Happy Halloween
43 replies
G Cherokee replied on 30/10/2016 22:23
byron replied on 30/10/2016 22:39
Posted on 30/10/2016 22:39
My nieces have lived in both new Hampshire and Minnesota where their father had to inspect the goodies so much that they eventually went to organised parties through school!, They had found tampered goodies!
I meant documented evidence, ie police reports, news items
Tammygirl replied on 30/10/2016 22:46
HarleyDave replied on 30/10/2016 22:48
KjellNN replied on 30/10/2016 23:21
Posted on 30/10/2016 23:21
As a foreigner, I had never heard of Halloween before I came here.
When DD was young it was becoming popular.....maybe 1990....but at that age only agreed between neighbours that kids could visit. DD was never really into it and never really liked dressing up.
OH has always regarded it almost as begging, and does not approve at all.
These days, like others we shut the outer doors, turn off the lights and lie low!! Terrible that we have to "hide" in our own home!
In the past, for no reason at all, we have had eggs thrown at our windows......really difficult to clean off......when did kids become sooooo obnoxious?
Talking to my sister in Norway recently, Halloween has reached them too now, even though it is totally alien to Norwegian culture.
Spriddler replied on 30/10/2016 23:32
Posted on 30/10/2016 23:32
A couple of years ago I kept a water pistol handy at Halloween. When I opened the door and little rascals shouted "Trick or treat?" I replied "Trick!!" and gave them a jolly good squirting.
Apparently that's not how it's meant to be according to my sons.
I was anxious about giving away sweets or choc bars in case one of them was diabetic, vegan, allergic to nuts......raisins.......milk powder........sucrose...... wheat......
Cuh!
ValDa replied on 31/10/2016 07:11
Posted on 31/10/2016 07:11
I may be wrong (I often am) but isn't Hallowen a Pagan festival, I remember one very religous man that I worked with who wouldn't have anything to do with it on those grounds.
Grandkids love it though
Yes it is 'All Hallows Evening', shortened to Halloween, when the spirits of the unhappy dead are supposed to walk the land and originally a lantern made from a turnip (we didn't have pumpkins then, apparently), was left burning outside cottages to ward off the evil spirits. When the original Settlers went to America they started to use pumpkins.
(explanation from yesterday's Radio 4 'The Food Programme')
Another explanation:
The origins of the festival
Hallowe’en seems to have grown around the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain, marking the end of the light half of the year and the beginning of the dark half.
Samhain was in part a sort of harvest festival, when the last crops were gathered in for the winter, and livestock killed and stored. But the pagan Celts also believed it was a time when the walls between our world and the next became thin and porous, allowing spirits to pass through.
The practice of wearing spooky costumes may have its roots in that belief: dressing up as a ghost to scare off other ghosts seems to have been the idea.
I must admit to quite enjoying it. When we were children we had 'Mischief Night' where we used to play tricks on our neighbours and friends. Here in our little cul de sac we usually only get visiting children that we know, though last year (when we put out a special Halloween doorbell which had a ghoulish face and an evil laugh as the ringtone) we got loads of extra visitors.
We've even dressed up ourselves, so that when we answered the door we scared the kids more than they were supposed to scare us.
Each to their own, but we treat it as a bit of fun - and if you take part in it, it makes it more fun.
brue replied on 31/10/2016 12:58
Kennine replied on 31/10/2016 14:07
Posted on 31/10/2016 14:07
Strange ----Parents spend all year teaching children to be wary of strangers especially those who give kids money or sweets -------. Then at halloween they send them out on the streets, in the dark to encourage strangers to give their kids money and sweets.
Strange.
