if you don’t (or aren’t around to) treat. There’s also at least one TV channel - might be Really? - which has been advertising something like ten nights of “fright nights” so unless you literally watch every channel every day, you can’t say for certain that no channel is jumping on the Hallowe’en bandwagon.

It’s not really hard to “get” it, is it? There are plenty of people that enjoy the event, particularly now the clocks have changed to add to the atmosphere.

I was caught having visited the US on several occasions that spanned the event.

However if you would prefer not to participate, that is absolutely your prerogative.

Man on Black Beak .We live on the South Coast .Sorry maybe a bit of an exaggeration ,but "Not Going Out" Halloween special 10.35 wed 30 Oct followed by" Frankenstein" plus " Regression" C4 the same evening at 1.50 also film 4 the same evening "the Midnight Man 11.00 .31 Oct Halloween H20 plus more !