BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!

Subject: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Senoufou
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 07:40 AM

Yesterday evening we had dozens of children at the door after dark. We'd carved a couple of pumpkins, got in some sweets, and prepared for the deluge. Our village has no street lights and it was pitch dark outside. My husband had to go to work, so I manned the fort on my own.
I'm still smiling at the children's delightful manners. They ranged from about 2yrs old with Mum, to quite big teenagers. All in really clever costumes and masks etc. No rudeness, no pushing or shoving, lots of "Happy Hallowe'en!" and "Thank you very much". One little lad grabbed rather too many sweets and his brother was mortified. He told me his bruv got 'a bit over-excited', and apologised profusely on his behalf.
I must have had over fifty children in total, in about 2hrs.
It's so uplifting and encouraging to see how super the children are nowadays. I was smiling all evening to myself after the last 'customers' had gone away.
And my husband ate the last of the sweets!

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 09:24 AM

Well I think Halloween is one of the worst things ever brought into this country from America. It been bigged up over the last few years into a nakedly cynical commercial venture. My advice to Halloween aficionados is to get into the shops today where you'll find all that tempting tat that cost a fortune last week at bargain basement prices. Then you'll be ready for next year and you won't have let the bastards make a fortune out of you. It even managed to bugger up Strictly big-time this year. Bah bloody humbug. 🕷☠️💩

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: leeneia
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 11:23 AM

My experience was the same, Senoufou. We had 109 trick or treaters, and I was pleased to see that three of our younger neighbors were also giving out treats. The children were all young and were quite nice.

I think it's good for the kids to know that there are friendly adults in the world who will be kind to them.

Our decorations were purple lights hung in swags off the front porch and a ceramic jack-o-lantern in the front window.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Jack Campin
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 11:28 AM

We had exactly one (neighbours from across the street). Numbers have been declining for a few years and the weather was awful. Hardly any fireworks either.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Senoufou
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 12:26 PM

Oh what a shame Jack! The weather does make a difference of course. Here it was quite warm (amazingly!) with no wind or rain. Perfect in fact. 109 trick-or-treaters is quite a number leeneia! I don't think I could cope with that amount, as I was quite tired from answering the door constantly all evening as it was.
You're right of course Steve, it has become terribly commercialised. But it was so nice to see all the villagers coming round. One Dad was dressed as Count Dracula (He looked a bit of a Wally to be honest, but he's such a nice chap) and I do think community is important. We're trying to get funding for a new village hall here, and the Lottery people demand proof that the community is viable and lively.
We're going to see if they've got half-price pumpkins at Tesco tomorrow, as I want to make some soup, pumpkin pies and so on to freeze up. My sister says ginger and cinnamon is very nice with pumpkin pie. (She's a great cook)

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: keberoxu
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 01:38 PM

Eliza, my upbringing was in a small rural town, and your description takes me back to my childhood. Halloween was one of the things the little town did best. Thank you.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Senoufou
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 02:10 PM

A little lad from across the road just called round with his Mum to give me a hand-made card saying 'Thank You for the sweets'. And he'd drawn our three cats too. He's only tiny; his drawing was very good.
I was very touched.

keberoxu, are you in USA or Canada perhaps? It's funny how memories of old times come to mind isn't it? I recall as a Girl Guide dressing up as a ghost in an old sheet, and bobbing for apples in our village hall (near London). Being out in the dark was, I remember, very exciting.

Our village here in Norfolk does Christmas very well too, with a huge Christingle service at the church for all the children, and carol singing with lanterns round the houses. It's a bit of a time warp really. I just adore it all.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 05:58 PM

Ah, Jesus, don't get me started on bloody "Christingle"... Let's hang on to a few principles at least, shall we?

