Is Halloween a tacky American import?

IT’S wrong to say Halloween was unheard of in Britain before its arrival from the U.S. in the Seventies (Letters). Halloween arrived in the New World with colonists who brought with them the practice of burning the stubble in fields after the harvest to ensure fertility for the following year. That night, all lights were extinguished in the houses to denote death. Villagers would then go to the burning fields with hollowed-out turnips and light candles from the flames to carry to their homes, where they would celebrate with a feast and pray for a good harvest in the year to come. I would suggest the two World Wars left people with no heart for the old celebration, which died out before its commercialised revival. S. M. WINSLADE, Sheffield.

like most U.S. imports, Halloween diminishes and insults our traditional values. it is a quite illogical invention when one considers america claims to be a God-fearing Christian nation.

ANDREW ROSS, Rugby, Warks.

TRICK or treat is an old custom, but in its present form it’s become a rather nasty import from the U.S. In my previous home in Hertfordshire, we were plagued with whole families trick or treating. I never could understand the mentality of parents teaching their children the gimme-or-else mentality.

GRAHAME THORNTON, Sherborne, Dorset. aS a dog owner, i dread Bonfire night because of the terror it causes my pet. it has become three weeks of morons letting off fireworks until the small hours. We have destroyed the special nature of Bonfire night through commercialisation and ignorance. in comparison, i can enjoy the fireworks of Diwali because i know they last for only a few hours on one night.

VICTOR LAUNERT, Matlock Bath, Derbys.

IN THE early Sixties, I was a member of the 3rd Brixton Brownies. We celebrated Halloween with apple bobbing and spooky games, cut out witches from polystyrene tiles and made cobwebs out of string. It was jolly hard work hollowing out swedes and turnips with just a spoon.

S. DRAPER, Bexhill-on-Sea, E. Sussex. i reMeMBer going to my teenage sister Diana’s Halloween party in the Fifties where one girl was blindfolded and made to plunge her finger into an eye socket — actually a pot of fish paste!

TEX WAITE, Trowbridge, Wilts.