Have Halloween celebrations frighteningly decreased?
The popular Halloween practices of trick or treating and scary house decorations are reportedly in decline.
Halloween has historically been a widely celebrated holiday, complete with costumes, candy, and spooky decorations. Like red and green Christmas lights, it’s a Halloween tradition to decorate houses with pumpkins, skeletons, and other scary-looking symbols. Spooky symbols and costumes are synonymous with Halloween, but these practices are declining.
Fewer houses are being decorated for the holiday, and fewer people trick or treat. Like everything else, our methods of celebrating evolve, and even familiar Halloween traditions have strayed away from the holiday’s original roots. University of Toronto professor Kyle Smith writes about the historical aspect of Halloween in his book chapter, “The Deep History Lurking Behind Halloween.” Smith explains that the original holiday was called “All Hallows Eve” and included a Celtic ritual where the veil separating the living and dead would thin and become permeable, resulting in a night where skeletons crawl from the ground. As such, Halloween has a deeply spiritual root and reasoning behind its celebration that most people are unaware of today.
Today, Halloween primarily involves costumes, gathering treats, and spooky decorations—none of which is seen with any religious significance. With the religious significance of Halloween’s origin removed, how people celebrate it inevitably changes.
Reports suggest that the practice of trick or treating has decreased, with Mississauga residents attesting to fewer kids knocking on their doors for candy. One reason listed in the report is that parents choose to bring their kids to public business events instead of door-to-door. Since the purpose of Halloween is to receive treats from strangers, parents may have identified safer ways for them to do so.
Another reason for fewer trick-or-treaters is the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought many activities we knew to a halt. Canadians were reportedly anxious about “door-to-door exposures” and only 44 per cent of the population opened their doors. In 2020, Ontario made note of high-risk areas to avoid trick or treating, which likely led to prolonged anxiety about handing out sweets. This could also explain the lack of festivity since Halloween decorations also serve the purpose of attracting trick-or-treaters.
Despite this, Halloween festivity is far from endangered, as many neighbourhoods are recognized for their foreboding decorations. I have also seen many great decorations in my own suburb, as well as businesses on Dundas Street. There’s even a pumpkin present on the notable Cooksville sign.
To keep the Halloween spirit flourishing in your neighbourhood, you could start with the classic pumpkin on the front porch, which, while simple, is very symbolic of Halloween. Skeletons, ghosts, vampires, and other foreboding symbols can enter the mix, especially since some of these directly connect back to the original roots of Halloween. You might also consider crafting these yourself by carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns and using other decorations to form a scene of ghosts or bats haunting your porch.
Staff Writer (Volume 49 & 50) — Yusuf is in his fourth year completing a double major in English and Cinema Studies and a minor in History of Religions. He first joined The Medium in 2022 when he sought to get involved in the on-campus community. He has developed strong writing skills throughout the experience and enjoys learning about new topics he wouldn’t know about otherwise. You can connect with Yusuf on LinkedIn.