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Senoufou
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 06:12 PM

Steve, your posts recently all over Mudcat have been bad-tempered, obstreperous and confrontational.
I suppose one can see that political discussions etc can get a bit heated, but really, this is a thread about lovely customs, a delightful Hallowe'en and happy childhood memories. You seem to stick your oar in everywhere with barbed and rather nasty comments.
It would be quite nice if you would refrain from doing so on this thread at least.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 07:00 PM

Sorry, but there is nothing lovely about Christingle. Just think about the message that you're trying to indoctrinate children with. I actually think that, in spirit, its imagery breaches the first commandment. It certainly has nothing to do with education and teaching tolerance for other faiths. If you want to fill children's minds with imagination and wonder, try Mother Nature instead.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 07:02 PM

for the first time ever in my 64 years I saw kids & parents in the streets going from house to house, but I was visiting inner suburbia, not at home in apartment-blocks-&-entertainment-edge-of-CBD.

I'm not a fan of commercial holidays (buy! buy! spend! spend!), but as Australia's settlers included lots of Scots, we might have had some halloween/All Saints eve celebrations in the Good Old Days, tho I can't find any reference to it in google, but we did celebrate St Patrick's day! And still do.

The US Is Freaking Out That Australia Doesn't Like Halloween (2014)

Why don't Australians celebrate Halloween?

the kids were beautifully dressed (none of those cheap & nasty items from the cheap variety shops which fill their shelves with cheap tat!) parents were usually dressed up too, or if not were wearing masks.

Later in the evening I headed to a small bar where mainly under-30s have a shanty session & some were dressed up, one regular wore a fantastic reddish wig (apparently a Rockers & Hipsters wig) & I'm sure there were lots of wigs & costumes in the bars near my place.

There was also lots of left over halloween stuff in my neighbourhood cheap shop the next day!

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Senoufou
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 07:28 PM

Thank you for that Sandra, as I was actually wondering if Hallowe'en is celebrated 'down under'! I expect the weather is quite good in Australia at this time of year, as it must be Spring there?

I do think people, not just children, adore 'dressing up', and have done so for millennia in most cultures. I know that in Africa, putting on a mask and/or a costume of some sort imbues the wearer with properties of a spiritual or 'supernatural' nature. So if one dresses up as a ghost or sorcerer, people there tend to view one as a real spook or wizard, and are a bit afraid.
My husband found Hallowe'en here extremely strange and scary many years ago when he first encountered it. He was astonished that a so-called 'civilised' society would indulge in such dodgy/dangerous activities! He loves it now though. But he says it's a tragic waste of a pumpkin, which is a food, not a work of art.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Rumncoke
Date: 01 Nov 16 - 09:57 PM

We happened to be at our son's house for Halloween, so I bought a pumpkin roasted the seeds, scooped out most of the flesh and then carved a face to amuse the grandsons.

When I was a child we used to carve a turnip in the same way, and the inside as part of dinner on Halloween.

The kids were not at all impressed - they wanted the pumpkin to glow orange and suggested drilling a hole and putting a bulb inside so it could be plugged into the mains....

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Senoufou
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 04:08 AM

Ah Rumncoke, children are more sophisticated nowadays eh? My husband bought a plastic pumpkin at Asda, which has a small battery inside and a revolving multi-coloured light. It was quite impressive in the dark, and of course couldn't set anyone alight.
I always put the Real Pumpkins on top of large garden tubs full of soil, so no child can brush against them or get anywhere near the flame. Even he admitted that he'd always want real pumpkins as well as his 'technological' one.
Turnips are the very devil to carve, being so hard. But we used to carry one around on a string as a lantern when carol singing.
There's something so fat and jolly about pumpkins isn't there? And their warm orange colour is so autumnal.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 04:16 AM

Sydney is warming up & summer clothes have arrived - tho those in skimpy summer attire might get a tad cool when the sun goes down.

Halloween in Australia

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Donald Trump masks a sellout for Halloween celebrations across Australia

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Senoufou
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 04:35 AM

Oh Sandra, I do so like warm weather! We often say if we were extremely rich, we'd hop on a plane (one of those with actual beds for the passengers) and head down to Australia from November through to March.
But my husband (who is like a little boy at Christmas) always adds that we'd have to fly back for two weeks in December to have Crimbo in the UK!
I suppose we could head off to W Africa and stay with his family there, but the anti-malarials would cost a fortune for the entire winter, and there are so many awful diseases one can catch, it might be my last winter ever! ('White Man's Grave' and all that)

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 07:33 AM

here's some Australian christmas images to make you feel warm in the coming months

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Senoufou
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 08:56 AM

Oh Sandra! (sigh...) how I wish we could go there for the entire winter, it looks absolutely gorgeous! I could just see myself in my swimsuit (yes, I do have one, and it still fits) sitting on one of those fabulous beaches, building a sand-snowman and wearing a Santa hat! I think we'll buy a Lottery ticket this weekend and see if we can win!

