Culture Talk

Why does Britain do Halloween so half-heartedly compared to the US?

Genuine question as we get close to the 31st. When I was a kid in the 80s in Yorkshire it was a turnip lantern and maybe a bin bag cape. Bonfire Night on the 5th was the big event.

Now my street has inflatable spiders and American-style trick or treating, but it still feels borrowed somehow. Meanwhile I'm told the whole thing comes from Samhain, so it's arguably more ours than America's.

Is it Bonfire Night crowding it out? The weather? Do other countries have the same mixed feeling about it?