Halloween in Belgium
Trick-or-treating was something I’d only ever seen in American TV shows and movies. But here in Belgium? The Halloween spirit has never fully taken root. Sure, stores and even some families will put up decorations, you'll find plenty of themed candy and scary movie nights on TV, fright nights in theme parks, and occasionally there’s a Halloween party or themed event (like guided Halloween tours). But the classic American tradition of trick-or-treating? Nope, no dice. Halloween is first and foremost a commercial outing here. And this association with commercialism is also frequently cited by people opposing Halloween.
I did give it a shot as a kid, though, and to say it didn’t go as planned would be putting it lightly. The best we got was leftover candy, sometimes even expired. But one person allegedly even called the police on us! Looking back, I'm both amazed at the bravery I showed back then, and mildly amused by how confused my neighbors must have been.
We already have our traditions like Carnival for dressing up in elaborate costumes, and New Year's caroling, where kids go door-to-door singing for sweets and coins in the morning preceding New Year's Eve. And in some regions, but not mine there's also Martinmas in November, where kids walk around with beet lanterns at night gathering candy thrown around by Saint Martin. But I still feel like Halloween offers its own nice twist on that formula—a spooky, whimsical celebration I’d love to see thrive here someday, even if it’s too late for me to go knocking on doors. I think I’d still find it fun to watch kids running around in their costumes, living out the Halloween dreams I only ever truly experienced through the screen.
Music
One example of homegrown Halloween media is a 2001 music video for the song Halloween (they obviously thought long and hard about that one), by the ephemeral tween girl's band M-Kids. The opening bit quite clearly references Backstreet Boys' Everybody. It's quite a corny song, but I appreciate the willingness of such a band to indulge in some relatively scary descriptions.
Hahahahahaha! I am the ghost of Halloween and I will show you horrible things!
A mummy falls out of the closet.
We're scared to death and all scream!
Strange creatures are just crawling inside.
There on the stairs are dirty big spiders.
A house full of screaming white spooks.
ghosts in the basement, hiding.
Rolling heads, severed arms,
five kilos of rolled-up intestines!
Halloween is my favorite feast,
then I am dressed up as a creepy beast!
On Halloween, you are welcome in hell.
You get the creeps, you shiver out of your skin!
And if you dare, you look under your bed:
a big green monster spoils all the fun.
The wet slime drips from the wall.
Witches dance rolling on fire.
You let out a horrible scream:
a spider crawls over your buttocks!
Several years earlier, in 1999, another song titled Halloween topped the charts. Da Boy Tommy's cover of the movie Halloween's theme music was one of the seminal works of Belgian jumpstyle music, together with Candyman, a cover of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells (best known for its use in the soundtrack of The Exorcist).
Odds and ends
I recently learned that pumpkin spice is not a pumpkin-derived product, but is actually the spices used in a pumpkin pie. Generally consisting of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice, it's very similar to the speculaas spice mix that is associated with our feast of Saint Nicholas. So that's yet another example of Halloween just being several different holidays in a spooky trenchcoat, at least from a Belgian point of view. 😛
Flemish folk etymology often (wrongly) links Halloween to the Song of Lord Halewijn. It's a ballad about an evil man who lures women with his song, in order to murder them. He gets outsmarted by a princess, and loses his head to her.