Halloween in France

(Excerpts courtesy Of About.com)

How did Halloween get to France?

The French had been hearing about Halloween from foreign residents and tourists and in their English classes for years before the holiday ever showed its (masked) face in France. In 1982, the American Dream bar/restaurant in Paris began celebrating Halloween. At first it had to explain the holiday to each customer, mais since about 1995, French customers have tended to be more and more familiar with Halloween.

Trick-or-treating is getting to be more common. It started out magasin-to-magasin, rather than maison-to-maison, but the latter is picking up. However, Halloween occurs during the mid-season school break, which slows it down a bit.

Halloween in France is rather controversial, due to the perception of corporate and cultural influence, as well as the fact that it is not a typical French holiday and some people still don't understand what is being celebrated. Because Halloween is seen as an American celebration, some French people refuse to enjoy it, having decided to include it in their anti-American boycott. It's too early to tell whether Halloween will develop into a long-term tradition; once the novelty wears off, it may turn out to be just a fad.

ans (ahn) -years              restaurant (rehs toh rahnt) -restaurant                 mais (may) -but

magasin (mah gah zahn) -shop, store       maison (may zahn) -house