Halloween
was originally a pagan festival that had a resurgence after the fall of Rome.

Originally children collected vegtables and whatnot as gifts for spirits and such shite.

Now America treats it as a mini christmas for the kids and stuff.

Not an American idea at all.
( Razor What the fuck - a sig?, Fri 26 Oct 2012, 12:48, 2 replies)

So you're saying that the modern American practise
of allowing your children to run rampant thru the local 'burbs to collect sweeties from you or egg your house is carried thru from Roman times?

In every "Anglicised" country I've lived in during my yoof (& later) - the American idea if Halloween has only really become prevalent since the late 90'sand early Noughties.
Prior to that I never used to get sprogs banging on my door on All Hallows Eve.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Fri 26 Oct 2012, 13:25, closed)

You never saw ET?
They went out trick or treating, and that was in the 70's.
(username failed moderation, Fri 26 Oct 2012, 13:44, closed)

That was in America though. The suggestion was that trick or treating has only been taken up widely in other countries thanks to the pervasive nature of American media.

However it's not true to say that because kids hadn't been knocking on your door before the 90s that halloween wasn't an event before then. All that tells you is that trick or treating wasn't the way it was celebrated.
( e.m.m.y. foxtrot uniform charlie kilo india tango, Fri 26 Oct 2012, 14:47, closed)

It was though.
I was trick or treating in the UK in the 70's and 80's.

I've lot the plot here.
(username failed moderation, Fri 26 Oct 2012, 15:03, closed)

E.T. was early 80's
But as explained way above it's not a new thing... As with all American "traditions" they stem from older traditions. Bleating about Holloween as a whole rather than it's commercialisation is dumb... I wonder if ROF refuses to have a Christmas tree?
( @><|= w0nu!) or cunt to my friends, Sun 28 Oct 2012, 10:06, closed)

'Trick or Treat' is as closely related to Pagan festivals as a magic present-giving fat man in a flying sleigh is to the birth of Jesus. It's also worth noting that we actually know the best part of nothing about Pagan festivals, and what little we think we do know is often no earlier than Victorian in origin. the Celts weren't big on writing down the 'how to' for their shindigs - most references are Roman, and not very reliable.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Fri 26 Oct 2012, 14:22, closed)