Halloween (Page 1 of 3)

Here here!

I dont like the "holiday."  Its so un needed, and so American.  It feels out of place down here (its near summer, and pretty hot atm - not what i when i want to wear a costume.)  Only one personwas brave enough to ring our doorbell.  And they were with their dads, so i doubt that they would have done anything if we didnt give them anything.

A funny side story is that the local supermarket refused to sell eggs to minors, as a result they were rung up and told that they were going to be egged.  Ahhh, the circle of life.

I'll defend Halloween. 

Where I live, it's far from extortion; if one doesn't wish to participate, he turns off his front porch light, and is left alone.  No big deal; no property damage, no lawlessness.

I'm the father of two boys, now aged 11 (nearly) and 8.  We make a lap of the neighborhood (a couple of blocks of middle-class suburban houses), they go to the houses who enjoy the event, and get a couple of pieces of candy from each.  They get to dress up, play make-believe and get a few treats.  No harm, no foul.  Dad comes along with a flashlight, for traffic control

Then, when we've finished, we come home and watch a classic monster movie (tonight it's "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein") 

Last edited by Loeffelholz (1st Nov 2006 05:35)

My oldest son went as a hippie, and my youngest went as Alice Cooper   I got to do the makeup 

Nobody bothers you in my neighborhood if you decide to turn in early. It's also a nice way of melting the ice. We all helped each other during the hurricanes, and now we let the kids have a fun night, which ends relatively early anyhow.

HH!

Unneeded and American??? What is that supposed to mean?  Didn't Halloween originate in the United Kingdom with the Celtics and the Druids anyway?

I agree with the lighten up crowd, don't let an apostrophe or some rotten kids spoil a little spooky fun for you.

Happy Halloween everybody!

Last edited by Monique (1st Nov 2006 04:53)

Isn't that just like any other day in Liverpool??

I've heard on the news about the greater need for policing on Hallowe'en, that some cities have minibuses full of coppers driving round the streets keeping an eye out for ASBO kids and the like but to be honest, while that's been on national UK news, I've never heard it being a particular problem in my part of the world.  And while I can perfectly understand that not only does it ruin Hallowe'en for some, it taints it with an ugly, problematic brush.  But the kids that will cause trouble on Hallowe'en are the same kids that will hang around street corners with a bottle of cider bricking buses anyway - sure higher profile policing might be needed in some cities during Hallowe'en, but maybe if the bloody system dealt with these anti-social louts on the other 364 days of the year we might not have that problem.

Anyway...

Hallowe'en.  In Scotland it's never been a big deal in terms of decorated houses (never seen one), but it dates way back - as Mo points out it's a Celtic pagan festival - and we do get the guisers going round the houses.  It's called guising up here and the tradition is that the kids perform some sort of entertainment (song, joke, whatever) and if it's enjoyed by the host, of course it always is, they're rewarded with sweets.  There's no tradition of "trick or treat" up here.  At parties and the like, the tradition of dooking for apples (trying to grab an apple out of a bucket of water with your teeth) and retreiving, again with your teeth, a treacle-coated scone swinging on a string while blindfolded, were the games of the day.

Where I live, generaly the guisers visiting are limited to the kids from the street (all 12 of) and last night that's just who came.  Not only is it a good way to be neighbourly and build good relations with the kids (and parents) in the area, but you do get some terrific bits of gossip from their accompying folks  

As for it eclipsing Guy Fawkes Night, it always did up here as Guy Fawkes is essentially an English celebration (post-union of crowns, pre-union of parliaments) but in the last few years - actually since the Millenium - it's become A LOT more popular up here, so much so that on Sunday night the sky will light up and the ground will shake like downtown Baghdad on Shock & Awe night - and that's just a small coastal town.

I actually read, much to my disgust, on the BBC website the other day that "Halloween celebrations in the UK were repopularised in the 1980s with influence from America".  Garbage.  Repopularised in England perhaps, but it didn't need re-energising up here from America or anyone else.  I've also heard that carved pumpkins have only become popular here in recent years due to their use in the US.  Again, garbage.  Pumpkins are far more available than they ever were, but I remember carrying out a carved turnip when I was 5 - it originated in Scotland and was shipped to America. 

As for apostrophes, that's the way I grew up spelling it, it doesn't bother me if it's used or not but, unlike jetset, I've not sold out

(A belated) Happy Hallowe'en everyone! [img=http://www.alphabetgirls.com/forums/images/smiles/VPunky.gif]

Last edited by Moonraker 5 (1st Nov 2006 10:52)

You're definitely wrong about the "if not all" part.

And once more I have to say that problem youths at Hallowe'en seems more of an English problem, certainly to the vandalism extent I've read about, so "here in the UK people are afraid to open their doors" doesn't really apply north of the border.  I've heard no one complaining about it here.

Last edited by Moonraker 5 (1st Nov 2006 13:54)

Here in small isolated Melbourne, Halloween plays no part at all. I've never celebrated it and I think I've only ever had three trick or treaters come to my door. In fact I didn't even notice that it was Halloween two days ago until I saw this thread.

I'm not questionning whether it's true or not for parts of England, I'm questionning the validity of it in Scotland.  It certainly hasn't scraped the Scottish news as far as I've seen.  It's blanket misuse of the terms "UK" and "British" here I'm not keen on, particularly when Hallowe'en itself has its origins in Scotland, is an age old tradition up here and it's being billed as an "American" holiday.

Last edited by Moonraker 5 (1st Nov 2006 14:41)

I appreciate what you meant M5, I was really commentating on what is going on in my neck of the woods as opposed to Scotland.

It's a shame that in England Halloween has been hijacked by the mobs. I remember as a kid we didn't do 't or t' but we used to have small parties were we bobbed for apples and the like. My daughter was at a Halloween party last night, dressed as a Vampire and sticking her head in yellow jelly looking for spider shaped sweets and I think thats great and thats how it should be. I just wish we could treat it as a fun holiday like in the US instead of having to
batten down the hatches.

Last edited by Lady Rose (1st Nov 2006 14:52)

I think Lady Rose has opened my eyes on how rough it can get in London - I apologize for my abrupt comments earlier.

Yes, shaving cream and eggs occur here, although the last time I witnessed one was 1985 Germany, and I was a participant! (does that shock your tender souls?)

Anyway. I'm starting to realize over the last four or five years how different and seperate an entity the UK is from us.

Again, I regret my comments, and wish no ill will towards my fellow diabolics across the "pond", but I still love Halloween!! (so sue me)