I agree with you about the commercialisation of Halloween.
Trick or treat? The parents are tricked into spending fortunes on costumes, the kids are tricked into going out on a cold night in inadequate clothing and shivering while their neighbours are tricked into buying tons of sweets to placate the kids by rotting their chattering teeth. It's hard to see how anyone can profit from all of this. Oh wait. And that's why the modern version was exported from America.
Until recently Halloween was not celebrated in the UK except for a very small minority of people who claimed to belong to an ancient religion. Halloween was simply "noted" by its date on the calender but to the vast majority of citizens nothing else happened. There is no connection between the modern "celebration" and the ancient tradition, any more than there is a real connection between the attempted destruction of the Houses of Parliament and "Penny for the Guy."
There is a far stronger connection between modern halloween and an old proverb; A fool and his money are soon parted.
( edjogs Collared doves are shit., Fri 26 Oct 2012, 11:45, 2 replies)

On the plus side,
something like Trick Or Treat could do wonders for community cohesion, provided it's carried out in a spirit of fun, rather than genuine malevolence.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Fri 26 Oct 2012, 12:37, closed)

I read this as "I don't like fun and I look down on those who do"

( CQ Knows the truth, all of it., Fri 26 Oct 2012, 15:20, closed)

And I read that as,
"I know nothing about you but I consider myself superior enough to impose my infallible judgement on you based on a couple of sentences that you wrote."
On Halloween my children and grand children will all be coming to my house on their rounds and we'll all have fun with costumes and tricks and treats. That doesn't stop it from being commercial exploitation.
( edjogs Collared doves are shit., Fri 26 Oct 2012, 16:56, closed)