It was different not so long ago. When I was a child in the Midwest (mid-80s through at least the mid-90s), Halloween had a lot more tradition and ritual to it, but these rituals have been systematically curtailed or banned (I now live in the South, and the same is true here). Trick or treating used to be long and elaborate, treats were more commonly homemade and also elaborate, and costumes and decorations were more explicitly focused on fear and death. Halloween was about community participating in rituals of fear.
In the meantime the average age of homeowners increased, the population of children fell, and the general level of anxiety in the population increased. The entertainment industry diversified, and now even if you have cable there won’t be a string of horror movies everyone watches. A whole genre of scary films, suspense, effectively disappeared in the meantime. Halloween traditions died by trivial inconveniences. Since the community aspects collapsed, new elements filled the void; entertainment entire shifted more towards adrenaline, comedy and sex; children’s entertainment became increasingly nonsensical and averse to serious things; costumes followed suit.
Halloween was my favorite holiday when I was a child, but most of that is gone and now my child shall have only the memories my wife and I can impart. This saddens me greatly.
Huh, this comment leads me to look at Halloween through the inadequate equilibria lens.
Holidays vary in how much they’re a community affair, vs family affair. Many (most?) of them at least aspire somewhat to be a community affair, but in a way that gracefully scales down when you only are doing it with your immediate family or friends. There are Thanksgiving Parades and Midnight Christmas vigils, but the holidays still basically work if you decide to do the unilaterally.
Not so with Halloween – it specifically depends on a particular kind of neighborhood, with a two sided marketplace between children and host-families.
It was different not so long ago. When I was a child in the Midwest (mid-80s through at least the mid-90s), Halloween had a lot more tradition and ritual to it, but these rituals have been systematically curtailed or banned (I now live in the South, and the same is true here). Trick or treating used to be long and elaborate, treats were more commonly homemade and also elaborate, and costumes and decorations were more explicitly focused on fear and death. Halloween was about community participating in rituals of fear.
In the meantime the average age of homeowners increased, the population of children fell, and the general level of anxiety in the population increased. The entertainment industry diversified, and now even if you have cable there won’t be a string of horror movies everyone watches. A whole genre of scary films, suspense, effectively disappeared in the meantime. Halloween traditions died by trivial inconveniences. Since the community aspects collapsed, new elements filled the void; entertainment entire shifted more towards adrenaline, comedy and sex; children’s entertainment became increasingly nonsensical and averse to serious things; costumes followed suit.
Halloween was my favorite holiday when I was a child, but most of that is gone and now my child shall have only the memories my wife and I can impart. This saddens me greatly.
Huh, this comment leads me to look at Halloween through the inadequate equilibria lens.
Holidays vary in how much they’re a community affair, vs family affair. Many (most?) of them at least aspire somewhat to be a community affair, but in a way that gracefully scales down when you only are doing it with your immediate family or friends. There are Thanksgiving Parades and Midnight Christmas vigils, but the holidays still basically work if you decide to do the unilaterally.
Not so with Halloween – it specifically depends on a particular kind of neighborhood, with a two sided marketplace between children and host-families.