AHC: make Hallowe'en-like music as popular as Christmas music

Naturally this applies to those nations where Hallowe'en is commonly observed.

I'm speaking of such music as Night on Bald Mountain, Danse Macabre, and the like. Yes, I realize the vast bulk of those when written had nothing to do with 31 October but have since come to be identified with All Hallows' Eve given the supernatural / horror-related themes.

Back some time in the '80s, CBS Records put out a CD called "Fright Night", which was a compilation of music like this. Also, Mannheim Steamroller did a Hallowe'en-themed two disc set. But those are the only ones I know of off the top of my head.
 
Make Halloween an all-consuming holiday, far bigger than it is now. It's getting there, but you can still "sit out" Halloween.

If it goes full-on corporate earlier, it could supplant Christmas as the "big" holiday, even getting kids the day off school.

The problem? Christmas has all the advantages. It's right at the start of winter, has Thanksgiving to kick it off, and it has New Year's as a closing act. It's full of positivity and goodwill rather than scariness and death. And it has religion on its side.

Halloween would need a religious tie-in (possibly All Saints Day as a flip side) as well as a different view of death. Perhaps a Day of the Dead-style celebration in graveyards as well as a way to honor dead relatives to complete the solemnity of it (kind of the way Catholics work in Christmas Eve Mass before opening presents the next morning.)

If the culture is there, the music will follow.
 
If the culture is there, the music will follow.

Yes, and to get the culture there, I think you need a pre-1900 starting date.

The Day Of The Dead angle might work, but I think you`d need MUCH HEAVIER immigration from countries where that is a thing, to the point where those immigrants are dictating what type of holidays get public observance. In other words, the USA is unrecognizable compared to today.

Or, going back further, radical desacralization of America post-independence, something along the lines of what the Jacobins later tried to do in France(maybe without the Cult Of The Supreme Being). There is thus no particular importance attached to Christmas festivities(though the bare outlines of the holiday may survive a la Valentine`s Day), and other holidays vie for the championship feast day. The remnants of the Celtic autumn festival might have a good chance of being a contender, though you might have to make it more conducive to social cohesion, eg. no extortion of candy via threats of vandalism.
 
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