The phenomenon has been slowly taking hold of French-speaking Switzerland for several years. The “boomers” did not experience it when they were young and gently make fun of Halloween, or “halloween” in Canadian French, a folk festival originating in the Anglo-Celtic islands celebrated on the night of October 31 to 1 november. In the United States, on the other hand, this “All Saints’ Eve” is an institution and when we arrive from Europe, we have the impression of arriving on another planet.
It started early in the morning, with Joe Biden welcoming thousands of young military children to hand out candy (or play pranks on them). In town, we came across parents who were exhausted and a little embarrassed by their sometimes somewhat grotesque disguises, forced to follow their toddlers ringing every doorbell possible to try to maximize the harvest of treats. As it is a real, well-established tradition, we even saw babies a few months old already dressed up!
That was for the “cute” side, when the sun was still out. But as soon as it went to bed and the various bars began to fill up, madness took hold of our corner of Washington, although not known for its “night life”. Americans are necessarily a little more expansive than the average Swiss and we can quickly oscillate between astonishment, laughter and consternation, when we are not used to the thing.
There are those who are content with a “normal” Superman or Batman costume, just to be able to say that they took part in the party. And then there are those who have thrown themselves into the whole thing and are so original that they spend their evening taking selfies with the people they meet. There are also quite a few women who wear very short suits, which more than one father would categorically forbid them from wearing on any other day of the year. Our favorite? Without doubt this young woman disguised as an American football coach, mustache included.
This Thursday also saw a handful of demonstrators take to the streets, particularly in Georgetown. For example, we encountered around fifty people marching to denounce Israel’s policy with lots of banners and fake blood smeared on white clothes.
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