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Stop pretending Halloween is a thing in Europe
(hexbear.net)
Tired of all this pumpkin and plastic skeleton crap everywhere. Thanks, marketing ghouls 
What, are we going to start celebrating the 4th of July next? Might as well with the NATO membership I guess
I file Halloween with Valentine's Day under "Fake American holidays imported to sell tacky plastic crap"
That's ok, you still celebrate the biggest, fakest and most tacky plastic holiday of them all; Christmas.
nah christmas rocks I get to see all my family and just enjoy the vibes and goodwill to all men
plus past a certain age christmas presents become books and socks (this is one of the main reasons to keep reading as an adult)
How is that any different from halloween? Just that your personal family dont bother to get together for it?
because halloween isn't a holiday anyone celebrates with family gatherings, and the themes of goodwill to all men is a very explicit cultural aspect of christmas when it isn't for halloween.
You don't even get a day off for halloween because it was never a big deal culturally
I always thought it would be interesting to declare some random dates as paid holidays, and tell people to figure out their own traditions for them.
that's just bank holidays and nothing happened the tradition is to take a long weekend
Well there should be more
long weekends or traditions because either way I agree
God I wish
Thats, again, a personal you thing. Around me halloween is such a family thing that people without good family ties do a friends-giving style celebration to replace it.
And goodwill to all is a pretty common harvest celebration theme that halloween carries just as well as christmas, especially with how immensely cynical christmas has become.
I dont get a day off for most of my holidays, and christmas is included with that. Not sure why your bosses opinion on holidays matters tho.
It's not just a me thing because also everyone else in my country celebrates those two holidays the same way or at least a significant proportion enough to make that the default cultural understanding.
Is it a cultural understanding because everyone does it like that?
Or is it a cultural understanding because a lot of movies and shows show it like that, and people arent doing what movies do as much as you would think?
well base and superstructure the way the holiday is presented and the way it is celebrated influence each other
but I take it as a cultural understanding because it's the only way I've ever known it. When I was a kid that was the way every family I went to school with celebrated it and now I'm an adult everyone I know does it that way round, also that is the way media, news etc cover it. So all my experiences of living in my culture tell me this is the normal expected way of doing it
it's fine to not do it that way around of course but it's outside of the social norms
I dunno, thats also what op says is their norm, except for all the people from all around europe saying that op is probably just projecting their parents opinion.
Social norms arent really often as norm as you think
no people are saying OP is wrong and that halloween is a holiday not that is a bigger deal culturally than Christmas
people in europe only really started celebrating halloween in living memory it is simply not a major holiday here. That doesn't mean it isn't a holiday though
Halloween was born in europe..... One generation falling out of the celebration doesnt erase it from the culture.
And no one said it was bigger than christmas?
Halloween was a very specifically Irish thing that got picked up the English and passed on to the Americans. It wasn't some pan-European celebration but some cultures had similar celebrations
We don't get a day off so we celebrate the Friday or Saturday we have off before. They only give us shit off if it has supposed religious or historical importance, like Washington's Birthday or Colombus Day, they're federal holidays but ain't no cultural significance behind those
It definitely is a big deal culturally, especially for young people. Kids and parents go on haunted hayrides and carve jack o lanterns, teens and 20s dress up and party with each other. Hell plenty of people in their 30s and beyond still dress up and party. It's an informal holiday but still a ton of people's favorite holiday
But its not fake, or american, and every holiday is used as an excuse to sell plastic crap.