Every year the stores seem to be fuller and the collection of orange and purple Halloween gadgets becomes even larger. Remarkable for a party that is not actually Dutch and came over from the United States. But according to cultural theologian Frank Bosman of Tilburg University, our love for Halloween can be explained. “In 100 years, Halloween will also be our cultural heritage,” he thinks.
Bosman is concerned with how religion manifests itself in our society. “Even if this no longer seems to have anything to do with religion.” Halloween is such a celebration. It has roots in the Catholic faith. It all started in Ireland. The Catholic All Souls’ Day came together there with the Celtic New Year’s Eve. “People believed that the veil between our world and the next world was very thin around that time,” Bosman explains. “They believed they could communicate with the dead.”
The Irish took their Halloween celebration with them when many of them moved to the United States. “There it has changed from a religious festival to a secular (ed. not religious) folk festival,” says Bosman. “A kind of carnival, where the emphasis was on monsters and death, for example. Many other stories were linked to the party. For example, the ‘Jack-O’-Lanternthe carved pumpkin. Or ‘trick or treat’going door to door for candy. Halloween is a tangle of many stories.”
But why are many Dutch people so enamored with it and have they adopted it? “After the Second World War, the US became very dominant in the field of culture,” says Bosman. “In the 80s, horror films were released around Halloween. And in the 90s, Halloween became more popular here too. We no longer go to church, but we still feel the need to organize the year. We live from festive highlight to festive highlight and want to share that with each other.”
(Broadcaster) Brabant Celebrates Halloween
In our Halloween broadcast we visit Gemert and Standdaarbuiten, where Halloween is widely celebrated. Jan Biggel and Jordy Graat are also surprised by this scare actor Daan from Valkenswaard in Toverland.
Friday, October 31 at 8 p.m. on TV and Brabant+.
But doesn’t this American party overshadow our own culture, while we consider it so important? “We are talking about what the real authentic Dutch culture is. In this way it fits into the culture war and becomes part of the political discussions between conservative and progressive. But we have to be a little careful with that. Culture has never existed in a vacuum. It has always developed. In 100 years, Halloween will also be our cultural heritage.”
And the criticism from some Christians that Halloween is actually devilish? “Some Christians are very easily frightened and upset,” says Bosman. “But as a Christian you believe that Jesus Christ conquers death. At Halloween we make fun of death and there is nothing more Christian than that.”
And the commerce? All that plastic stuff? To go along or not? “I always get the same question about Lourdes,” says Bosman. “A very beautiful place of pilgrimage, but all that junk around it, is that necessary? But it is part of human nature to buy something like that and then complain about it. That has also become part of the ritual.”
