Many of the Halloween costumes for kids this year are fun and thoughtful. I like days like this.
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- Thread starter Gutwrench
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On this, we are in complete agreement.
However, Hallowe'en - one of those Christian celebrations grafted onto an ancient pagan festival, - one which celebrated and saluted the dead - is a legtimate and ancient feast in northern Europe.
While I detest the commercialisation, I do recognise the authenticity and the traditions of the actual feast days at that time of the year.
And I like the idea of the celebration of this tradition for kids.
That one is unique to the US, and is not celebrated elsewhere.
Yeah, that's something I always forget—the actual history of the holiday. But it's never talked about for some reason, I wonder why...
Halloween was a really big deal at my high school, and we'd have some special assembly where people would show off their costumes. I, for whatever reason, have never enjoyed it enough to participate, even when I was younger.
Halloween wasn’t much of a celebration when I was a kid. Hardly even noticeable. But it’s been popularised by US films and shows. Plus it’s another payday for stores that sell the crap.
I don’t celebrate (acknowledge) any holidays to be honest. There are 365 days in the year. None are more special than any other. Well apart from weekends!
It’s the most we’ve ever had an I have the exact figure due to our Ring doorbell camera lol. Last year from memory I think we had 17 lots. Now, these are not all children it’s sad to say, some are late teens and one last night I am convinced was a man on his own which I found odd. Here he is:
I asked him if he’d left his kids at home and he just laughed and took a couple of bags of sweets. I think I he would have scared the elderly.
I actually like the change of seasons and the change of year etc. Also, all the festivals, Halloween (yes, it's got too US/commercialised but then I guess so has everything), bonfire night and Christmas. As Sceptical Scribe says they root us in a dim very distant past and our attempts to keep the darkness from rising. Looks like the howing wild hunt is about to visit over the next day or two though...
In terms of Halloween, there always seems to have been a rule around us - if you have decorations (a pumpkin etc) out then they'll knock but if not you get left alone. Parents also always seem to accompany them these days. Perhaps its because our patch tends to feature on the news fairly often ;-) There's also something really sweet about a gaggle of little excited kids in silly costumes tanking up the road shrieking and laughing...
In terms of Halloween, there always seems to have been a rule around us - if you have decorations (a pumpkin etc) out then they'll knock but if not you get left alone. Parents also always seem to accompany them these days. Perhaps its because our patch tends to feature on the news fairly often ;-) There's also something really sweet about a gaggle of little excited kids in silly costumes tanking up the road shrieking and laughing...
To be honest that’s exactly the type of thing I dislike about trick or treating. I can well imagine how that would look to an elderly neighbour.It’s the most we’ve ever had an I have the exact figure due to our Ring doorbell camera lol. Last year from memory I think we had 17 lots. Now, these are not all children it’s sad to say, some are late teens and one last night I am convinced was a man on his own which I found odd. Here he is:
I asked him if he’d left his kids at home and he just laughed and took a couple of bags of sweets. I think I he would have scared the elderly.
That’s how it should be. If you decorate your house you are happy to participate. If you don’t then leave us alone.
Same with Christmas carolling. No decorations don’t come knocking.
Distinctly odd, and rather unsettling, to put it mildly.
Not at all funny.
What on earth was he playing at?
Agreed.
Now, while I am a big fan of celebrating the traditions that surround the ancient feast of Hallowe'en - especially given how this festival facilitates dealing with the topic of death - (and the deceased) - in a way that allows this to take place and also allows children to explore these concepts in a safe way - and am a big fan of trick and treat (especially if supervised intelligently by parents), this is the sort of thing that really irks me.
"Playful" adult males - such as the clown pictured - are an absolute menace, and - irrespective of intention - can come across as threatening.
It is one thing to deal with feasts (and fears) celebrating death and the departed with wit and laughter by donning costumes and dressing up, it is quite another to strike fear into people - yes, the elderly, yes, women - for example, single mothers - by behaving - or conducting yourself - in such a manner.
That chap ought to be ashamed of himself.
