All Hallows’ Eve
Every year, neighborhoods the world over are swarmed with little witches, tiny ghosts, and pocket-sized pumpkins, knocking on cobweb-adorned doors in the hopes of receiving candy, before heading home to gorge it all in one go.
The holiday behind that tradition actually traces its origins back more than 2,000 years, to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, in what is now Ireland, as Celts marked the night of October 31 as the boundary between the end of harvest and the beginning of the dark winter. But, these days no country loves Halloween quite like the USA. Indeed, this year a whopping 73% of Americans will be celebrating the hair-raising holiday in some capacity, up 4% from 2022 and some 15% from 2020, when going door-to-door for freebies was the last thing on our minds. Compared with the 56% of Britons and 45% of Canadians who reportedly celebrate, the US reigns supreme in spookiness.
An important distinction, however, is between Halloween and Día de los Muertos, a traditional Mexican holiday on Nov. 1 and 2, which is observed by more than three quarters of Mexicans.
If you’ve got it, haunt it
Although many countries observe Hallow’s Eve, no one spends to spook quite like Americans. The National Retail Federation, which has been running surveys of Halloween spending and participation for decades, estimates that total Halloween spending in the US will reach a record $12.2 billion in 2023 — only slightly less than the entire GDP of Namibia — surpassing last year’s $10.6 billion.
The bulk of the spending spree is expected to go on costumes ($4.1 billion), decorations ($3.9 billion) and, of course, candy ($3.6 billion). While ‘tricks’ preceded ‘treats’, with Halloween pranks dating back to the 19th century, giving out Halloween candy became widely popular in the States after WWII, when sugar rationing ended.
