Why South Africans don’t celebrate Halloween

October 31, 2019 2868

The 31st of October is observed in most countries as Halloween – a day dedicated to utter spookiness. However, it isn’t celebrated in South Africa as much as it should be.

There are a few factors that could be the reasons behind Halloween not being as big of a phenomenon in SA as it is in the rest of the world. The most prominent being safety. The fun of Halloween, apart from dressing up, is the thrill of “Trick or Treating.” Already, sending your children out to strangers’ houses in the evening in your neighbourhood to get sweets in return for them spooking people out, sounds like the most insane security risk imaginable. Surely only the bold walk in the dark in South Africa.

https://twitter.com/bab_Sinkila/status/1186713473255968770

However, public and private Halloween parties are becoming more popular in South Africa. Nightclubs often capitalise on the event and arrange Halloween themed parties – more of an opportunity to commercialise to a specific audience. Also, those who do celebrate and choose to dress up, do it merely for the reason of dressing up and don’t celebrate it owing to religious reasons.

It seems that the spooky season is also not so popular in other areas of the globe. Halloween is banned in most countries such as Mexico, Great Britain, China, Austria, and Germany to name a few.

Here’s what a few South African think of Halloween on the Twitter streets.

Once again, this Halloween I shall be dressing up as the South African economy – its the most terrifying thing I can think of.

— Rob Hutchinson (@RobHutchinson8) October 31, 2019