Halloween, a simple product of American soft power? This dimension isindisputable and some countries like Venezuela have even banned theparty. Just as our current Christmas is very Americanized, it is throughfilms and series that Halloween has spread. In France, it was during amarketing stunt by France Telecom in 1997 that the party took hold,initially among young adults. ---- The appeal lasted a few years then wenoted a drop in interest in the 2000s, the fashion effect was brief. Andyet no, the party is there and has even finally taken root discreetly.Firstly through children's culture, with door-to-door disguised shoppingin suburban areas, but also in big cities: fancy dress parties,decorated bars, student parties, cinema evenings, on which theentertainment industry and merchandising have focused. eager to surf.Have we been stupidly Americanized by force?Not really. Because even though we are bombarded with Thanksgivingepisodes in American series, we have not started to celebrateThanksgiving, the celebration having no meaning here. On the other hand,Halloween "summons a pop horror universe that we share"[1]and makes thelink with All Saints' Day.PexelsPagan rite behind the capitalist facadeBut Halloween has a popular history: an ancient Celtic festival ofSamhain which was Christianized, it was celebrated around the autumnequinox which was the night when the border between the dead and theliving faded. The Halloween festival was then exported to the UnitedStates, mainly via the two million Irish immigrants who left the islandfollowing the great famine of 1845, made worse by British colonialinfluence.The Irish will constitute the majority of the industrial proletariat ofthe northern cities in the 19th century, despised and discriminatedagainst. Jack o'lanterns will go from turnips to American pumpkins andthe festival will become popular after the Civil War. In the years1910-1920, Halloween will be an opportunity for working youth to engagein acts of vandalism, which will go as far as burning houses.In order to mitigate these manifestations of revolt, we will popularizegood-natured parades, disguised with the famous "Trick or treat!" ". From this rebellious period there remains the tradition of throwingeggs and toilet paper at certain houses. Note that without knowledge ofthis history, in France a century later between 2015 and 2020, theHalloween festival will also be the occasion for episodic scenes ofvandalism in working-class neighborhoods.Therefore, perhaps we can reappropriate it in a subversive rather thanmercantile sense?Nico Pasadena (UCL Montreuil)To validate[1]Bo YouTube Channellchegeek, "Ending Christmas", December 2019.https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Halloween-fete-populaire-ou-imperialisme-culturel_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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