Also it's not American it's Celtic in origin. Plus, if we did only New Zealand things, we'd have to dump Christmas, Easter and light bulbs too.
Halloween is a celebration of horror culture. The great scary films. The Exorcist, Evil Dead, Paranormal Activity 3, Dawn of the Dead and Tucker and Dale Vs Evil. And don't forget the great horror music from Iron Maiden, Number of the Beast, The Cure's Lullaby and The Eels' Fresh Blood.
It's a fantastic time for young and old. We just need to move Guy Fawkes a week earlier so we can let off fireworks while we pretend to bleed to death with our mates.
Matt Heath hosts Hauraki Breakfast, weekdays from 6am.
Lydia Jenkin says:
Okay, so I'm going to sound like the grinch that stole all the pumpkins, but I don't like Halloween.
Some of it is just a general antipathy for pretend scariness - I think most horror movies are a bit rubbish (so many cliches), I find it bizarre that there's a multimillion-dollar industry that revolves around getting people to buy cheap plastic costumes that make them look awful and require no imagination whatsoever (is anyone else sick of the endless parade of slutty nurse/witch/cat/vampires?), and I find there's plenty to scare yourself with in real life if you're looking for a bit of an adrenalin rush.
But I'm also willing to acknowledge a lot of it comes down to personal experience and taste. I don't actually have anything against the supposed purpose of Halloween - remembering those who have passed, and using a little humour to laugh in the face of death.
But in New Zealand we seem to do the whole celebration with such half-heartedness, that it all revolves around kids throwing a sheet over their heads, knocking on doors, and demanding lollies or chocolate. Where are the street decorations, haunted houses and festive feelings?
It all just seems to be a prime opportunity for teens to show off their worst behaviour (awful pranks, lewd behaviour, scaring kids, throwing things), rather than actually engendering any community spirit or sense of fun and celebration with your neighbours.
I did try to host a Halloween party with some flatmates many years ago, in an attempt to shrug off my Halloween grinchness and, I'll admit, it was fun. But the clean-up was ridiculous. The pumpkins we'd lovingly carved ended up infested with maggots, there were fake cobwebs everywhere that seemed impossible to remove, and we never could get those weird purple stains off the walls. It was like death was laughing at me instead of the other way round.
So from now on, I steer clear.
- TimeOut
