Yawn, Halloween haters are so tedious
OBJECTORS claim it’s an imported tradition, but so is Christmas, and nobody’s boycotting Santa. Halloween is a harmless, fun festival, but it brings out xenophobes in droves, writes Seb Starcevic.
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AS a kid, I spent most afternoons after school watching re-runs of Bewitched.
In one particular episode ― the Halloween special ― little Tabitha goes trick-or-treating with storybook characters she magically brings to life, and hilarity ensues. It’s the first time I can remember wishing that Halloween would hurry up and catch on in Australia.
Just like Gladys Kravitz, Samantha’s nosy, perpetually disapproving neighbour (played by Sandra Gould from the third season onwards), most of the adults I knew were sceptical of bringing a little magic into their lives, even if it was just pretend.
With Halloween almost upon us, Aussies are once again divided. While an increasing number are getting into the spirit (no pun intended), others will no doubt spend the evening of October 31 muting the TV, closing the blinds and pretending no one’s home.
For these conscientious objectors, Halloween is at best an annual annoyance and at worst “un-Australian”, a term that’s so loosely defined it’s basically meaningless, yet continues to be deployed in nationalist rhetoric by the self-appointed defenders of Australian values.
No one is obligated to open their door to trick-or-treaters, obviously. But our seething contempt for a harmless holiday that originated as a Celtic harvest festival and mutated in the US into an excuse to gorge on chocolate shows many Australians are still casually, shamefully xenophobic.
In August, a Facebook page about Australian culture ran a poll asking respondents “Should Australia celebrate Halloween?” Of the 35,000 respondents, 58 per cent voted “No”, and many commenters weren’t ashamed to say so.
“Obviously not. We’re Australians, not Americans.”
“It’s not our holiday, it’s the yanks’. I’ll be turning on the sprinklers.”
“This is Australia. Piss off to America if you want to celebrate Halloween.”
This misplaced sense of national pride is both confusing (Christmas and Easter are both cultural imports from our other colonial overlords, the Brits, but no one’s boycotting Santa Claus; not to mention Valentine’s Day, St Patrick’s Day and the ultimate booze-drenched festivity, Oktoberfest) and troubling.
In the past, calls to preserve the Australian way of life have often been accompanied by aggressive flag-waving and loaded with hostile sentiment towards immigrants and minorities. Indeed, much of the righteous fury aimed at Halloween wouldn’t be out of place at a United Patriots Front rally.
That’s not to say Halloween haters are in the same league of awful as white nationalists (though that would make for a scary costume, come to think of it). But it’s hard not to cringe when pointless tribalism and insularism are extolled as virtues, especially given recent political developments.
Happily, times are changing. In Brisbane’s Manly Harbour Village, which boasts a large Irish Celtic community, The Courier-Mail reports that the annual Halloween street parade, which started out with 500 participants, now attracts 20,000 people.
Organiser David Farley said: “Everyone gets involved and there’s a real feeling of fun and community spirit.” And that’s to say nothing of the tourism dollars injected into the local economy. If any of that’s un-Australian, I’m guilty as charged.
As Matt Young wrote for news.com.au back in 2015, Halloween is about more than slavering hordes of sugar-crazed primary schoolers shaking down their neighbours for lollies.
He wrote: “It’s about getting together and carving pumpkins with friends. It’s about neighbours growing closer ties to their community. It’s about family. It’s about young adults expressing themselves creatively and forming bonds over pumpkin punch.”
And surely there’s nothing more Australian than that.
Seb Starcevic is a freelance journalist.
Originally published as Yawn, Halloween haters are so tedious