Halloween or a Free Pass for Cultural Appropriation? 

by Melissandre St Hilaire

[Belfast One 2025] 

As a child the concept of Halloween meant witch hats, scary makeup and an inevitable sugar crash. The idea that you could turn into someone or something else for one singular night was every child’s dream come true. As I grew older, that innocent excitement inevitably faded. What once felt like playful escapism has, over the last few years, begun to reveal a darker side. 

As a teenager or a university student, sugar-induced toothache quickly turned into nursing an alcohol-fueled headache. Halloween became that one night a year where everything serious in the world took a night off. Lately though, it’s evolved into something else entirely — a night of exemption, where behaviour that would be unacceptable any other day suddenly becomes tolerated. Growing up in a Syrian family settled in North London, I bring a perspective shaped by both East and West — yet, whether in London or here in Belfast, I see the sly underbelly of a divided past. 

This Halloween, I saw many young men dressed as Arab sheikhs or in their own words “muslims” and “terrorists.” What is meant to be a night of harmless fun has increasingly blurred into an evening of cultural appropriation. The social significance of Halloween lies in the way it offers the allure of anonymity. Social norms loosen slightly, allowing people to experience the thrill of self-liberation without the usual consequences of daily life (Rebbecca Rameholl, 2023). The evening thus provides a brief glimpse into the attitudes of the people around us. 

Choosing a costume is arguably more enjoyable than the evening itself. Our clothing serves as a means of communicating and self-expression, so who or what we decide to dress up as can reveal hidden norms and attitudes (S Zhang et al, 2020), without actually speaking. What does it say, then, when someone dresses up as another culture for entertainment? Turning identity into costume is not satire; it’s mockery. It’s behaviour one might expect from a different generation, not one that claims to champion inclusivity, especially in a region that has endured its own share of persecution. What struck me most was how comfortably and casually such racism was displayed. 

This led me to look at wider societal trends not just in Northern Ireland but in the UK as a whole. Amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza war, a growing wave of anti-Islam and anti-immigrant sentiment has spread. Amnesty International finds that the PSNI annual report records 2,049 racist incidents and 1,329 hate crimes in Northern Ireland alone — the highest levels recorded since 2004 (Amnesty International, 2025). Patrick Corrigan of Amnesty calls the past twelve months “a year of hate,” symptomatic of “a society that has failed to confront racism…indicative of a tide of hate.” 

Following the violence in Ballymena this June, where alleged sexual assault charges against two Romanian teenagers sparked the use of petrol bombs, fireworks and bricks to attack immigrants and police, this reveals a grim pattern: crime committed by immigrants is weaponised to justify targeting all immigrants. Similarly, the vilification of an entire minority after the 2024 Southport tragedy, in which three girls were murdered by a Rwandan teenager, reflects a troubling double standard; when crime is committed by one group, it is viewed as an isolated incident; when committed by another it becomes a defining characteristic. By targeting law enforcement and institutions protecting immigrants, a dangerous message emerges — that justice now only applies to ‘locals.’ 

The effects of these attitudes have seeped their way into even the most seemingly harmless traditions, such as Halloween. A night that promises anonymity and self-expression has instead become a mirror of societal prejudice, allowing racist undertones to surface with little consequence. After a year marked by violence and division, it is unsurprising that some feel emboldened to embody cultural caricatures. The past year has provided a comfort blanket for performing stereotypes under the guise of fun, a form of senseless hatred masquerading as humour. Without institutional and cultural accountability, the line between satire and discrimination continues to blur, eroding the very ideals of inclusivity and respect that society claims to uphold. 

References 

[1] Ramdeholl, Rebecca, “The Social Significance of Halloween”, The Average Scientist, October 19, 2023. 
https://theaveragescientist.co.uk/2023/10/19/the-social-significance-of-halloween/ 

[2] Zhang, Shanshan, “Trick for a treat: The effect of costume, identity, and peers on norm violation”, Journal of Economic Behaviour & Organization, Volume 179 (November 2020), pages 460–474. 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016726812030336X 

[3] Amnesty International, “Northern Ireland: ‘A year of hate and fear’ – racist crimes hit record high”, Amnesty International, August 28, 2025. 
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/northern-ireland-year-hate-and-fear-racist-crimes-hit-record-high 

[4] ibid