Part 1: How American Chaos Landed on 35th at 80th
It wasn’t the first time I had found something while shopping at Happy, a renowned retailer in the heart of Mandalay, that changed the way I look at the world. So much so that I had to buy it.
What is Happy? I first came to shop at Happy back in November 2021, after asking a more experienced foreigner where in town I could buy a Santa Claus costume. Anyone who knows Mandalay will happily answer with Happy.
Happy has their core product lines of children’s clothes, school supplies, toys, games, tiaras, 925 silver, costume jewelry, hair accessories, cosmetics, cigarette lighters, leather goods, luggage, motorcyclist essentials, J-culture collectibles, road wear, educational posters, dinosaurfigurines, all kinds of hats, and God-knows-why, tucked by the back door, adjacent to a single freezer of ice cream treats, they offer a wide variety of tropical aquarium fish. All this in about 8000 sq feet of retail floor. Happy is the source for all seasonal holiday merchandise, like Halloween costumes. Suffice to say, you never run into the same collection of merchandise any time you go to Happy on 35/36 at 80th.
As it is Halloween, enter Happy today and you might think you’re at the gift shop of Platform 9 ¾ after it’s bought by Spirit Halloween. Amazing how the role of witch of the West has gone from an evil to be ostracized or burned alive to now hanging out with Arianna Grande and is your daughter’s costume of choice.
Halloween predates the founding of America by millennia, ie, it’s not specifically an American holiday. However, like Valentine's Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and of course Christmas, Halloween has been embraced by American capitalists and made into something new. It has a proven otherworldly ability to convince every family in the country that they've got to go buy something.
Here in Asia, I can speculate that there were lots of businesses and interests that wanted to create something like that here. Over the last decade, I’ve seen it happen. Last year, the crush of parents and children all descending on Happy just before the class costume contest at various functions was quite a surprise when I stumbled upon it.
At Mandalay’s many private schools, kids and adults alike dress up for Halloween. Down in Yangon, there are even Halloween parties among its modest youth nightlife. Its significance as the eve before All Saints’ Day has been left out of the story. Here, it’s what the candy makers, Pixar and gifts industry intended: a non-religious celebration of costumes, contests and fun.
Some elements of the Halloween holiday seem quite familiar to the locals. Just a few weeks back, for the October Thandingyut Buddhist holiday, every family dutifully bought candles and lit them in front of their homes. Like Jack-o'-lanterns without pumpkins. I'm sure it's a big day for the candle industry.
Last week, as I perused the 2025 collection of ghoulish goods at Happy, the frightening masquerade was about to begin for me.
Part II:
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