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Indeed. I can't imagine as a grown man going out trick or treating on my own to be honest, it is beyond creepy IMO. He probably wanted money more than anything, but I draw the line at sweets. I don't generally answer the door to adults doing it but when I saw him on the camera I had to answer just to make the point he was being weird lol. I didn't let the kids come to the door on this one.
However, if, as you say, he laughed, he probably didn't think he was being weird and downright unsettling, still less was prepared to own and take responsibility for his odd behaviour.
Unpleasant, and unsettling, to say the very least.
Sorry, but I have to say his appearance made the atmosphere feel like in a horror movie.
When we arrived in Scotland 30 years ago from the US, we went trick or treating with the kids when they were old enough to understand, except where we were at that time, the tradition was guising, which is not a perfunctory trick-or-treat, but we were invited into the neighbours' homes and each kid had to do an act or tell a joke. And the carvings were in turnips, not pumpkins. The good news is that despite my ex's English stereotype of the Scots, there were no animal or human sacrifices of any kind.
Thanksgiving is just a glorified harvest festival, so there are minor events in the UK that are similar.
Heh. You're not the first to ask me such a question. I always figured it was my Swedish heritage (I'm about a 3-way split between Swedish, German and British with a dash of Native American thrown in). Anything above 15C in pants and I start to sweat.
Outside of summer, I keep my house between 18-20C though I will let it float down to 15 C overnight in winter. Last year, we stayed in one of those canvas type cabins with no heating except for an electric blanket with overnight temps only a couple degrees above 0C (roughly 35-36F). I started off with the blanket set on high in long johns (long pants?) but I started sweating. After awhile, I figured out that I was perfectly fine under the covers with shorts, t-shirt, and the blanket set at around medium-low. Everyone else was bundled with their blankets cranked to high.
I run hot, especially my legs.
I really miss that. I haven't lived in the countryside for over 20 years.
I used to be mine that. But as I’ve aged I feel the cold much more than I used to.
Yeah, that's a kind of a holiday I could get behind. In recent years, it's been all about the creep factor or the "gotcha" factor or some BS. Jack-o-lanterns were meant to ward off evil spirits, but the types of decorations these days would be more likely to attract evil spirits, not ward them off (if there's such a thing).
Hispanic cultures here in the US practice Dia De Los Muerte. Not sure how similar it is in Spain, but the way it's practiced here sounds very much like how you describe.
Btw, as an American, I apologize for the commercialized BS that my country has subjected to you folks across the Atlantic.
We’ve lived here 4 years this December. I don’t miss the suburbs at all.
This will do me until I’m worm food.
Well, North America. Though Canada's just had their Thanksgiving a couple weeks ago. If I ever get the chance to relocate to Europe, that's probably the only American holiday I would truly miss.
It’s the most we’ve ever had an I have the exact figure due to our Ring doorbell camera lol. Last year from memory I think we had 17 lots. Now, these are not all children it’s sad to say, some are late teens and one last night I am convinced was a man on his own which I found odd. Here he is:
I asked him if he’d left his kids at home and he just laughed and took a couple of bags of sweets. I think I he would have scared the elderly.
I don't know why, but that made me think of the grown up trick or treat'er from last years "Halloween" Doctor Who special. I think it's the one where that guy Dan was kidnapped by a space dog.
When I was growing up in the 70s we never understood how Halloween lanterns we saw on US TV shows could look so detailed and big - I mean have you ever tried to carve a turnip? You started full of enthusiasm but it always ended up with a lost temper and a fair few plasters over your inevitable minor injuries and despite all the effort you always, always, ended up with something that looked like a drunken emoji. Plus once you finally got a candle in there (with it's ill fitting lid) and lit it the whole thing stank like a burning compost heap.
The yoof of today don't know they're born...
I’ll take your word for it, never really watched it apart from one episode I was an extra in back in 2005/6 time. I lived in Cardiff and a mate of mine was a regular extra in Doctor Who and Torchwood. I went along and got paid £50 to pretend to chat in the background of a scene or two. I was also in an episode of Pobl Y Cwm which is a Welsh speaking soap and rather rubbish lol. No masks involved in either sadly
