Subject: RE: Halloween Origins
From:
Rowan
Date: 03 Nov 06 - 02:43 AM
What a lot of northern hemisphere stuff! And I'm not criticising. Perhaps because the Celts and Druids were known never to have got to Kakadu we're spared a lot of this.
The Irish were not 'top of the pops' among the protestant hierarchy in Old Sydney Town so many of their traditions got here in mutated form, if at all. Brought up in various forms of Protty experiences I was aware of All Saints' Day but not the rest of it all. (Even though I knew the high church Anglican practices in Melbourne (greatly distrusted by the 'more Baptist than the Baptists' Anglivcans in Sydney) I never knew of All Hallows Eve and All Souls' Day until I became familiar with more Catholic practices. Of course, American culture was unavoidable so we all knew about Halloween but I never saw a pumpkin (or even a turnip/swede_ lantern until I went to South Carolina. Of course, it was in SC that I found out why Americans used pumpkins to make pies; they're quite different to Australian pumpkins, which (I found out from an English friend) were regarded in England as "fit only to feed cattle." Some, however, used them to make scones, however (what Americans seem to call biscuits).
Bonfire night was something else though. We had two, both accompanied by fireworks and thus known as "Cracker Night". The major one in Melbourne was 5th November, 'officially' called Guy Fawkes Day, when large collections of combustibles were piled in selected streets in the outer suburbs and ceremoniuosly set alight, occasionally with a "guy" (not stabbed nor abused as described in another thread) dressed with little relevance to Fawkes that was apparent to me at that time.
The minor one was on Empire Day, usually celebrated on 24th May (thought by many of us to be Queen Victoria's birthday) with smaller bonfires and no guy. In the 50s (I think) the name of this event was changed to Commoonwealth Day and later (late 60s?) was moved to the Sunday nearest the date, accompanied by another name change to "Commonwealth Youth Sunday. I've not seen it even mentioned for the last 30 years. Fireworks were banned after yet another youngster lost eyes/fingers/whatever and the sizzle went out of both events. Bushfire awareness nailed the coffin lid on the last vestiges.
But I suspect the real reason for their demise was the lack of relevance to us south of the equator. I have particular reason to be aware of the September equinox (I'm a "Christmas Leave baby") but It's always been called the Vernal Equinox around here. And the Australian Christmas Carols thread is further evidence of the breaking away from northern hemisphere traditions. But American cultue is difficult to keep in America and there are some kids who think Halloween should be celebrated with trick-or-treat notions. Then they are reminded of the Japanese tourist who tried trick-or-treat (in Louisiana?) and ran foul of another, less admirable, American tradition. Sigh!
The Americans among us are girding their loins (and I use the term advisedly) for another of their traditions which I think has a lot going for it but I (for one) wouldn't want to transplant here. Thanksgiving seems perfect for married couples. In places like America and Australia, members of a family can be spread around the countryside and separated by the width of a continent. With only Christmas as the major 'getting everyone together' festival you always have the discussion "Your rellies or mine, this year?" Americans can do both sets of rellies only a month apart so nobody's nose gets out of joint.
But, given that the stress of such obligations is a major cause in the spike of suicide statistics, perhaps we're lucky having only one stressful occasion each year.
Make the most of it!
Cheers, Rowan.
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sj
