To celebrate or not to celebrate: Halloween in Argentina

By Adrián Royo Caldiz

Buenos Aires Herald.com Staff

In the last decade, it has become increasingly more common for locals to celebrate Halloween. Each October 31st many kids in residential areas dress up and go trick-or-treating, while bars and nightclubs offer young adults an environment in which they can wear their favorite costumes and celebrate until dawn.

However, many locals frown upon this growing trend, as they consider it to be the imposition of a celebration that is quintessentially American and has no place in the local scene. 

Social networks were on fire this morning, with many local users happy to celebrate the pagan holiday, and many others completely outraged by it.

“Is there anything more foolish than celebrating Halloween in Argentina?” one of them asked, opening a seemingly endless discussion between those who had “already carved the pumpkins” and those who assured it was a way for “the empire” to surreptitiously penetrate the local culture. 

So why is it that this specific pagan celebration from Ireland brings out the worst kind of Anti-American sentiment in many, when, celebrations such as Valentine’s Day and Saint Patrick’s – which, despite their European origins can also be considered as American as apple pie- are celebrated more and more every year as well without any major controversy?

True, Valentine’s Day finds many detractors here, but also everywhere else in the world (including the US) for being considered an exclusively commercial scheme to sell chocolates and cards. Hardly anyone complains of it being “imposed” by the American culture. 

And no one ever complains about the Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations, except for residents in the downtown area who must deal with the noise and the mess the crowds leave once the party is over.

It’s seems that Halloween (a festivity that is in fact celebrated all around the globe and not just the US) is the day that many people love to hate. But how much is there to hate really? 

The candy? The costumes? The endless streaming of cheesy horror movies on cable television? The fact that it’s a commercial holiday?

Well of course it is. Just like Oktoberfest, but no one seems to mind about that one, although I can imagine several detractors speaking out against it back in the day. 

Not even the US can escape the adoption and celebration of a foreign holiday. Since the 1980s, Cinco de Mayo – which commemorates an important day in Mexican history – has been the perfect excuse to go meet friends and enjoy some chili tacos.

Whatever the case may be, celebrating Halloween hardly represents the cultural colonialism that some continue to denounce. If anything, it’s globalization at its best. It’s an accelerated merging of cultures, a direct result of the hyperconnectivity that we all experience on a day-to-day basis thanks to our constantly on-line world. 

There’s no question that a country’s cultural identity and heritage must be preserved, but celebrations such as Halloween – or any other “foreign” festivity, for that matter - pose no threat to Argentina’s long-standing tradition since all they promote is meeting your friends and having fun. 

And even if you’re still uncomfortable with it, you can always follow City legislator María José Lubertino’s example, who on Sunday tweeted photos of her and her children celebrating the Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead), a traditional Mexican festivity that shares a similar theme and, despite taking place on November 1st, at least it feels a little closer to home due to its Latin American roots.

Feliz noche de brujas!