Hallow-won't

Halloween has always loomed large in my life. It’s my birthday and I love dressing up and wearing costumes, so each year I’ve looked forward to the double whammy. As a little girl, I relished amassing a pirate’s haul of candy. As a teenager, my high school posse would coordinate group costumes; my junior year, we dressed up as the characters from Alice in Wonderland and I made a fabulous Queen of Hearts costume that I wore not only to school, but also to the legendary Greenwich Village Masquerade Parade. The latter prepared me for the grand-scale revelry in San Francisco, where Halloween is practically a city holiday. Interestingly, in all the years I lived in SF, I never ventured to the raging Halloween festivities in the Castro. That’s largely because for most of my years there, I lived in Cole Valley, a neighborhood that closes streets to traffic and has a kiddie wonderland of trick-or-treating. Children from all over the city come and we would host a candy give-away / costume party / birthday celebration at our home. I’ve always put effort into home-made costumes, including a black widow spider (brandishing furry spider legs), Medusa (replete with a snake headdress), the Swiss Miss (gotta love dirndls), and my all-time fave, Carmela Soprano (which allowed me to get into character and show off the NY/NJ accent that I can slip into on cue). Yes, it’s always been a cherished tradition.

This year, things are a bit different. My months in Paris so far have been full of discovery, beauty, and fun, but the one big trade-off has been the almost-total lack of Halloween. I had heard that Halloween has only very recently and just barely caught on among French children and a tiny sliver of twentysomethings – the key word being “barely.” While in the States you know the holiday is approaching as soon as September (witness the store window displays and supermarket shelves stocked with candy corns and miniature chocolate bars), the only visible sign that there was anything remotely interesting about October 31 was the Metro ad for the Disney Sur Glace (on ice) show featuring a parade of Disney villains, jusqu’a (until) Halloween. I resigned myself to experiencing my birthday like most of the rest of the world does – like it’s just a regular day. But, the thought nagged at me, does it really have to be that way?

When a couple students asked me about the ultra-American holiday, I was pleased at their curiosity. Maybe the French were warming to the idea after all. However, they unanimously commented with a sneer that it was “tres commercial.” While I couldn’t deny this obvious fact, I also felt compelled to defend the holiday, proselytizing about how it connotes self-expression and creativity on a massive scale, a chance to feel like a kid again (never mind the outrageous candy sales and hedonism that may ensue). My students did not seem impressed. It’s not an integral part of French culture to dress up in costume for pure enjoyment and play. And imagine the rudeness of knocking on someone’s door to demand candy! Nate had also caught wind of this attitude at his place of work. A colleague had suggested we go to the super-hip resto-bar Kong, which was hosting its annual “Who Cares About Halloween?” bash. OK, so I wouldn’t win over any adults…at least, not this year.

As mentioned above, there were no apparent signs of the holiday in the weeks and days leading up to the 31st. So imagine my surprise when, walking home from a lovely birthday dinner in the 1st arrondisement to our home in the Marais, Nate and I observed the following token glimpses of Halloween, French-style:

- A massive gathering of teens dressed in flamboyant head-to-toe 80’s garb outside a McDonald’s on rue de Rivoli. Not so much in costume, this was serious wardrobe, as the 80’s trend is far stronger in Parisian fashions than it’s been in the States (which is saying a lot). OK, not so much Halloween, but the closest we’d come yet.
- 2 or 3 gay bars in the Marais with orange and black balloon displays…getting warmer.
- 3 young adults causing mischief in the streets of the Marais – 2 dressed as ghosts and one as a skeleton wearing a neon-yellow wig. They cavorted around, running up to people to scare them. Oh, how quaint. Getting even warmer.
- Upon entering our building at 11pm, we noticed several small signs were posted in the corridor informing tenants that it was Halloween and children would be going from door to door for candy. It then gave a full-page explanation of the holiday, starting from its ancient pagan roots to the present American tradition. (Apparently the French who do honor the holiday need to justify it with a historical scroll.) We were taken aback to discover that Halloween was taking place right under our noses, and that we’d had no clue. Why, oh why, would you advertise such a thing only on the night of? If you want building tenants to be prepared, wouldn’t you post the notices a few days – or even a day – in advance? Not that we’d have changed our evening plans to distribute candy to the 3 kids we know exist in our building, but still…it smacks of a lack of foresight.

So is this what I have to look forward to for the rest of our years in France? At best a half-hearted attempt at trick-or-treating and at worst a raging party dedicated to dissing the holiday altogether? I just received an email from a local friend who spent last weekend in Germany, where she attended a Halloween party. Her quote: “They don't do cutesy here apparently so I had to add a little red makeup to be a little more morbid.” See, that I can respect. Maybe I’ll have to head to Deutschland next year…