Halloween wasn’t built in one night. To trace the genesis of this folk festival, very popular in English-speaking countries, some historians mention Samhain’s legacya festival of Celtic origin which was celebrated for seven days around the full moon in November.
Samhain marks the end of the Celtic lunar calendar and the entry into the dark period of the year, as opposed to the light season which precedes it. The belief of the time is that this period of transition towards shorter days – and therefore increasing darkness – opens a gap between the world of the living and that of the dead. This border, impermeable the rest of the year, would become so fine that souls and ghosts could take advantage of it to penetrate the human world.
On Samhain, it is said that Celtic peoples take advantage of these festivities to light huge fires to chase away evil spirits, and organize gargantuan banquets during which a portion is always left for their deceased loved ones.
With its exacerbated reality, having undoubtedly exceeded historical truth, the festival of Samhain is part of Celtic folklore. Its myths and symbols, where we cannot disentangle the true from the false, become confused with other legends, such as that of Jack-o’-lantern. From an old Irish tale, this character is condemned by the devil to wander in the darkness for the rest of his life, with a simple candle placed in a hollowed-out turnip as a lantern.
Folk export
The Irish take these stories and traditions with them when it’s time to flee the great famine which struck their island in the middle of the 19the century. More than a million of them emigrate towards the American continent and import their habits and customs. On site, the dug Jack-o’-lantern turnip becomes a pumpkin, larger and easier to carve. The supposed ancestral rituals of Samhain are reinterpreted; in this vast amalgam, the Halloween festival as it is celebrated today is gradually born, boosted in the aftermath of the Second World War by companies and traders who sense a marketing opportunity.
To a lesser extent, these Celtic traditions and legends which would later shape the spirit of Halloween also found echo in France, long before the night of October 31 was disguised as a commercial festival. In Brittanystories mention a custom which lasted until the beginning of the 20th centurye century: as All Saints’ Day approaches, children like to scare the villagers by digging beets or turnips into the shape of a skull. They place a candle inside and place this lantern on the side of a path or at the top of an embankment, hoping to freeze the blood of passers-by who will look at this glow defying the darkness.
Similar practices were also observed in eastern France at this same time of year. In Moselle, these pranks earned the night before All Saints’ Day to be nicknamed Rommelbootzennaatin other words the night of the grimacing beets.
A commercial boon
But Halloween, as we celebrate it today, would never have arrived in France without the massive importation of American culture during the end of the 20th century.e century – nor the foresight of a few companies who were able to see this celebration as a commercial boon. Some have in fact spotted a great opportunity to stimulate consumption and boost sales at half mast during this relatively slow period of the year, which runs from the start of the school year until the festivities in December.
In France, the first large-scale commercial operation around Halloween is to be attributed to France Telecom. In 1997, the telecommunications company took advantage of the end of October to market an orange mobile called Olaween (in reference to its Ola service) and decorate, on this occasion, the Place du Trocadéro of some 8,000 pumpkins.
For the first time, the French are discovering Halloween and this celebration made in the USA. The operation was a success: French brands and retailers seized on this orange and black fever in the following years. In 1999Coca-Cola organizes a Halloween Party at the Zénith in Paris, McDonald’s follows suit by offering a special menu, Yves Rocher launches a witch makeup kit and the BN biscuit factory replaces the smile appearing on its famous cakes with a grimace.
Confectioneries, but also and above all disguise and joke stores, are also rushing into this breach. In French towns, decorations in Halloween colors flourish on storefronts and shop windows. Convinced of the immense commercial opportunity that was beginning to sweep through France, a French entrepreneur even tried to appropriate Halloween by trademarking the name of this holiday in order to have exclusivity among confectioners. The request was ultimately rejected by the Court of Cassation of the Commercial Chamber, denouncing its fraudulent nature on occasion. of a decree published in 2004.
In the midst of a recovery phase
If a relative lack of interest in Halloween has been observed in France at the end of the 2010sit seems that this festival has experienced a resurgence in popularity since the end of the health crisis. A study carried out in 2022 by the Society and Consumption Observatory for French confectioners reveals that six out of ten French people say they celebrate Halloween. This share even rises to 76% among adults aged 18 to 24, the age group celebrating this holiday the most in France. Such figures are comparable to the situation in the United States since in 2021, 65% of Americans claimed they intended to celebrate Halloween.
From a financial point of view, the average budget allocated by the French during Halloween would be at 85 euros per person. According to the OpinionWay survey for Bonial, “the French and the celebration of Halloween», chocolate and confectionery top the main expenses. In 2023, these are 130 million euros worth of sweets which were purchased by the French during the Halloween period, despite inflation and an increase 21% of the price of confectionery in the space of a year.
Although studies show that Halloween still remains a popular holiday in France and that merchants can still count on this time of year to increase their turnover, the French version of the night of October 31 will never obtain the status it has in English-speaking countries.
Many people in France will indeed continue to be reluctant to celebrate Halloween because culturally, a large part of the French remain deeply attached to the feast of All Saints’ Day. Many prefer to decorate the graves of their deceased with flowers rather than disguise themselves and beg for candy by going door to door – a practice which has not really entered our French culture.
Others will refuse to take part in the festivities of October 31 on the pretext that Halloween is only a commercial holiday, imported to France only around thirty years ago. This opinion would be shared by more than 80% of French people, according to a study carried out by Statista in 2016.
Source: www.slate.fr
