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What does Halloween mean to you?

25 Comments

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An excuse for Japanese girls to parade around Shibuya in their underwear or dressed as sexy nurses, school girls, sexy witches or sexy police officers.

What's not to like?

1 ( +9 / -8 )

The transition from the season of light and warmth to the season of cold and darkness. Throughout history, societies in temperate parts of the world have held important festivals around this time of year marking the end of harvest season and just before hunkering down for winter.

Halloween is wildly popular in Japan (and S. Korea also, evidently) because it's a perfect fit, even though it took Westerners to introduce it.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Funny when people ask about the "meaning" of Halloween, as though there is one. It's simply a bacchanal - something practiced by many societies to allow people to let off steam. Christmas used to fulfill that function until it was transformed around Dickens's time. Generally, the more rigid and rule-bound a society is, the more they need that release valve.

In societies where almost anything goes, like the West, it's just an excuse to push the boundaries.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

there is nothing to "celebrate" and there is no meaning at all.

4 ( +11 / -7 )

Very popular in the UK when I was a kid. Duck apples.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

For me, it is just a party for people, especially youths, showing their costumes to friends or other pedestrians enjoy at the center of suburbs. I seldom see kids walking around streets and visit house, saying "trick or treat!"

I'm teaching English to children. When I ask them to tell the meaning of "treat", most of them said "I do not know of it".

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Nothing.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

Means lots of work making events for hundreds of peeps, buying lots of stuff, decorating endlessly.

But its all for fun, so its alright.

I have a big party for nearly 100 people tomorrow.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Autumnal fun and mischief.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Turnip lanterns, dookin for apples, and eating treacle coated scones dangling from string with your hands behind your back. Also standing in the freezing cold outside a neighbour's door, dressed as a pirate, singing and hoping they'll give you a coin rather than a handful of nuts.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

“ What does Halloween mean to you? “

Trick-or-treating and vandalism; that’s what I did when I was a kid and I’m still keeping those memories with me (!)

but now that I live in Tokyo, Japan … :

Mr KiplingToday  07:54 am JST “ An excuse for Japanese girls to parade around Shibuya in their underwear or dressed as sexy nurses, school girls, sexy witches or sexy police officers. “

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

No Halloween in England in my day.

Anybody else remember “Mischief Night”?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Hallowe’en parties on London Underground Circle Line which goes around and around.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

means nothing to me, but not so meaningless or harmless as some may think.

wish it would never exist, wish people understood a true bad meaning behind it and stopped liking it so much, even if its 'just for fun'.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Another excuse to go party and drink.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

What does Halloween mean to you?

Absolutely nothing.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Nothing

1 ( +3 / -2 )

just some kind of commercial event,like Easter or Christmas-not related to any religion just "event"?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

In Japan, we have a home costume party and just last night the kids and I carved Jack O Lanterns and we are going to put them out tonight

1 ( +2 / -1 )

It's an excuse to have a party and parties can be a lot of fun.

I've had some great times in my life, but most of them weren't "it's Christmas!" or "It's New Year!" type festivities that always carry expectations and bring out hangers-on. My great times were more like great gigs, a great nights in a club, or big nights with my mates. Maybe I just don't like the general public.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

lucabrasiOct. 30  04:32 pm JST

No Halloween in England in my day.

Anybody else remember “Mischief Night”?

Yes, very well indeed, night before Bonfire Night and the day after my birthday.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@Harry

Two days after mine.

Cheers!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@lucabrasi

Have a good one, omedetou!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Jamie Lee Curtis.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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