“In some parts of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, it looked like creatures from a haunted house had fled to take over the city,” relationships The New York Times after a “Horror Weekend” organized on Thursday 27 and Friday 28 October for the second consecutive year.
Given “Strategic ambiguity” that the authorities claim “Social changes across the country”, Strictly speaking, it wasn’t about celebrating Halloween. But the thing is, you give them appropriately fallen shortly before this holiday that Americans are increasingly able to export to the rest of the world.
“Everywhere there were monsters, witches, bank robbers and even naughty French waitresses”, testifies Vivian Nereim, correspondent in Saudi Arabia for the American daily, who sees in it a sign of the enormous changes that have taken place in the country in recent years.
Not so long ago, “celebrating non-Islamic holidays such as Valentine’s Day, Christmas or Halloween was taboo”, remember the newspaper. “In 2018 the police again [avait] stormed a Halloween party and made arrests “.
Entertainment but no freedom of expression
“It was not part of our traditions, admits Yasser Al-Hazzazi, a 21-year-old Saudi Arabian. But we like to discover new things ”. Last week, the young man dressed in a “Blood-stained compress around the head and face” to join, with cousin Yahya, dressed in a white robe stained with the trace of a bloody hand, “A crowd of people decorated with devil horns and rabbit ears”.
Celebrations, fairs, giant concerts and festivals of all kinds have multiplied in the kingdom since the announcement of the economic diversification plan by the Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), in 2016. They amply cater to the young Saudis, who were “Thirst for fun”, remember the newspaper.
“But privately, some complain that this push to entertainment seems like a distraction from economic challenges, such as unemployment, or political, such as a lack of free speech.”
