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We had a little appartment literally under the +roof of a very nice and welcoming family in Boston's Jameica Plain +neighbourhood. The family was not just our landlords -- they quickly became +friends. We celebrated all kinds of events together: the [Red Sox' Win of the +World Series in 2007][sox], birthdays, Thanksgiving, ... and [Halloween][]. + +{{< figure src="IMGP8436_G.JPG" alt="Halloween in Jamaica Plain, 2009" + title="Halloween in '09, Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA © Daniel Kraus">}} + +Halloween has a long tradition in the United States and elsewhere. Where we used +to live in Boston, the entire street celebrated together. The street was divided +into two halves that took turns in organizing the event each year. Everybody met +outside. There was live music, and of course the kids did the trick-or-treat thing. +I loved it. + +{{< figure src="IMGP8437_G.JPG" alt="Halloween in Jamaica Plain, 2009" + title="Halloween in '09, Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA © Daniel Kraus">}} + +Growing up in Germany in the 1980s, I was accustomed to [St. Martin's +Day][martin] on or around 11 November in commemoration of St. Martin of Tours +who is said to have divided his coat to share it with a poor person. + +We would walk through our neighbourhood, ring people's door bells, and when +someone opened we would sing a song about St. Martin and ask for sweets. When I +thought about this now and before it occurred to me to write a blog post about +this, I seemed to remember that we would afterwards give most of the sweets to +children in need (refugees, in fact) that had found shelter in a nearby +facility. However, I now believe that we did this only on a similar occasion in +early January when we celebrated [Epiphany with the Star singers][epiphany] +which also involved walking around, singing, and collecting sweets. So St. +Martin's day had a lot to do with asking for sweets for our own consumption and +pleasure and not so much about caring and sharing, and this is important to keep +in mind. It is also important to realize that this tradition around St. Martin +was a regional thing and nothing nationwide (as I learned from an [article on +Wikipedia][martin-in-germany]). + +In recent years, Halloween has grown very strong in Germany, and I believe that +this is a result of deliberately injecting the tradition into our culture. +Interestingly, this is also [Wikipedia's view][germany] (see references in the +linked article). + +And that's my gripe with celebrating Halloween in Germany. There's nothing wrong +with partying and having a good time with friends and family. But this event is +tightly linked to buying and consuming stuff, and it is driven by "the +industry". Again, there's nothing wrong in itself with "the industry" trying to +sell stuff to people. But I do think that this is an example of how people can +be made to to things. Just like [lemmings][], everybody is following suit. + +Halloween in Germany, as I see it, is a festival of hedonism. It has nothing to +to with sharing, it has nothing to do with taking a break and thinking about the +[faithful departed][halloween], but it has a lot to do with buying stuff and +consuming stuff that you don't really need. + +For me, Halloween in Germany is an example for the state of our society. + +--- + +Having said that, I greatly enjoyed the more or less spontaneous Halloween party +that we had at our neighbors' place tonight ;-) + +[bidmc]: https://bidmc.org +[epiphany]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_singers +[germany]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Halloween#Germany +[halloween]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween +[lemmings]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Martin%27s_Day +[martin]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Martin%27s_Day +[martin-in-germany]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinisingen#Present-day_customs +[sox]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_World_Series