2025 Kaohsiung Halloween

[TT]

@DrewC

What’s funny is the whole world seems to have embraced Halloween-style events and parties

Adult dress up is fun and safe. Expecting a neighborhood to get on board with free candy is a tough sell in many cultures and countries.

@DrewC

I hear the states are such a thoroughly unpleasant and hostile place nowadays that many parents no longer take their kids out to ring doorbells on Halloween anymore either

I saw headline about staples and other crazy stuff in Canadian candy this year, can probably pull it up. When I was a kid I was trick or treating alone in the dark and nobody was checking my loot for razors. That’s not safe any more…

Edit: here it is, morphine FFS

Police across Canada warn parents after morphine, staples, needles found in...

[bojack]

@DrewC

@Brianjones

Halloween wasn’t even celebrated in many Western countries until relatively recently.

What’s funny is the whole world seems to have embraced Halloween-style events and parties, but none have really adopted the trick-or-treating aspect of it… then again, I hear the states are such a thoroughly unpleasant and hostile place nowadays that many parents no longer take their kids out to ring doorbells on Halloween anymore either.

Nah, it’s still big for kids. At least in my area.

What has changed, though, is nowadays folks pin their house online (apps like NextDoor and FB) as hosts. Some apps will produce a map for the parents. Parents only go to the pinned locations.

Not like when I were wee and we went door to door cold-call style. That is now mostly a thing of the past.

[CTaitung]

Trunk or treat is now the next big thing.
Zzzzzzz …

[TT]

@bojack

we went door to door cold-call style

If the lights were on, ring that bell. No lights, skipped it.

[DrewC]

Getting the occasional grumpy guy who’d yell at you or clueless old lady who’d plop an apple into your bag was part of the fun though.

[TT]

We would get homemade baked goods on occasion as well!

[cycleroc]

I remember as a kid it used to be heroin in the candy and razor blades in apples.
I thought parents just drove kids to houses of friends and relatives now.

[Brianjones]

@DrewC

adopted the trick-or-treating aspect of

The trick or treating we would do in Ireland was pretty wild and yeah you could easily get shot for that in the US.
Fun fact the trick or treating of Halloween was originally also a bit of a cheeky shakedown by local hoodlums in masks in Ireland going back over hundreds of years ago, similar to the Chinese temple gangs going around with their dragons . And the original festival itself was never cute , it was more akin to an atmosphere of excitement and danger and we believed that the spirits would come across from the other world for one nite (which later became all hallows day). It was and to this day still is an excuse to get up to more riotous behaviour in some neighborhoods including mine. I was once one of those ne’er-do-wells and Halloween was my favourite festival of the year. . Halloween basically involved constructing huge bonfires and firework arsenals and lighting up the night.

[Van]

Is the fairies folklores separate from that?

[Brianjones]

Nope , they are part of the same folklore. They would come out and swap themselves in as changelings or just disappear people. Hence the mask was supposed to confuse them.

[DKaoshuing]

@DrewC

The scene when trying to go home.

Looks bad! glad I went Friday night