Posted on 10/29/2010 11:46:42 PM PDT by JoeProBono
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Only two in 10 Swedes say they will celebrate Halloween this year, and Swedish shop owners say that's bad news for them.
A study conducted by the Swedish Trade Federation reveals 60 percent of Swedes don't plan on making any special purchases for the holiday this year, The Local reported Friday.
In the survey, 46 percent of shop owners said they believe Halloween's importance has decreased.
"Even if we accept that Halloween isn't quite as hyped as before, there are still a lot of Halloween-themed shop windows with black and orange decorations," the Trade Federation's Meta Troell said in a statement.
One of the things working against a continued rise in Halloween's popularity, Troell said, is its proximity to All Saints Day, when Swedes remember the passing of loved ones.
A spokeswoman for the Swedish department store chain Ahlen's said interest in Halloween has declined since 2005.
"It doesn't seem as important anymore," Monica Hultgren said.
"Both Valentine's Day and Halloween, which are foreign traditions, have meant less for us.
"On the other hand, Christmas and Easter are increasing. The week before Halloween we sell more Christmas items than Halloween decorations."
Other countries have Halloween, Sweden has Easter witches or Easter hags, the tradition I would think strikes foreigners as the most odd one of the ones mentioned above. Swedish children dress up in rags and old clothes, too big skirts and headscarves, paint rosy cheeks and freckles in their faces, carry a broom and go trick or treating in their neighbourhood, handing out paintings and drawings in the hope of getting lollies in return.
Halloween is stupid. It has become huge in this nation of idiots and TV hype.
I sometimes wish FR had a “Like” button, so I could just click that. I totally agree. Halloween wasn’t a continental European holiday until recently- and I don’t like it much, anyway.
“I sometimes wish FR had a “Like” button”
FR had a “Like” button” ... for one day.
I agree with you...and I thought you were talking about the USA!
Does that mean “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Sven”?
My family doesn’t celebrate halloween either.
We DO celebrate Reformation Day.
Speaking of celebration, next Tuesday (make that Wednedsay) should be a holiday.
Sweden also has both Walpurgis Night (May Day Eve) and Midsummer’s Eve. The end of October gets pretty nippy for out of doors activities up there, so they have more holidays during the spring and summer. The countries up there tend to use Maypole dancing and huge bonfires to celebrate. I am of Finnish descent. and I attended a Finnish type celebration of Midsummer’s Eve, known as juhannus (Saint John the Baptist feast). It involved feasting, dancing, and a huge bonfire.
The Scandinavians never pass up a chance for a good bonfire. Midsummer Night, or St. John’s Eve as it’s sometimes called in Denmark and Norway, is the perfect occasion. The holiday has little to do with St. John the Baptist, other than falling just before his saint day. In the 10th century Baltic and Scandinavian countries replaced the traditional names of Midsummer with allusions to the feast of St. John the Baptist, which fell on June 24.
Happy Reformation Day!
Agreed. It’s a manufactured holiday to encourage adults to get drunk and act stupidly, buying crap no one needs. I like Halloween for the children’s sake. I won’t make my house into a haunted house. I won’t watch horror films. It’s just a night...
And in the Catholic countries of Europe, they have Carnival(mardi-gras) to take up the slack for the lack of Halloween. Though I think Walpurgisnacht is still celebrated in parts of Germany as well.
Oh please. I’m 53 and Halloween was a bigger holiday then than it is now. Every kid went out and we had a great time. Lots of people had haunted houses then. Adults were dressing up then, just like we are now.
I think we have a lot of really grumpy people on FR.
Don’t they have Fasching in Germany which I think is around Lent and the kids dress up like the children picture here in Sweden?
Teh stuff in the US is crap. Little girls dressed like tramps, candy out the wazoo. The European stuff is much tamer, less commercial and appears to celebrate and even that happened in (gasp) Christianity.
The nice thing about Europe is they do not elect Muslims to destroy their countries except the UK with Blair and Browne who are Scottish proxy muslims.
Cute kids. They do not look like young prostitutes or Hannah Montana aka American Halloween.
Just about every vacant store of a decent size round these parts is a new halloween costume store just for the season. I can think of 5 or 6! What a waste. Hope & Change Depression.
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