If you live in the United States or Canada where Halloween can be rather ubiquitous, you might wonder: do the French Celebrate Halloween? The short answer is yes, the French celebrate Halloween, but it’s not as important as the following day: November 1st.
What’s La Toussaint?
La Toussaint, or All Saint’s Day, is a very important holiday to the French, and one that belies a much deeper, more meaningful series of traditions than asking for candy and donning a costume.
Often connected with All Soul’s day on November 2nd, schools across France always have the entire week off whichever week November 1st falls on. This is their fall break, which is about a month earlier than fall break in the US which falls on Thanksgiving (a holiday that doesn’t exist in France).
For La Toussaint, it’s typical to visit a cemetery to see and pay respects to those who have passed away. An estimated 200,000 people in Paris alone were estimated to have visited a cemetery on Toussaint last year.
What other traditions for La Toussaint are there?
Another tradition is to leave chrysanthemum flowers on graves of loved ones. Why chrysanthemums? Well, for one, the flower blooms in the fall and survive better at cooler temperatures. But also, the tradition began after the first world war when the French president at the time called on the people to decorate the tombs of the fallen with these flowers.
Candles are lit too, and left at the graves, to help the souls find their way from All Hallow’s eve (Halloween) to All Soul’s Day (November 2nd). In some regions of France, like Corsica, chestnuts are roasted and left at the tombs as well.
How do they French feel about Halloween?
The French have a love/hate relationship with Halloween specifically, depending on who you ask. Many young people like the tradition, the sweets and the costumes, and Trick or Treating (“Un bonbon ou un sort!”) has even spread to many places in France, as a fun tradition for children and adults alike. Even haunted houses and zombie marathons have caught on, too.
But not everyone in France likes Halloween. Some see it as encroaching on November 1st’s Toussaint. Robert Rochefort, who worked at CREDOC (a center for the research and study of life conditions), had this to say about Halloween:
“We thought putting something artificial and orange could hide something more essential, and today it’s coming back: the desire to reflect on the meaning of life.”
Robert Rochefort, CREDOC
Peaking in popularity in the early 2000s, Halloween has since diminished a bit, but is still marketed by candy and chocolate companies here in France.
My thoughts on Halloween
As an American who never thought about the dead for Halloween other than the characters in scary movies or the costumes people wore for Halloween, I can see why the French would want to protect the importance of respecting those who have gone, to not forget them.
But can’t we do both? I love Thanksgiving and giving thanks for what we have, but I also personally love Halloween and the fact that I always get a whole week off during this time. Why not celebrate Halloween, with all the fun costumes, chocolates, candies, trick or treating, pumpkins and decorations? A day and night of fun, followed by a morning and day of solemn sobriety and reflection on life and those who have passed. And then an extra day, November 2nd, for all soul’s day to continue to do so. Seems like the best of both worlds to me.
What do you think about Halloween, All Saint’s Day, and All Soul’s Day? Let me know in the comments below.
