So here's something I've been wondering about for a while. In America, do people tend to make a big deal out of everything like this? What I mean is, here Christmas is big and people might have some tinsel in the office or whatever, but apart from that we just don't do this. Workplaces don't get into different seasons or holidays and people don't tend to decorate at home and stuff. It's just not a thing.
So, is this just a big part of American culture in all sorts of ways or is Halloween somehow an exception?
Nahh. It depends on the family. Now, you do have commercials for each and every event on the calendar only because they are trying to sell you something. Other than that? It's up to you.
What is neat is that certain areas have more cultural events. When I was a kid we used to go down to an area that was named Chinatown. That wasn't the literal name, but everyone - including those that lived there called it that. They had certain holidays that are celebrated in China, and you could come down to participate. We also had a large spanish speaking population, and they also brought their celebrations here - and you were allowed to participate in those too.
When I was active in the business community? We put together an Oktoberfest. We partnered up with a Germany group, and raised funds for college scholarships. People were confused, because it was held in September. Traditionally, it had nothing to do with the month itself - it was a celebration of the harvest. lol among other things!
We had a traditional German entertainment, food, beer/wine and activities. We actually had the elected German Prince coming to the festival, and do their program - and the cracking open of the Keg ceremony. Also the dancer's came in, etc. It was a learning experience, and also a very fun time on top of it. We used to call it a huge party for 15,000 people over the weekend! We added more to it each year - something big or something smaller like adding in traditional potato cakes.
Oktoberfest was celebrated in my family more than other holidays only due to my involvement, and we had a blast! We did this on a bigger scale than Halloween. It was only once the kids got into HS, and my Oktoberfest days were over did we have a party on that night. These things do help to break life up a bit.
It's up to the families and the areas if they decide they want a larger celebration - or a smaller more personal one. If you decide - as with this example of Halloween - you want to do this big? You can go to an area that really puts on a show if your area doesn't really get into it. Larger cities tend to have more 'big deals' than smaller communities due to their diversity, etc.
