Do you celebrate Halloween or Bonfire Night?

There’s a big difference between Bonfire night and just about every other festival in Britain beyond local fetes and carnivals – it revolves around a spectacle which involves the entire community and there is little that commerce can do to cash in.

As for the others, I suspect most wouldn’t bother if it wasn’t for the kids: though for the purposes of Christmas I have reached my mid-fifties and remain one of the kids.

Dislike intensely “trick or treaters” – as I dislike American imports. – No longer celebrate Bonfire Night as my children are over 50 and my dogs don’t like the noise

It could blend in with Hannukah & Diwali the true festivals of light as the reasons for Bonfire Night questionable .However these festivities are much loved by children with a bit of sense & responsibility they all could be done with respect & fun .

Halloween is an Americanism I can do without but it seems to get bigger every year. I wish people would stop putting plastic webs up around the office…..

Guy Fawkes night, well that’s a good excuse to watch V for Vendetta again

Yes, does seem to be getting bigger ever year (though it was always massive Scotland due to the Pagan traditions). And although the consumerist nature of Halloween is possibly Americanised, the ‘day’ itself isn’t. I’ve written before about the consumerism, but on the weekend I went to a Halloween party and all that was required was a £1 make-up kit for my costume (The Joker)

I’m broadly with Julie, what’s wrong with a bit of ghoulish fun and trick-or-treating (as long as the kids do more than just knock on your door for a treat)?

It’s a real pain having two festivals that encourage silly behaviour (!) within a week. Might I propose a solution?

November 5th celebrates a dodgy legal decision that resulted in the bloody execution of a scapegoat (Guy Fawkes) whilst the main gunpowder plotters pretty much escaped unpunished. October 31st celebrates – er – nothing other than American consumerism, even if the origin of the idea had come from here in the first place.

I suggest they be merged – by law. A new festival called “Firework Night” should be established on October 31st when revellers are encouraged to go to organised firework shows in ghoulish costumes. Prizes awarded for most impressive costume maybe? “Trick and treat”-ing to be henceforth regarded as “begging” or “money with menaces” and any attempts to do it to result in the summary locking-up of the villains overnight. (There wouldn’t be any encouragement for anyone to go trick and treating if significant numbers of the public are out at the local fireworks show anyway and therefore not answering their doors.)

Any diehards trying to keep the old November 5th festival going should be arrested on sight and charged with “breach of the peace” (i.e. letting off fireworks on the wrong night) and/or “conspiracy to organise support for terrorists” (i.e. the AD1605 gunpowder plotters!).

Only this way can Britain reclaim Hallowe’en for ourselves and re-invent the festival with a uniquely British flavour to it, independent of the American rubbish we’ve been forced to get used-to. We’d all still have all the fun(?) we’re accustomed-to, just amalgamated into one bash.

In the interests of European solidarity (ahem) we could ditch the America tradition (well, Americanised version of an old British isles tradition) and go for Walpurgis Night – exactly six months later on 30th April, and comes complete with ghoulishness and bonfires.

I’m not a great fan of Halloween, As it sends an confusing message to kids about stranger danger,

Plus you can’t afford knocking or ringing bells to old people’s house/flats, That may not like or understand halloween or maybe afraid, Same for the mentally ill,disabled, or those who don’t speak english or understand this American tradition :/

I as a child only once did knocking on doors on my estate for trick or treat on halloween.

Where I did penny for a guy outside a sweet shop once or twice throughout my childhood, & I often would go to bonfire nights & fire work displays as a child, teenager, & adult 🙂

Also I once came back to my boyfriends flat,On an halloween night, As I was trying to open the door, The older brother at the gate was getting aggressive towards Me & Seeking money, As he thought I was ignoring his younger brother who said trick or treat, His younger brother turned around to his aggressive brother & Said the guy’s waiting to open the front door so he can turn on the hall way light & See how much money his got in his wallet, & I Gave like Fifty pence & Then got it to My boyfriend’s flat & Ignored the door all night.

I LOVE BONFIRE NIGHT & PENNY FOR A GUY 🙂

Having once tried to carve a lantern out of a turnip, at least we should be grateful to our American cousins for pumpkins. And its a useful cash crop for UK growers too.

My teenage daughters love dressing up for Halloween – any excuse for a party.

Bonfire night has become a community event in our village. After a best guy competition in the pub carpark, the road is closed for a torchlight procession to the glebe field for hot soup, burgers, a huge bonfire and fireworks. Nothing political or religious, just good fun and fundraising.

I don’t mind if Hallowe’en is celebrated with a degree of consideration however bizarre the get-up [although I suppose I don’t like the way the festival is moving in the direction of the psychiatric ward]. What I can’t stand, however, are the appallingly tacky costumes and accessories that the retailers have procured. I saw a good display of Hallowe’en kit in a window display at Peter Jones department store in London a week or so ago [presumably other John Lewis branches have similar products] and although more expensive it did look better than the usual tat and would probably last a few seasons.

I think the lighting of lanterns is a good tradition that should perhaps be developed. Now that the clocks have gone back our streets are so gloomy in the evenings as people draw the curtains and use sensors on their outdoor lights; surely with low-energy bulbs it wouldn’t be too expensive for people to have a glowing lantern near their door and leave it on at least until they went to bed.