Mary AnneHalloween as a festival in France is still a relatively low-key affair without the razzamatazz of the American Halloween. It didn’t really get started until the 1990s. But Halloween is growing in France as children get the message, love dressing up and carving pumpkins.
The Origins of Halloween
It all began with the Celtic festival of Samhain and was associated with the natural cycle of the seasons. Celebrated by the Celtic tribes in Ireland, the UK and north France on November 1st, it marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of winter, associated with darkness and death. The belief was that on the night before the New Year (November 1), the worlds of the living and the dead mingled. On October 31st, All Hallows Eve (which became Halloween), the Celts celebrated the ghosts of the dead returning to earth.
During his time as Pope, Gregory III (731-741), dedicated an oratory in the original St Peter’s Basilica in Rome in honor of all the saints on November 1st. It’s taken as the original recognition of All Saints Day.
So Halloween became part of the 3-day festival honoring the dead. Halloween was a time of challenging the power of death with humor and ridicule. What started as a powerful desire to banish the dark times turned into the seemingly nonsensical traditions of Halloween today. Dressing up, lighting candles and playing tricks originally had a serious purpose. In some countries, it was forbidden to eat meat, hence the appearance of potato pancakes, apples and soul cakes.
French Halloween Holiday
For the French, October 31st is not important. The French celebrate ‘Toussaint’, a corruption of Tous les Saints, or All the Saints on November 1. It’s an official holiday; public attractions are closed and the French roads get busy with holiday traffic.
There’s always been a tradition in France, as in many European countries, of going to the cemetery to light candles in little lanterns and put flowers, usually chrysanthemums, on relatives’ graves. Some churches hold special services.
In my remote village in the Auvergne, many of the French with maisons secondaires come back for a week. For some it’s the time to turn off the water and electricity and shut the house for winter before the cold weather comes, the snow begins to fall and the roads impassable.
November 2nd is All Souls Day, the third day of honouring the dead though it has no particular traditions attached to it today.
All Souls was honored more in the past, hence the funeral burial service here in Pas de Calais to commemorate the New Zealand fallen on November 2nd, 1918. The photograph was taken in the churchyard at St Marin’s, Selles.
So what can you expect at Halloween in France?
Chocolatiers prepare particular creations for the event. Children dress up, although you don’t see nearly the vast diversity of costumes there that you see in America (ghosts and vampires are quite common).
Where to celebrate Halloween in France
In Paris
Disneyland Paris has a Halloween celebration for visitors. It’s expensive, but it’s the nearest you’ll get to an American celebration in France.
You can meet and greet the wicked Disney villains. Watch Mickey’s tricks on a fabulous new float in the Halloween Cavalcade and look at the other ‘marvellously mischievous’ Disney villains parading along Main Street in their special holiday costumes. Or get thoroughly spooked at the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
Find out more from the Disney Paris website.
Halloween at Parc Asterix
For something a bit smaller than Disneyland and great fun, visit Parc Asterix, just outside Paris. The famous cartoon Gaul and his mates are surrounded by some splendid creatures like gargoyles and the mysterious and sinister Templiers knights. Never mind, Asterix and Obelisk and all the famous characters are there to rescue you.
Fear in the Park lasts from Oct 1 to Nov 6, 2022 in a brand new space. The Curse of the Sirius Show enacts a frightening visit to its docks from a ship missing for almost a century. Passengers disembark (they are of course still alive!) and enter a special zone. It’s a new performance space with three new shows performed vertically up the side of the ship. At night a live DJ set restores the balance a little though you’ll dance with those mysterious passengers.
Other Cities Celebrate Halloween in France
Witch Festivals
Annual Witch Festivals (Fête des Sorcières) exist in some parts of France. Try Chalindrey, a city south of Langres in the Marne, Champagne. Their festival commemorates the witch hunts of the 16th century which were organised from the Fort of Cognelot. It was called Devil’s Point.
Today’s festival has a holiday market, a tunnel of horror, entertainment and a parade to crown Miss Witch. In 2022 it’s on October 29 and 30. Check out what’s happening in Chalindrey.
Limoges in Haute-Vienne has celebrated Halloween for the last 20 years with a special parade and events on October 31/November 1. The parade has everything you could want: ghosts, devils and goblins all carrying carved pumpkins. For a few days around the date, many of the local restaurants and bars enter into the spirit of the festival with waiters dressed up and there are street shows and parties, attracting from 30,000 to 50,000 visitors. The Little Tourist Train gets dressed up and even the Aquarium gets in on the act.
If you’re near Paris, catch the Pumpkin Festival at Les Ferme de Gally from Oct 24 to 31, 2022. Visit the farm, see the festivities and learn how to carve a pumpkin.
Make a Ghostly DIY Halloween in France
It’s the time to walk through the past. Think of places like the great abbeys of France with their grand tombs and effigies.
The ruined abbey church of Jumièges is just the place for a Halloween visit. Walk around the buildings with just the crows for company. And it’s open all year round.
Or explore La Chaise-Dieu and its glorious abbey church. Walk around the choir and look at the Dance of Death (danse macabre), painted on panels and reminding us all of what awaits us. It’s in the Auvergne near Le Puy-en-Velay.
Or climb the steep hill up to the glorious abbey of Vézelay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Burgundy. On a wet October day, all you will hear is the sound of your feet rustling in the fallen leaves. It’s one of the great sites on the pilgrimage route from north Europe to St James of Compostela in Spain.