[HN Gopher] Shanghai cracks down on Halloween costumes
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       Shanghai cracks down on Halloween costumes
        
       Author : JumpCrisscross
       Score  : 22 points
       Date   : 2024-10-27 18:35 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.ft.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.ft.com)
        
       | jameslk wrote:
       | https://archive.is/FR5lP
        
       | Affric wrote:
       | Halloween is interesting in that I never really felt like I owned
       | Xmas, Easter, or New Years as a kid. But Halloween (and also the
       | nearby Bonfire Night, and at the end of winter Beltane) was just
       | so hugely part of our world. Harvest in the build up. Guising.
       | 
       | It was always kind of interesting to see how America did it but
       | from afar it lacked a lot of important features ours had. Then
       | coming to Australia it was like diet America which I found, and
       | perhaps still do find, a little offensive.
       | 
       | I know that there are other costume festivals (like carnival and
       | related festivals) but I wonder what makes Halloween so potent
       | that everyone wants a piece. Is it just the freedom of wearing a
       | costume?
        
         | justinclift wrote:
         | > Then coming to Australia it was like diet America which I
         | found, and perhaps still do find, a little offensive.
         | 
         | Haven't heard it Australia described that way before. Mostly
         | the descriptions have been a mixture of US and UK/EU cultural
         | pieces.
         | 
         | What's the "offensive" stuff?
        
         | serf wrote:
         | my 0.2 cents :
         | 
         | as a kid I had a lot of sovereignty during halloween. I got to
         | pick the costume, get done-up, and then perform. I got to walk
         | around my neighborhood nearly unattended, which was a rarity. I
         | got to hang out with friends, and then I got to eat the candy
         | that _I_ solicited for.
         | 
         | Christmas , well, kids have little money. They don't generally
         | cook the dinner, they don't get a tree, even if they're
         | involved. The adults do everything. The presents are great, and
         | as a kid I loved them -- but the job for me was mostly just to
         | go to bed early on Christmas Eve.
         | 
         | New Years / Fourth of July / Thanksgiving / Easter -- same
         | thing. The kids are spectators that get to enjoy the fireworks
         | and messing about with that stuff after dinner -- but it's
         | largely hands off.
         | 
         | Halloween felt like my holiday growing up because it was the
         | single example where the decision making was essentially in my
         | hands, and it wasn't just as an excuse for the adults to get
         | together and drink like the rest of them.
        
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