Halloween is fast approaching and it is our favourite time of year right here at Dad Man Trading. Each and every year the argument starts back-and-forth on social media for-and-against, the articles on ‘news’ websites primarily aimed at getting comments for the all important advertising dollar.
Do not get me wrong! You can all argue about Halloween all you want. At the end of the day it is a free choice on whether you take part in it or not… a little like all the other holidays through the years that people want us to observe.
Before we get into why Halloween is so exciting FOR US at Dad Man Trading, it is only fair we get the ‘background’ out of the way first.
History of Halloween
In ancient Ireland, Scotland and similar places Samhain marked summer’s end and the start of the dark half of the year; it ran from sunset on the 31st of October and involved bonfires, feasting and beliefs that the boundary with the spirit world thinned.
The festival is clearly attested in early medieval sources (c. 9th-12th centuries).
All Saints/All Hallows was invented in the 8th century when Pope Gregory III associated 1 November with All Saints’ Day in Rome, during the 9th century Gregory IV extended it more widely which meant the evening before became All Hallows’ Eve – Halloween.
During the 15th and 16th century the practices like “souling” – going door-to-door for soul cakes in exchange for prayers for the dead – and “guising – costumed visiting – developed around this season.
It was during the 19th century through Irish and Scottish migrants that the season was taken to North America where the more traditional turnip or mangrel-wurzel jack-o’-lanterns became pumpkins in the New World.
Early in the 20th centuries parties, pranks, and child-focused door-to-door visiting coalesced; the phrase “trick or treat” first seemed to appear in print throughout 1927 in a Canadian article. Post WWII, Halloween became more mainstream throughout North America slowly graduating to countries across the world.
The Debate
Each and every year across Australia the arguments and debate starts. While there are various forms of the argument, primarily it boils down to two things. The ‘dark’ history of Halloween with it related to demons and the devil, while the other popular argument relates it to being “American and not belonging here in Australia”.
The history of Halloween shows that the devil and demons relations have no proper connection with Halloween. If anything, and this touches on the second point as well, it shows that different groups, regions can take that time of year and turn it into whatever they want, mould it into something they can get behind.
Do we have to agree with how every culture in the world does Halloween? No! Just because one culture or group of people do Halloween a certain way – does it mean we HAVE to do it that way? Again No. Meaning just because at some point in history, at some location in the world, some random group of people did ‘x,y,z’ for Halloween so it has an occultish history is quite a pathetic argument and stance when you think about it.
There are many things that have happened in churches around the world that I would dare not cover here – taking the anti-Halloween argument from above by some – surely that means an end to the religious-based holidays that are on the calendar and everyone who attends a church gets tarred with the same brush… right?
In relation to it being “too American” and therefore “it doesn’t belong in Australia”, again I see this as a lazy point to try and make considering apart from the contentious Australia Day no other holiday we observe actually started in Australia.
It is true that in typical American fashion they commercialised it and took it into the main stream where it has grown over more recent decades, but it is not AMERICAN, which just like the rest of the events we do observe here in Australia means that it is something that develops, it is up to US here in Australia to turn it into what WE want Halloween to be.
Why we LOVE Halloween here at Dad Man Trading!
Finally we get to the point. The point of why Dad Man Trading loves Halloween – and why if you are into it as well you should look forward to this upcoming Halloween season right here.
Halloween here is a chance to have fun. It is a chance to let your hair down. In the area we are set up, Yarrabilba, we have seen Halloween grow at a dramatic rate over the six-or-so-years we have been here; and we were already massive Halloween fans by then.
It is a chance for EVERYONE, children, teens and adults to dress up, put the worries and concerns of the world behind them for a couple hours and just get out and about throughout the community… without having to be overly social.
There is so much division in the world, so much hatred and resentment. Times are tough, everyone is feeling the pinch one way or another, the days of big community events and gatherings are sadly dwindling due to life commitments such as work, family and your very own down time which is much needed for your sanity.
Halloween is a chance for you to put all of that out of your mind for just one evening. Slap on some makeup, roam the block around your house and see others in your community who you normally wouldn’t stop to talk to, share a wave, “trick or treat” and go along your way.
Sure there are some that use Halloween as a chance to straight out try and scare, jump scare people, and that is THEIR way to celebrate it. For most around the country who are getting into the Halloween trend it is about sharing the experience, bringing smiles to faces, decorate the house, have lollies and see the community dress up.
Heading back to my earlier mention of Yarrabilba, we always decorate our house for Halloween; In our first year we had maybe 50 people come by… last year we easily had 800 people come past, most dressed, a mixture of beaming Princesses, super heroes and creatures from the deep… Halloween is about what we make it, and Australia is slowly embracing Halloween.
With an aim of putting smiles on the faces of everyone who comes past we have already started decorating for Halloween, our next Market has been confirmed for just a week before hand with us appearing at the McKinnon Markets on the 24th October 2025.
That is our first big market appearance, just a week prior to Halloween – so bet our two printers Beauty and The Beast – are busy printing up some Halloween Seasonal stock. That means over the next month as we build up towards the markets a big range of our Halloween range will be hitting the website and Facebook page.
So if you are like us here at Dad Man Trading and you LOVE Halloween, strap in as Spooky times are ahead.