Trick or Treating, in our homes

The chances of celebrating and partying on Halloween were unlikely because of the pandemic. Still, the festival did not lose its charm on social media, particularly Instagram, as many budding digital creators used their skills and experimented with various beauty and makeup looks.

By Pujit Tandon

“Americans spent 9 billion dollars on Halloween in 2019 alone”, mentions a report by the National Retail Federation U.S. A festival that has now become the second-largest commercial holiday, has its origins from about 2000 years ago.

Despite Halloween being an American festival, people worldwide celebrate it by dressing up and partying all night long. This festival gives teenagers an opportunity to party, making Halloween a trend amongst the youth in India. While, the world behind Halloween has been popularized through horror shows and movies on television, streaming services such as Netflix, and social media, due to the increasing influence of western culture on Indian youth, Halloween has been becoming increasingly popular.

While most Indian festivals have more of a religious reason to celebrate, Arya Samaj, a Political Hindu organization, stated in an article by ANI, South Asia's leading multimedia news agency that "Most of us in India treat Halloween suspiciously, disapproving both the costumes it entails and the dark theme. Owing to a lack of strong reasons, its subsequent disconnect from the Indian audience, Halloween is not able to gain any momentum as a celebratory occasion". However, this is not entirely true, among the younger generation it has gained popularity. Thanks to American culture, Restaurants, pubs, and clubs have begun to catch up to the trend as they offer special menus and various discounts for the occasion to attract the crowd.

However, due to today's global pandemic this year, the chances of celebrating and partying were unlikely in the clubs. Still, the festival did not lose its charm on social media, particularly Instagram, as many talented micros and nano fashion and beauty influencers used their skills and experimented with various beauty and makeup looks. They used their talent to make this festival fun even during the quarantine. One such influencer is Tanishqa, a 17-year old digital creator as she dresses up as a famous Disney character, Tinker Bell, for

Halloween. She claims that she loves Halloween as it helps her expand her creativity and knowledge of different cultures and traditions.

When asked about why she celebrates Halloween, she said, “I have been fond of celebrating festivals since I was a kid and not just Indian festivals. I believe this has taught me a lot about various cultures. Celebrating Halloween with friends and family, being delighted by everyone's creativity, and the amazing amount of thought they put into their costumes gives me so much joy. Halloween is extremely special to me, but this year it was more than that. With Covid19 prevailing, amidst the stressful time, Halloween has given me relief from the stress of quarantining at home.”

Tanishqa, dressed up as Tinker-Bell

Like her, there were many other influencers and people who spoke about why they like Halloween. A common sentiment among them was that most of them seem to like Western festivals, and learning more about them helps them engage with a broader audience. Many people love dressing up or, as it is called nowadays, cosplaying and posting pictures on their social media accounts, as many other influencers level up the game and dress up as Disney characters in a way you wouldn’t have thought of. Interesting how a festival became a point of relief amidst the stress for the youth of India experimenting with their skills, as seen below.

Khushi (An Indian Influencer) take on Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (left),

Viren Tak (An Indian influencer) dressed as Mickey Mouse

Edited by: Kshitij Kumbhat, Priyam Sharma