Halloween in France

How is Halloween celebrated in France? Learn French Vocabulary and Traditions

French people don't typically celebrate Halloween. In the 1990s, young international hipsters started to have costume parties for Halloween, and some bars and restaurants took up the trend as well (French people typically love costume parties, they are very popular for New Year's Eve or birthdays, even among grown-ups).

So Halloween is not a typical French holiday but stores try to take advantage of it, and it’s not unusual to find a “carve your Halloween pumpkin (“une citrouille” or “un potiron”) display at your local grocery store. Well, pumpkins don’t sell like hotcakes in France, so I guess everything is good to try to sell them… But I don’t know that French people are massively carving pumpkins or doing anything special for Halloween…

A great way to motivate young kids to learn English

With English being studied in elementary school, kids usually know about Halloween. There are many fun activities that can be done on the Halloween theme, and candies are sufficient motivation for any kid in the world! Unfortunately, Halloween is usually during mid-season school break (“les vacances de la Toussaint”), so schools don’t usually organize a trick-or-treating outing. Although some neighborhoods are more responsive than others, trick-or-treating is not yet part of the French tradition, and people have mixed reactions to being “disturbed’ at nightfall for candies by kids in costumes.

How do you say “trick or treat” in French?

Well… you don’t! The whole point being to have French kids use a few English words… But a good translation would be: “des bonbons ou un sort” (candies or a spell), or “bêtises ou friandises” (mischiefs or sweets). Note however the “trick” part is out of the question in France… That part of the tradition didn’t make it (yet ?) and French folks have not had the pleasure to receive eggs or toilets paper over their fences, trees, house… Most people won’t have candies handy, and houses don’t decorate…

Halloween is getting mix reactions from French folks

In the small village where my parents live, the school teacher is serious about teaching English, and loves the opportunity Halloween provides to motivate kids. All the kids meet up at the school and then go trick-or treating, and guess what? My parent’s house is right in front of the school. It’s the one house all the kids are sure to hit!!! My Mom (75 years old) hates it. My Dad (80 years young) loves it :-)

The same ideas as the Catholic holiday “La Toussaint”

It’s too bad though, because on November 1st is the Catholic Holiday of “la Toussaint” (All Saints Day – A national holiday), when French people traditionally visit cemeteries, freshen up the tomb displays, bring colorful mums (“des chrysanthèmes“… symbol of death, never to be given as a bouquet… that would be a big faux-pas) and pray to their dead and their favorite saints. These are the same ideas that are at the very heart of Halloween. I feel Halloween could be a great way to get younger people to carry on ancient French traditions that are getting forgotten, while also integrating a fun American celebration.