Halloween

So Halloween is a little more than ten days away and yet again I don't have a costume yet. Maybe its having come back to the UK rather than the US and as such its just not as big a holiday or maybe its that I plan on being too busy watching the Rugby World Cup final; either way I'm not planning on anything to elaborate this year.

Maybe I'll just where a pair of underpants outside my normal clothes and claim that I'm superman and forgot to change all my clothes!

Anyone else got a costume ready or planned?

Nswitch/thereader0987

Nope! Bah Humbug! The wife and I are Halloween non-participants. We are the old fogeys who turn off all of their lights on Halloween night and pretend not to be home when the kids come around for Trick or Treat.

Here in Scotland, Halloween was never of the 'trick or treat' variety. Instead, children dressed up and went from door to door asking to be allowed in. Once in, each child was expected to perform a 'party piece', such as a song, poem or joke. They had to earn their treats, and there was no thought of tricks. A common chant when seeking entry was, 'The sky is blue, the grass is green. Please may we have our Halloween?'

I must admit that, like Guy, I was, until this year, one of those who pretended not to be in. Now, however, I am carer to a seven year old, and will have to enter into the spirit of things.

I have to add that it was never the custom here for adults to dress up unless they were actually attending a fancy dress party. It seems that we have become more Americanised over the years.

Linda's comments caused me to reflect on how Hallowe'en has changed in my little corner of the world. As in Scotland we have become increasingly Americanised with house decorations, super-hero costumes from Lidl, and of course trick or treat. But in my younger days we had none of that. We did not have costumes, although we did have Hallowe'en masks (quaintly referred to as 'false faces') and we did call to and get invited into people's houses. There were a lot of house parties at which there were traditional games, such as ducking for apples. Unshelled nuts were a Hallowe'en delicacy, usually necessitating a frenzied search for the household nutcrackers which had not seen action since the previous year. Barnbracks containing a sixpence and a ring were another Hallowe'en special - whoever got the sixpence was going to be rich and whoever got the ring would get married. By some weird coincidence it was usually children who were the lucky recipients of these slices. But perhaps the biggest change has been the demise of the communal bonfire and fireworks. The bonfire was probably a vestigial folk memory of the pre-Christian Celtic festival of Sahhain to chase away evil spirits. Turnip lanterns (much the same as pumpkin lanterns, but smaller) were placed in windows for the same purpose. The firework displays were modest affairs held in people's back gardens, rather than organised events like today. The fireworks were freely available in the shops, so as kids we spent most of October sticking bangers through people's letterboxes, particularly those we did not like (like the ones who would not give our football back if it went into their garden when we were playing in the street). However, fireworks are now strictly controlled for reasons of health and safety - another American import(?). So Hallowe'en today is a much tamer event, although I would have to concede probably a lot safer for kids.

Halloween is my absolute, favorite holiday! We go all out in decorating......not so much in quantity like some homes you see, but in intensity. Whatever I put out I either make, or alter and customize. One little Halloween favorite is our "Halloween Village" akin to those Dept.56 Dickens Villages you see at Christmas (which we also do).

If anyone would like to see a drastically altered Lemax Spookytown set-up that includes spanking, whipping and slave-service partial nudity (and even an enema nurse). Check out the "Sunnydale" story and accompanying pages of altered figures here:

http://www.mattmansfigures.homestead.com/lemaxstory.html

I should post my Halloween pictures too. Maybe I will. I made a scarecrow this year that is pretty creepy. Not the usual stuffed clothes variety, but a creepy thing made of vine and branches that looks like a crucified skeleton with a hat and coat.

Here in the Netherlands Halloween is not celebrated.
No costumes or children coming at the doors for trick or treat.
It is just a day like many others in the years.

When I grew up my mom would ask my sisters and me what we wanted to dress up as for Hallowe'en. She would then construct these costumes for us. She made the most wonderful and elaborate costumes mainly sewn from fabric but also constructed with other materials. I recall one year she made me a tree costume that had birds' nests made from circular kithen scrubbing pads and had stuffed felt birds that she had sewn plus autumn colored felt leaves. This must have taken her hours and she made similar, and equally time consuming, outfits for my two sisters. We would go door to door trick-or-treating but for me it was not so much a function of getting candy as being so proud of the costumes my mom had made and wanting to show them to the world.

Most of the costumes I see kids wear today are these craptacular pieces of junk but every so often I see a nice and clever one. I do love the holiday and mostly I see it through nostalgic eyes but I too love the joy I see on the children's faces and with this in mind I make it a practice to be present and would not hide away and pretend not to be there for I would not so much be depriving the kids, but robbing myself.

The shops use it here as a marketing thing, but it's not really celebrated as such. Comes at the wrong time of the year for the southern hemisphere.

It is celebrated up here big time, but I am like Guy and prefer to hide until things go away. If you think I am bad for doing that, that kind of bad is nothing, read below.

One thing I have noticed is less and less parents sending their kids door to door as the trust factor is no longer there. Too many apples found with needles in them, drugs wrapped in candy wrappings, things being injected making people sick. The child bullies are out in full force trying to steal from the young children and always some drunk driving their kids around endangering others.

Most parents now choosing small community parties under strict supervision as to what is given out and who is doing what. Halloween is not what it used to be and likely will never be.

CS

CS's post is one of the most depressing I have read in a long time. Attacking the childhood magic of Hallowe'en like this is like stealing Christmas. The turnip lanterns must be losing their power as it sounds as if the evil spirits are getting on top.