Last year in Singapore, I discovered the delights of Halloween. It was the first time in my entire life that I was part of a family that carved a pumpkin! We lit candles so the faces glowed, enjoying the very balmy evening. Earlier in the week, we visited the famous night zoo, where a scary root veg manifested from a pretend veggie patch to scare us all (okay, just me) with a ‘hooo, hoo, hoo.’
It was fun.
As a member of Livejournal, I’ve chatted with a few friends from the US over the past five years. They were surprised about my attitude to Halloween, which pretty much amounted to huh? before our trip to Asia coincided with the even last year.
Australians don’t really do Halloween. We have known it exists forever, the history behind it, the link it has to All Saints Day or Reformation Day, but we don’t celebrate it. I remember when I first lived in this house, a couple of kids came round just before dusk one Halloween saying ‘trick or treat’, wanting stuff, and there was a call from someone in the neighbourhood to ‘turn the sprinklers on them!’
That wasn’t Mac or I, of course.
In fact, if you ‘Tricked or Treated’ when we were kids, you’d parents would probably have been called by the neighbourhood sticky-beak and told that you were watching too much American television. That you should be out in the vacant block next door, climbing trees, finding redback spiders, stubbing your toes in your thongs, playing hopscotch or elastics or jacks or footy.
Stone the bloody crows, Nora! None of this ‘Trick or Treating’, ffs. Strewth!
The world is a much smaller place now. Australia is amazingly multi-cultural and the majority are accepting (sometimes, welcoming) of international traditions and celebrations. The kids have seen the concept of ‘trick or treat’ on the internet, in film, on TV, and some of our shops stock Halloween-styled paraphernalia.
Sharing LiveJournal, Facebook and the blogging world with people from Canada, the US and UK has opened my eyes to the amazing fun to be had on such an eve. Amy from Never-True Tales is a huge aficionado of all things Halloween and most years she posts these wonderful things, smells, images, stories, songs, costume about the ‘holiday’. You can really feel the fondness she and her family (and other LJ friends) have for this time of year. One day, perhaps we will be in the US in October to bring a little bit of Australiana to Halloween — ‘Pumpkins with friggin’ faces? Knocking on doors dressed up like fruitcakes? You’ve gotta be bloody jokin’, mate!’
Halloween 2010 is a little spark of excitement at our house, but we have to start somewhere. We have a special menu planned for tomorrow night. We went to a library story-telling after close last night (which was AWESOME, because while the kids were read scary stories, I got to walk around the deserted library shelves all to MYSELF! I *heart* this part of Halloween). We will watch the original Disney ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ from 1958 on Sunday night.
But trick or treating? Well it isn’t quite cricket down here yet.
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Happy Halloween Rosie
Nice thoughts, I think your attitude is a bit better than mine had been, because all I saw it as, was Australia becoming America like many other things (remember how no one had heard of the word ‘butt’ here before Bart Simpson?) But I’m over that now and can have a laugh when I see these littlies get dressed up and excited. Maybe I was bah-humbug because I never got to do Halloween. Anyway, I just went out with the dog and saw a dead girl lying in the middle of the court, then a pack of goblins/fairies/grim reapers and another pack of teen girls being some sort of lolita/slutty Alice. Er, I hope they scored?
Have a nice one, Rosie
WE have Monday and Tuesday off to celebrate the cup, but I agree with your opinion re wet weather and the racing
Maybe I was bah-humbug because I never got to do Halloween.
Maybe, hon, but also the Americanization of our country (not that I dislike America, just that sometimes we tend to try and do everything they are doing rather than be true to our culture) Probably we were/are both a bit bah humbug due to these factors.
It’s kinda fun, but. Or is that butt?
LOL @ the Lolita/Alice/Teens. I hope they get treats rather than (do) tricks.
*hugs* Fangs for the visit, you
Rosie recently posted..The Other C-Word
[...] The Blues Halloween for Hicks [...]
Happy day after halloween, or three days after halloween… oh god, date line! Anyway, yes sometimes I forget that Halloween is a holiday mostly celebrated where I happen to live. I have no idea why its been adopted so well… strongly. But it’s here, it’s not going away. I will say this, it was more fun when I was a kid. I didn’t even know I was going to a halloween party until two days prior this year, so I had NO TIME to come up with a costume. I managed to pull something together and thankfully it wasn’t slutty or a witch, or a slutty witch(slutty and witches seem to be the go to costuming choice up heres). Halloween I really think is for kids, sadly. But by golly gee gosh darnit, someday when I have my own way about things, Halloween parties will be thrown with fun in mind, not just dancing around drunkenly dressed like a slutty witch with a guy dressed like Sherlock Holmes. Yes, they will be themed, there will be activities, there will be games. Honestly, I’ve always wanted to throw a halloween party where everyone has to dress like a figure from literature or a literary character, and yes… lit themed games would be played… Clue anyone?! Hmmm, maybe next year I’ll go as Poe.
LOL @ the slutty witch theme. I can just imagine. In fact, Sarah above mentioned seeing someone down here dressed as a slutty Alice or Lolita. I think there’s a message somewhere, hey?
Rosie recently posted..The Other C-Word