A study conducted by McCrindle Research in October 2012 revealed that Halloween is the “least meaningful” special event to Australian’s nationwide. Just 2% of those who participated in the study rated the holiday as being the most meaningful to them.
Even the atrocious Melbourne Cup meant the most to 6% of Australians. Which is, quite frankly, criminal.
So why do we as Australians reject such a fantastic holiday? Is it because Australian culture has an undercurrent of apathy? Is it simply “too American” or “too commercial” for our liking?
I really don’t understand why we don’t embrace it. It’s everything that is good about a holiday season. It’s silly, fun and harmless and requires participants to gorge themselves on sweets, guilt-free.
It is inarguably one of the better holidays. It doesn’t involve a drawn-out dinner with relatives. Or buying gifts. Or any other tedium that comes with most festive occasions.
Halloween forces us to engage with sectors of the community that we usually wouldn’t dare touch (aka, our next door neighbours).
It’s a great networking tool. Imagine bonding with your neighbours over your hectic costume. It could lead to bountiful opportunities, like when you need them to collect a parcel for you or water your plants. It’s advantageous and we’re simply not making the best of it.
Are we, as a nation, afraid to have fun? Fun that is wholesome and goofy. Fun that doesn’t involve getting absolutely mortal in a tragic pair of Windsor Smith heels and buying into animal cruelty.
I’m sick of living in a culture that treats everything with a layer of irony. Why do we have to be so cynical all the time?
I want Australians to wholeheartedly and passionately commit to getting eight of their friends to hit the streets in Slipknot masks.
There is literally nothing in this world better than seeing somebody you cared about have the living daylights spooked out of them. This is a universally agreed-upon fact that I have no statistics to back up with, just trust me.
My concluding argument as to why we should all embrace Halloween is that pumpkin flavoured things are the best-flavoured things. You haven’t lived unless you’ve experienced the divine fulfilment of pumpkin, nutmeg and cinnamon hitting a perfectly eggy Vol Au Vents shell.
