Halloween in France

Apparently Halloween is not really a "thing" in France, which was a huge bummer for the kids. A little research revealed that some of the bigger cities adopt some of the Halloween traditions but it's generally kept to costume parties and festivities at bars and restaurants; nothing much for the kids. Other than a few select neighborhoods, most villages don't participate in trick-or-treating, and I haven't seen even one house with decorations or jack-o-lanterns out front.  I guess I just assumed Halloween was the same everywhere but that's definitely not the case in France.

It falls right in the middle of a nation-wide school holiday (Vacance Toussaints) so there aren't any school parades or parties.  Besides the sweets (bon-bon) obsession here Halloween also happens to fall on the night before the French Catholic Holiday of "La Toussaint", which translates as All Saints Day and is a national holiday.  This is a day when French people traditionally visit cemeteries, freshen up tomb displays, and pray to their ancestors and favorite saints.  According to Marc, as a kid he found it boring and much less festive than what we know as the Mexican tradition of Day of the Dead.  Seems to me like Halloween would be a perfect fit but........apparently it hasn't caught on.

So no trick-or-treating for us but we were lucky enough to get to participate in a Halloween school fundraiser the Saturday night before Halloween.  Most importantly the girls still got to get dressed up in costumes.

 Our petite sorciere (little witch) and chatte noire (black cat)

This was actually really fun and most of the families in Anthy came out to participate.  We gathered at the local community center and started the evening with a story for the kids about how some monsters escaped a mad scientist and the village policeman needed the kids to help him catch them. We then proceeded to walk through the streets of Anthy "hunting" monsters.  The actors really got into it and I think some of the younger kids were genuinely scared.

On the hunt.

Found one.

Ugh!!  And another.  Creepy, right?!?!

The hunt ended in front of the church where we all gathered around the mad scientist to help him turn the monsters back to their nice selves.  The kids had to find a magic book that was hidden in the square and then repeated an incantation after the scientist. 

Don't you just love that he's standing on top of the village's water fountain.  :-)

The kids were totally enthralled

I have to admit, it was all pretty hilarious!  After the theatrics, we walked back to the community center where we ate quiche, crepes, and pumpkin soup, drank beer, wine, and soda, and the kids got to dance and play games. Not a bad night at all but still missed our annual trick-or-treating with all our neighbors back home.