Tonight in Yorkshire its Mischief Night or Mizzy Night. Its the night before Bonfire Night and another 'festival' that has grown in popularity among the young.
Unlike Halloween, which still has sweets and candy at its darkling heart, Mischief Night has no such honeyed intentions. It is purely malevolent and a pain in the backside.
The main form of mischief is what's known as egging i.e. throwing eggs against houses' windows. Less kind souls upgrade the ammo to stones and even bricks.
Yes it's like The Purge light tonight but luckily not everyone is in the eggers' sights.
The fact that youths are doing this reminds me of more pagan times when the Lord of Misrule orchestrated the trouncing of the adult world for a day. There is even a whiff of something much older too, the wild abandon of Saturnalia perhaps.
Even the movies have picked up on it. In the Crow Fun Boy and the gang causes mayhem on Devil's Night and there is even a film entitled Mischief Night set in Leeds up the road from 2006.
I would be interested to know if you have this unpleasant 'tradition' in your neck of the woods.
Hope it was uneventful where you are, Woodsy! I'm not aware of any traditions like this in the Midlands. Though it's a wonder it hasn't caught on here as well. I'd imagine that in some places it can be pretty stressful for the poor soul who don't fit in with the locals. Kinda like a witch hunt with eggs and flour, or worse. Give me the fun of Halloween with its sweets, treats, pumpkins, parties and monster movies, any day :)
ReplyDeleteI hear ya Tone. I was heartened by reading about Angels Night, the City of Detroit's response to the extensive arson seen on Devils Night during the 90's. I was amazed to see it goes back to 1790 in the UK according to Wiki. Smashing pumpkins is another activity. Mizzy or Miggy Night is a problem in Yorkshire and Merseyside amongst other places http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/just-wanton-destruction-violence-echo-12118886
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