As things biuld up steadily towards Halloween here in Blighty, what with the shop aisles brim full of witches, ghouls and zombies, I've been trying to recall Halloween for me in the Sixties.
Being a monster nut I would have thought I'd have adored the whole thing, but I'm really struggling to recall much at all, so much so, that I'm now thinking Halloween wasn't a big thing in Sixties Preston, where I grew up. I'm even beginning to think trick or treating wasn't even a thing in the 60's, a custom that was yet to come over from the States. Or?
Unlike Christmas, which I remember vividly and to some extent, Bonfire Night, which WAS a big deal back then, Halloween can't have been anything like it is now in the UK, a night I've now come to savour as I've got older. There's no great party or shindig that we have, it's just the whole eerie atmosphere of the candle-lit evening, the true start of the dark season and the cold gateway to Winter.
I assume for American readers Halloween has always been massive, even in the 50's and 60's. Maybe even before that?
What was it like as a kid where you live in the world and how is it now for you?
It was a named day, but that was it. Nothing went on.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1960s and 1970s, in New Zealand, Halloween was something that you saw only on American TV shows. Very alien - there was nothing in NZ that I can recall. It is only in the last decade or perhaps two that Halloween has filled the shops with orange and black, witches, skeletons, and black cats.
ReplyDeleteYou're right.
ReplyDeleteHalloween was no big thing for us in Britain, in the 60s, eclipsed as it was by the massively popular Bonfire Night on 5th November.
Halloween was noted, and in my neck of the woods was also called 'Mischief Night' (which I suppose is similar to 'Trick or Treat' in the USA) but it was not really celebrated, as such.
It really took off in the UK, in the '80s and '90s, partly influenced by the arrival of the Halloween series of movies and the increasing spread of American culture generally, and partly because of it's commercial possibilities for the toy, hospitality and gift industries here.
Over the same period, Bonfire Night declined significantly, due to the safety issues around fireworks (which, quite rightly, can no longer be bought by children or teens) and bonfires generally, which once appeared everywhere, but now are rarely seen.
As a result, Halloween is now pretty well a national event for kids, and completely overshadows Bonfire Night.
I concurr with Mish, Halloween is only a thing in Australia now, because of the influx of Chinese made decorations, created to satisfy the American market.
ReplyDeleteI remember how odd it was in the first Harry Potter film to see Jack O' Lanterns in England!
I do remember in my English 60's childhood, dressing up as scary monsters with the neigbourhood kids, around Bonfire time... My Dad had a high neck denim jacket and I could zip it up over my head and look through the zipper to create a headless horseman effect!
Australia had "Cracker Night" on the Queen's Birthday, but that is all gone now.
Up to the time I left the UK in 1974 Halloween was All Hallow's Eve with church services.
ReplyDeleteWhen I moved to the US it was a commercial 'Trick or Treat' the religious element was missing.
I remember Halloween in the US being a huge thing as early as 1966. It's always been my favorite holiday, as I love costumes and parties and spooky stuff. I still had fun giving out candy to kids as an adult. Then for some reason I lived in areas where there were no trick-or-treaters anymore. When my own kid was the right age we walked her friends around on Halloween. Here in well-to-do Los Angeles neighborhoods the movie people go nuts on haunted house displays and special effects. Now my kid is grown and it's just a night for watching old movies...
ReplyDelete