gsempe, you are right. I have been sucking at these lately. I’m totally mailing it in. The worst part is that I’m about to do it again. I’ve opened up a new post but I have absolutely nothing in mind.
If I were smart I’d be scratching down ideas for this series during the week and then turning them into actual posts on Sunday or something. The thing is, I’ve never been much of a planner. No, I’m more inclined to wait until 9:18pm on Monday–mere hours until Tuesday starts–and sit here trying to think of something to Google about France.
Luckily, there is one thing I can always turn to when I run out of things to talk about: Halloween. That led me to wondering what Halloween is like in France. Do they celebrate it over there? How so? Do they carve pumpkins or do they go for other foodstuffs, like cheese?
Nah, probably not. I think wasting perfectly good cheese would be considered akin to blasphemy.
Halloween in France
Well this is interesting…
Halloween is not a traditional French holiday. The nearest equivalent is All Saints Day, which is half of a two-day celebration known as La Toussaint–the other half being All Souls Day. But they don’t do costumes. And La Toussaint is observed on November 1st and 2nd. The whole month of October is pretty much devoid of any kind of celebration. It’s just a bunch of regular work days straight through until November. Bummer, huh?
There is, however, a growing interest in the celebration of Halloween in France. I’m somewhat embarrassed to say this, but apparently it all started with an American-themed restaurant in Paris back in 1982. Here’s an excerpt form About.com:
The French had been hearing about Halloween from foreign residents and tourists and in their English classes for years before the holiday ever showed its (masked) face in France. In 1982, the American Dream bar/restaurant in Paris began celebrating Halloween. At first it had to explain the holiday to each customer, but since about 1995, French customers have tended to be more and more familiar with Halloween.
Okay, did that make you cringe a little bit, too? It gets worse. The increasing popularity of Halloween is due in part to the efforts of big companies like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s.
Oh, man. This is bad. France, I’m so sorry. I would have MUCH preferred that you found out about it from someone cool, like John Carpenter or H.P. Lovecraft or, hell, even Count Chocula. Anyone but Ronald McFuckingDonald, fer crissakes.
Listen to me: don’t let them ruin it for you. It’s got nothing to do with jack-o-burgers or whatever the hell they’re trying to sell you over there. Ignore all of that shit. Halloween is a great time. Really. Go see this guy if you don’t believe me. He’ll point you in the right direction.
Okay, now I’m in a bad mood. Fuck this. I’m done writing. We need to mobilize. We need to save France from the corporate marketing vandals who are trying to ruin Halloween.
WHO’S WITH ME!?!?
Ronald McDonald. Sheesh. And you wonder why so many people can’t stand clowns. Fucking creep.
