The New York Times released a new report this week shedding light on Halloween celebrations held in Saudi Arabia after being banned for several years.
Only a few years ago, a Halloween party meant arrest. Now, a government-sponsored “horror weekend” means sold-out costume shops and scary clowns, the report reads.
According to the report, the Halloween was variously viewed as a suspiciously pagan foreign holiday — or as sinful, unnecessary and weird — in the conservative Islamic kingdom. As recently as 2018, the police raided a Halloween party and arrested people, sending costumed women clamoring to cover up and escape.
But this year, parts of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, looked like creatures from a haunted house had escaped and taken over the city. Monsters, witches, bank robbers and even sultry French maids were everywhere, leaning out of car windows and lounging in cafes.
The scene was a stark — and a slightly spine-chilling — sign of the changes that have torn through Saudi Arabia since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, now heir to the throne and prime minister, began rising to power in 2015 and started doing away with social restrictions one by one, the paper said.
The easing of some social restrictions has also been accompanied by a notable increase in political repression, with a crackdown on domestic dissent that has landed hundreds of writers, activists and Snapchat influencers in prison alongside billionaires, religious clerics and royal family members.
On social media, the government has deployed a mixture of manipulation and control, resulting in an increasingly unified narrative venerating the crown prince and his “Vision 2030” plan.
In private, some Saudis complain that the entertainment push feels like a distraction from economic challenges, like high youth unemployment, and political ones, like the lack of freedom of speech. The chaotic, carnival-like atmosphere that is allowed to briefly erupt on occasions like Saudi National Day and now Halloween is quickly bottled up again.
Saudi Double Standards Policy
The Middle East Monitor also shed light on the Halloween celebrations in the Kingdom, saying that celebrations in the kingdom which had long been described as “ultra conservative,” have drawn criticism from some Muslim social media users over permitting once-banned non-Muslim festivals, while others have accused Saudi Arabia’s religious establishment of having double standards by not permitting the celebrations of the Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) birthday, known as Al Mawlid.
Billions of dollars in entertainment events
Since MBS took office, Saudi Arabia declared the intention to invest $64 billion into its entertainment industry over the next ten years.
In 2020, Saudi Arabia spent 50 billion riyals ($13.33 billion) on an initiative to promote entertainment, health, sports and education.
The Halloween celebration and MBS’s modernizing drive have been widely slammed on social media and drawn criticism from some Muslim social media users.
Here some tweets:
Celebration of Halloween in Riyad, Saudi Arabia. The GEA of Saudi organized an event called “Horror Weekend”, meanwhile celebration of Mawlid is still banned.
Imagine a country that forbids the commemoration of the Prophet ﷺ because it is more evil than celebrating Halloween…
In Saudi Arabia, it is forbidden to celebrate the birthday of our prophet and also it is forbidden to say prayers in the tomb of the prophet, however it isn’t forbidden to celebrate Halloween.
