Aw shucks, it’s Hallowe’en again. I hate the Americanisation of this festival about as much as sweet manufacturers love it. In my neighbourhood, it’s less popular than paying income tax. Those who live in top floor flats boast of their immunity to the trick or treaters’ dreaded ring on the doorbell. How I envy them. With my front door at ground level, I’m resigned to buying in a stock of Moam variety packs and bags of marshmallows shaped like fat ghosts, ready for the brute son of Mrs X who lives opposite to get his rubbery clawed hands on.
I’m sorry not to enter into the spirit of things, but my experience of interacting with the T&T’s is far removed from the genial portrayal – cute kids accompanied jolly parents – of American television series and films. Too often I find it’s a bunch of surly teenagers seizing the opportunity that Fright Night presents them with. Once they’ve bagged their sticky loot, they shuffle away without a thank you. Next morning, I cannot believe I thought that opening the door to masked hoodies was a good idea.
Nervous parents get to grips with the risky side of trick and treating by organising groups of children on visits to the houses of friends and family only. For my own children this proved disastrous. For them the true Hallowe’en horror was one supervised trip to the yummy mummy suburbs, where they were 'treated’ with organic Geobars and certified Fairtrade chocs. Not an artificial colourant or additive in sight. I was more amused by this than they were – a neat riposte to the wiles of the confectionary industry.
The UK Halloween market has been growing at a steady 25 per cent each year, with retailers and manufacturers claiming it is now the most lucrative opportunity of the year for sales of novelty lines outside Christmas. The rush to buy from a dazzling range, much of it supermarket own label goodies, lasts for about two weeks, but it’s only a matter of time before the build up to Halloween starts as soon as schools go back in September.
It is good to embrace traditional festivals; an embarrassing aspect of our Protestant history is the loss of them. But their exploitation by the junk food industry, the rampant commercialisation and the multiplication of accompanying tat taints our enjoyment. The original and solemn intention of All Souls and All Saints Days which fall around this time – to commemorate the faithful and the saintly departed – has been overtaken by the crassness with which we are now expected to 'celebrate’ Hallowe’en. I’d like to pass this year – but I don’t dare. That in itself says a lot.
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