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 11:42 AM

Actually, Senoufou, 109 trick or treaters was about half the number we expected. The weather was beautiful, and we thought we would get 200, based on past experience.

I agree that answering the door that many times would get tiring, but my husband and I took turns. He loves trick-or-treating, and he insists on buying Hershey's kisses, even though they are rather expensive. Even the two-year-olds kids like them.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Senoufou
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 12:15 PM

Goodness me leeneia, so you were expecting TWICE that number? Wow!
My husband was very sad to have to go to work from 2pm until 9pm. He adores opening the door to the children and seeing all the gore and skeletons etc. It's quite funny because in the dark, all you can see of him is a set of very white teeth looming out of the gloom, and many of the little visitors take a startled step back. They must think it's a mask of some sort. We usually alternate it, but I was on my own Monday evening.
I've seen photos of American houses decorated for Hallowe'en, and it looks as though it's more 'artistic' than 'terrifying', if you see what I mean. Lots of beautiful Autumn foliage, straw figures, vegetables and pumpkins but no bones, blood or monsters. Here I find some of the stuff frankly awful, and definitely not for children to see. (Skulls with worms coming out of the eyes, and an amputated, bloody arm lying on the ground, deformed witches' heads with massive warts and so on) It gives me nightmares, never mind the little ones!

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 03:30 PM

Eliza/Senoufou, sorry you didn't get a prompt answer from me.
Yes, I was raised in the Great Lakes area of the United States, that is where my childhood Halloween happened.

Today I live in Massachusetts.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Senoufou
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 03:53 PM

That's lovely keberoxu; I suppose in winter it gets very cold there?
I swam in every one of the Great Lakes (from the Canadian side) in the summer of 1967. Such beautiful scenery and unspoiled Nature.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 05:12 PM

Ho ho ho Sandra , love it !                              Not a great Halloween fan myself . Don't want to give the other side too much publicity !          I do like christingles too Eliza . First one I went to was in Suffolk a few years ago while my wife and I were away for a weekend . It was bury st Edmunds church and as well as the kids there was hand bell ringers and we found it all enchanting.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Senoufou
Date: 02 Nov 16 - 05:31 PM

For our Christingle here in Norfolk, all the ladies of the village who are involved sit for ages doing the oranges with cocktail sticks and sticking the little candles in. They did 150 last year, but it wasn't enough! When the candles are lit, we have to fly up and down the aisles making sure no child singes him/herself or their mates. We have a great team of bellingers, and they really let rip for the Christingle Service. Handbell ringers too, it's all-singing, all-dancing believe me!
We also have a large KNITTED Nativity model, with all the camels, sheep, angels and everything knitted by the ladies. It's really a work of art!

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 03 Nov 16 - 04:05 PM

Sounds really good Eliza !

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Nov 16 - 09:02 AM

this one? , eliza?

Some years back I knitted a sheep, & a member of my craft group is half-way thru the entire nativity. Last week she was working on the king with the golden casket.

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Senoufou
Date: 04 Nov 16 - 09:31 AM

Oh isn't that absolutely gorgeous Sandra? So sweet, and beautifully done! It's similar, but I think our 'chief crafts lady' (Julie) designed it all herself, and the other ladies knitted like anything to complete the tableau. The angels have white fluffy feathers for wings, and the camels have real leather bridles and brocade saddle cloths etc. One of our church blokes made the huge stable (thatched)
Julie also knitted a complete set of the whole Royal Family for the Queen's Jubilee in 2012. She's eighty but goes like a steam engine still! She's now joined an archery club, and volunteers at a Railway Conservation Station, helping to restore old trains. I wish I could be like her, I don't know what she's on, but I want some too!!

Subject: RE: BS: Lovely Hallowe'en!
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Nov 16 - 07:21 PM

I've known a few people like her who are too busy to get old.