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Halloween getting less popular in France

Friday, 03 November 2006

Halloween getting less popular in France

Halloween is said to be waning in popularity in France after a short-lived boom, according to reports in the press and it seems the festival, which became well known about in the late 1990s, is in decline because it is thought to be "too American".

Annd even an association called No to Halloween, which was set up to fight against it as its name suggests, has now packed up as a result of Halloween losing its appeal.

No to Halloween said Halloween was artificially promoted to serve commercial interests.

"There was no need for the group to exist any more," former president Arnaud Guyot-Jeannin explained to Reuters news agency, adding that: "Halloween was a marketing gimmick aimed mainly at children."

Benoit Pousset, head of costume company Cesar, thought the festival's loss of popularity was "a cultural reaction linked to the rise of anti-Americanism".

Opposition to Halloween is especially strong in French religious quarters, with the Catholic church seeking to promote All Saints' Day instead.

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