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Should Australia celebrate Halloween?

By Tina on 29th October, 2009 | Filed under special occasions

Do you remember Guy Fawkes night? We knew it as cracker night or bonfire night . Since firecrackers have been banned, no-one really celebrates it anymore so why not fill the gap with Halloween?

I don’t particularly like trick or treating, but I do think that we should celebrate the holiday,  only maybe in a more Aussie way. Kids LOVE Halloween and I think that it would be an awesome way to bring neighbours and communities together.  Why not hold a big BBQ or something?

The kids’ friends know that they are welcome to drop in at our house on Halloween if they are trick or treating. And I think that there should be some way of recognising which houses DO celebrate Halloween. Maybe by tying black and orange balloons to the letter box or something?

I’d love to hear your opinion about whether Australia should celebrate Halloween or not.

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  • Erin
    i also love Halloween although we don't celebrate it ,i think more people should celebrate it and those who are Halloween haters need to research and they will soon learn that its not just some dumb Americanized holiday
  • I get so annoyed when Aussies use the excuse that it's an American holiday.
    It's not, people!!
  • I agree - we used to have really elaborate halloweens because alot of our family friends were from the US and we lived there briefly. It was so much fun as a kid. It's actually quite big on the central coast - I always have to stock up on treats.
  • It's a bit of fun for the kids and I think more people should celebrate it!
  • Last year I read "somewhere" about making up signs and delivering around the neighbourhood - the sign was to put out on Halloween to say trick or treaters were welcome. That way the kids knew which homes to visit. I was going to do this but didn't get to it this year. Luckily my girls know which homes to go visit - and which to avoid :-).

    Libby
  • I read about that too recently. I think it's a good idea although I'd be
    happy to give away trick or treating altogether and just have a Halloween
    party.
  • I think we should celebrate it..we have halloween window decals on our living room and upstairs bedroom windows that face the street so trick or treaters know they are welcome here...
  • katepickle
    In my mind the problem for Australians (or anyone in the southern hemisphere) celebrating Halloween is that we need to do it Autumn not spring. Like all the snowflakes and big woolly stockings at Christmas time not only do none of the symbols make sense for us but the idea that it is a celebration of the end of summer (old celtic tradition transformed) doesn't make much sense either.
    So while we don't celebrate halloween (that may change when my kids get older tho!) we'll always have some lollies on hand because in our street... you have to walk a LONG way between houses and up and down driveways so those kids really work for their treats!
  • This is exactly why I think that we need to make it more Aussie! This has
    really been bugging me. I'm going to have to do some more research into it
    LOL
  • researcher
    Well I guess its a pagan holiday where we celebrate dead ancestors coming to life, but so is Christmas where we celebrate some fat guy with a beard riding around in a magical sleigh who climbs down chimneys at night, and Easter where we celebrate some huge stone egg falling out of the sky and a succubus (Ishtar) hatching out and running around "doing what rabbits do" with all the kings of the lands at the time.. oh wait that's not exactly mainstream knowledge... lol.
  • Stefan
    Halloween began in the UK and Ireland. Much like most of Australia's population.

    Don't loose touch with your roots
  • well said! :)
  • Peter
    Hi all by reading some of the post it seems like Halloween was from Britain ect .if this is so the yanks took it up not us, as being 41 years old of British/scotch Irish decent i have not heard of any relatives celebrating Halloween here in Australia it seem as the shops are pushing this stuff not aussies.Being a free country celebrate what you wish just dont
    knock on peoples doors for freebies.we have enough evasion of privacy as it is with people pedaling energy contracts door to door.

    Thanks and keep Australia "Australia" NOT Britain or America.
  • Peter,

    I agree with you that people have the right to NOT having trick or treaters
    knocking on their doors if they don't celebrate Halloween but, like you
    said, it IS a free country, and if I want to create some fun for the kids,
    then I'm going to.

    Someone mentioned about handing out balloons to the neighbours and
    encouraging them to tye the balloons to their letterboxes if they're
    welcoming trick or treaters. I think that's a great idea and kids (and their
    parents) should respect those that don't want to have anything to do with
    Halloween.
  • joshxua
    My mother was born and has lived most of her life in the US. Once as a kid I was over there for Halloween and it was pretty fun. Most people over there expect kids to come by trick-or-treating and will buy candy and stuff before the date, even if they don't have kids. But my mum and I both agree that Australia shouldn't celebrate Halloween.
    Australians have gotten most of their ideas from Halloween from American movies, which often aren't the real truth eg. the idea that houses that don't give out candy should be egged, or that you have to perform a trick before you get your treat (!) I personally don't think we should celebrate now because it never has been celebrated before.

    P.S. The common way to say that you give out stuff on Halloween is to leave your porch light on.
  • martina
    kids in australia 10-14 what to trick or treat because american kids do. the only things australian kids know about america is new york,gangsters,LA,halloween, and famous people. mention any other state and they would be like IS THAT IN NEWYORK? god wtf!? seriously i would know
  • some people DO know what the origin of Halloween is and lots of other people
    need to read up on it.

    it's true that kids learn alot from american tv but there are parents who
    want to make Halloween fun in Australia for their kids.
  • I can trace back my love of Halloween to going to Halloween balls run by the Scottish Association (both my parents are Scottish) as a kid. Then when I was about 14 I had a Halloween Party - back then we had to handmake ALL the decorations as you couldn't by anything. What I loved was being able to dress up and have fun with our friends - which is why we decided to have an annual Halloween Party for the last 4 years. Of course, I do love all the decorations too :-). But the kids get such a thrill seeing their parents dressed up - I guess it's a chance to relive my own childhood :-).
    And I love getting trick or treaters - - I think it's great seeing kids make an effort to get dressed up and spend time with their friends while they walk around the neighbourhood.

    Libby
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