Halloween – Possible in Argentina?

Halloween is celebrated in many countries, such us the USA, Ireland, Canada and Scotland. There, children wearing all sorts of fancy dresses go house by house trick-or-treating, normally accompanied by their parents if they are too young to wander the streets alone.



As a child, I would watch films or TV shows in which this tradition was portrayed and would dream about joining this ritual. As an adult I ask myself: would it be possible to imitate such a celebration in our country? How would that work in Argentina? Or, in fact, would it work at all?

Let’s start with the essential prop: the costume. Would Argentine mothers spend hours and hours cutting fabrics, sewing and embroidering? Or would they just say: “Listen honey, I have to clean the house, take care of you, go to work and still try to look at least presentable. I have no time for handicrafts”? Okay, so let’s rent a costume! “Oh, baby! We have to pay our huge bills, spend our savings to do the shopping that will last only for a month and pay the rent of our house! We barely have some money left to buy some new items of clothing every two or three months”.



Now what about the ritual itself? Would parents accompany their children? They probably don’t have time or are too tired because they have to work 24/7. So, would they let their children go alone? I don’t really think so, as it is worrying enough to let your child walk a block alone to buy some candies because of the unstoppable wave of insecurity. But supposing parents do accompany their children or do let them go alone, would people open the door of their houses to some stranger wearing masks? Yes, sure…