Today I learned that Halloween is apparently American exclusive??? Halloween originated in Ireland, of course we celebrate it, pumpkins, costumes, decorations, movies, Trick or Treating and all.

Halloween is awesome because: it isn't a religious holiday (anymore) - it is both kid and adult friendly - it involves good seasonal food, not just candy - it appeals to a wide spectrum of people for different reasons, from soccer moms to goths - Black and orange are great colors to decorate with.

I‘m not an american but most of these questions are just dumb. Why do they celebrate and decorate during the whole of october? Maybe because its a seasonal thing? The same way the radio stations play „last christmas“ all over the world as soon as november arrives? The same way people put up christmas lights even if christmas is still a month away?

Here is a question, why do europeans ask so many questions about us Americans? Seriously some of those were worded so rudely. Almost mocking us in a way. So what Halloween is a fun an entertaining holiday and we celebrate it in diffsrent ways. Some like to just watch Halloween or horror movies all day and night on Halloween/Hallows Eve.

Ummmm this looks more like a persons search engine, not a Twitter thread

When I’m older I’m going to go to the UK, make a best friend, and invite them to America for Halloween to show them how much fun it is. I want to go there and make an English friend anyway :D

Aw man I was all excited for Halloween, but now I feel bad cause other places don't get to celebrate. Halloween is my favorite holiday and I wish other places would get to experience it (to the extent Americans do) :(

On behalf of Australia...huh? I am not alone in not understanding the point of Halloween. It is slowly creeping into Australia but mainly just retail stores. Like Christmas (which stores already stock Xmas stuff too), it is just a chance for retailers to score a quick buck. Trick or treaters are a rare sight here. I think everyone when younger was probably told to not take candy from strangers. Sooo, Halloween...candy....strangers.....?

PART 5: And which independence day do you mean: the day of declaration in 1776; the day of victory, when Cornwallis surrendered in 1781; or the day of confirmation (Treaty of Paris, 1783)? Clearly, we prefer the date we told George III to take a hike. Independence is still used occasionally by stuffy newspaper editorialists and by makers of annotated calendars: faced with the inanity of saying July the Fourth is the Fourth of July, they say Independence Day instead. Autumn vs. Fall: Americans’ enthusiasm for the latter in preference to the former discombobulates a small subset of people who are a) too easily discombobulated and b) ignorant of its origin. OED traces FALL to mid-16th Cy England, when it was part of a longer term for the season: ‘fall of the leaf,’ which was soon abridged in common use. It gained ascendancy in the U.S. in the 19th Cy. That was a time of religious revival, and I speculate that various divines adopted seasonal fall for the Biblical Fall. CONTD

PART 3: As for candy corn: It not only doesn’t taste of corn but doesn’t resemble it, either. It is a dense, cloyingly sweet and perfectly horrible candy that somehow persists, along with cotton candy at fairs and the ghastly marshmallow baby chickens called Peeps sold at Eastertide.’ These, like the orange-colored molded marshmallow blobs called Circus Peanuts (rest assured they are peanut free) are offenses to taste but not according to the civil code. Why do Americans hug pumpkins in selfies? Those who commit selfies of any kind are in my opinion of questionable intelligence, akin to people who say ‘y’all’ but are not African-American or from the American South. Probably they think it makes them hip instead of cultural appropriators. Contd . . .

Bulk response to questions, PART 1: No one thinks Halloween lasts a month, only the ‘season’ for selling costumes (mostly from pop-up stores) and such lasts that long. Halloween originated in Britain as Hallowe'en or All Hallow's Eve and today it has some presence in Italy, France and Germany. In the U.S. it has been taken over by adults, leading to commercialization (sales of flimsy costumes, etc.) On seeing the takeover some years back I asked my son for enlightenment. ‘Dad’ he said, surprised at my ignorance, ‘it’s the one holiday of the year that has no religious or family connections.’ Indeed, no historical connections either, and no travel needed. In short, it is its own excuse for parties. Yes, pumpkins are carved and be-candled; consult Google Images or https://www.facebook.com/PumpkinBlaze/photos/a.386509645167/10159837925495168 for a wide range of examples. Carving kits allow children (more likely parents) to disfigure pumpkins without maiming themselves. Continued . .

I suppose you could look at it as Halloween is to Pagans/Witches and such as Christmas is to Christians. But, also, Halloween is for the kid and the cosplayer and the dramatic and secret theatre person in all of us.

Guess where I live: "The Halloween Decorations are on stock starting at the end of summer"

I live in Mexico at the border with the US and years ago we used to celebrate Halloween too, or at least it was more common to have costume parties, etc. But as one of the questions say, we don't really get pretty decoration at the stores like they do in the US, so even if one wanted to decorate their house, it wouldn't be as neat as in the American movies. Plus there's a lot of judgement from religious people or the more patriotic ones, that see it as something bad to celebrate Halloween because we have the Day of the Dead on November, but smarter people just usually mix up both celebrations.

Why do non-Americans have to crap all over our Halloween fun?

This has been a real eye opener. Next you're going to tell us that the rest of the world doesn't go to corn mazes at night to be chased around by bloody clowns and zombies with chainsaws....

BP, did we really need all of those identical questions to get the point? Everyone else, the pumpkin thing needs to go away. what a giant waste of food!