If you look closer, most of the american holidays have turned into hopeless circles of consumerism:

• Easter: adults don't work and kids fill up themselves with chocolate eggs
• Halloween: adults party and kids fill up themselves with candy
• Thanksgiving: let's eat like crazy and the next day we'll buy like crazy
• Christmas: adults party/buy presents and kids learn the joys of materialism

Yeah, families join together in christmas but nobody gives a fuck about the original celebrations, they just think about the alchohol, presents, food and partying.

I think that's why some people say the US is a cultureless country. Everything spins around buying stuff. No typical dances, no typical clothes, no typical food (the cool stuff in the south was borrowed from Mexico and the BBQs were borrowed from south-america), no ancient civilizations (you killed the only ones you had without even getting to know them).

Progressively, the rest of the world is stealing your halloween, and I don't really know what's the authentic essence in halloween, but we're only stealing the costumes based on horror movies, the parties and the pumpkins. And you know why? Because there's no regional attachment to the party and everyone can celebrate it, anywhere, without even thinking about the US.

You're damn right, isleshocky, that's pretty sad. And I wanna give you my condolences, because as a man who has traveled the world, I know there's nothing better than a culture-rich country. It's beautiful, and It's what distinguishes you around the globe, and it's where stereotypes come from.

What do you think about when you hear about Mexico? Sombreros. Spain? Bulls. England? The Queen and the Big Ben. China? The Great Wall and powerful empires. Japan? Samurais. The US? McDonalds, Coke...

TL;DR read the damn thing