Everything is prepared for the most terrifying night of the year. Small details remain to be finalized, but last weekend in specialized stores the rush to get a costume, makeup or a bag of candy to celebrate Halloween was great. And the holiday that competes with All Saints’ Day is consolidated every year to the point of being a ‘lifesaver’ for many businesses.
Years ago, a few years ago, the only pumpkins that children talked about were the ones they brought home every time they received the report card.s. Today, however, many shop windows show off their orange and a long list of terrifying items that announce the imminent arrival of Halloween. Although the data on the benefits generated by this festival in Canary Islands are still in their infancy – there are more parameters to measure the profits obtained from sales related to All Saints’ Day – there are small references that range from a tiny bag of candy (4.50 euros) to the most basic children’s costume (19 at 23 euros). Yes. One of those disposable ones. With just a few hours left until the darkest date of the year is resurrected, it is still not possible to say the phrase “he who has not hidden has had time.” The last purchases remain and it is estimated that the average expenditure per participant is around 25 euros.
Unlike what happens on Christmas Day or Three Kings Day, where the little ones monopolize almost all the investment, on days like tomorrow the bill grows as the age of the people getting ready for Halloween increases. «A snack [frutos secos, embutidos, tortillas, empanadas, dulces, bebidas] “It can easily cost you between 60 and 80 euros,” reveals Laura while settling the bill for an order that seems to be designed for the occasion. “For years it has become fashionable to organize snacks-dinners for children and parents that go on well into the early hours of the morning,” says the shop assistant regarding a custom that is gaining more and more followers among the residents of urbanizations in The lagoon [Pueblo Hinojosa – Guajara – Geneto]Tacoronte, Puerto de la Cruz or La Orotava. The outlay increases if you look for something sophisticated with which to scare the staff [los disfraces más recurrentes este año son los de Wednesday Addams, It, Harley Quinn – Escuadrón Suicida y, por supuesto, todo lo que tenga que ver con zombies, brujas y personajes de superhéroes y maléficos de grandes producciones cinematográficas], makeup products or accessories. Already in the upper echelon are those who take advantage of the October 1 long weekend [aunque este año se salten hasta dos jornadas de clases o negocien unos días de descanso extras con sus empresas] to sell out this celebration in a tourist complex on the Islands or a slightly longer getaway to Disney. «The demand to spend Halloween among its characters and in a festive atmosphere different from the usual one is generating a high demand,” says the employee of a travel agency specialized in offering packages to the Parisian theme park. “You can do something for around 350 or 400 euros per person,” he points out, not without warning that there are extras that are not included in the package.
Halloween is here to stay. In fact, there are children who have no idea what the All Saints Day but, on the other hand, they know everything about a festival of pagan tradition. By the way, it is not an American invention, it is something imported from the ancient Celtic culture.
Do not stop the party
Halloween landed in Spain many decades after Santa Claus or Santa Claus did, but both share some keys associated with their adaptation period. “There is a determining element that is given by everything we have learned through cinema, literature and the world of advertising,” says psychologist Esther Álvarez about how we have “assumed something that was not in our culture, but that we want.” “live with the same intensity as in a movie or a television series,” adds a professional who turns to the most famous character of December 25 to find a similar phenomenon. «Our grandparents knew Santa Claus, but they knew of his existence in a different way than the little ones in the house now have. The fact that enormous commercial activity is generated around Christmas Day has favored its promotion. Spain remains a country of the Three Wise Men, but if Santa Claus or Santa Claus brings us a gift, we are not going to say no.… Something similar happens with Halloween, it’s a kind of carnival in the middle of autumn,” he remarks. From there you can see the solution to a strange riddle that could possibly occur in the next few hours: “What is a teddy bear doing walking around the streets of an urbanization in the middle of Halloween?”
25
euros is the average expense for each of the children who participate in the Halloween celebrations
The world of advertising, without a doubtis the most profitable for the current campaign. “We have been days in which between 55 and 60% of sales come from specific products,” says the head of a low-cost utensils business in La Laguna. «Children always take something [una peluca, una máscara o una guadaña] home,” points out the shop assistant.
Another merchant from the center of Aguere, linked to the pastry sector, indicates that “we try to adapt the offer to these dates using colors such as orange or red and shapes that resemble a pumpkin”, justifies without losing sight of the fact that these types of strategies are usually applied at other times of the year. “On Valentine’s Day, for example, we use more hearts and at Easter we use a somewhat more sober or convent pastry,” she confesses when referring to torrijas, saint’s fingers or Santa Teresa’s yolks. “It’s a time of year that announces next Christmas in which we are already beginning to perceive a slight rebound in relation to the summer. We can talk about an increase in turnover that can range between 15 and 20%.
But if there is a business that fits Halloween like a glove, it is the one dedicated to selling candy. And just a few hours before the great parade of the Trick or Treating?, Some entrepreneurs are already rubbing their hands before the final avalanche. “We have managed to build several houses that cost more than a thousand euros a day,” says a professional who knows what his parents waste on days like the one that is about to begin.
Although many still find it difficult to admit that the connection between the two celebrations is non-existent or that they are at opposite extremes, the English expression All Hallow Eve translates “Hallowe’en”. Christian tradition and Celtic popular rites package a festivity, which in the Irish case was called Samhain, a ceremony of druidic origin that coincided with the end of the harvest season and marked the beginning of winter. The Celts were convinced that humans could visit the world of the dead and the deceased return to the world of the living…
The legend of Jack O’Lantern
Long before children decided to put on overalls La casa de papel or The squid game and the pumpkin already existed. And I’m not talking about the Ruperta of One, Two, Three…. This refers to the legend of a farmer who wanted to deceive the devil when he wanted to take his life. Apparently, according to the oldest people in the place, the peasant scared Lucifer away with a burning cross. The strategy must have worked because many Irish decided to turn their pumpkins into lamps as a symbol of protection against evil. Tomorrow’s pumpkins are the ones that the giblets will carry from house to house looking for a sugary reward with the famous “Trick or treat?”
55%
of some stores’ sales are associated with Halloween
Pumpkin is also a typical fruit of the autumn season. and almost as famous at this time of year as chestnuts, although the heat of this summer has delayed the installation of the stoves in the coldest streets of the Island for a few days. [las Ramblas de Santa Cruz y las arterias principales de La Laguna son dos puntos en los que normalmente se puede conseguir un producto cuyo precio, por cierto, está por las nubes]. The role of influencers so that their allies actively participate in their initiatives [comentario de libros que coquetean con la muerte, películas de miedo o la asistencia a quedadas que terminan siendo unas macrofiestas] It is taking on a new dimension in recent years due to the high traffic of young people circulating through social networks.
“It’s a way to build customer loyalty,” he says. Esther Álvarez in relation to the speech of these youth leaders. “It is much easier to have the complicity of teenagers to go out into the streets in search of a party than to attract them to visit a relative in a cemetery.” Speaking of somewhat dark things. Do you know why animal shelters stop adoptions of black cats in October?
Satanic rituals with felines They proliferate during the evening of October 31 and, therefore, there is a code of ethics among the professionals who manage pet shelters and stores to prohibit their transfer (sales is another story) during the weeks leading up to Halloween, a party that has lost the status of “guest” to become a host.
