The end of the year brings feasts and festivals around the world.
For me as a kid Halloween was not a big deal. It wasn't in the UK in the Sixties I don't think. That's changed now. It's got much bigger here, the prelude to Christmas.
Bonfire Night on November the 5th was much more important in the Sixties here. It was a big night for us kids, fireworks, pie and peas, bonfire toffee, toffee apples, apple dunking and best of all, sparklers.
Bonfire Night has diminished. Halloween has taken its place in the UK. That's my observation. Fireworks are a lot harder to sell kids than plastic skeletons these days.
Christmas is in the shops now too. I went to a garden centre last Sunday and the Halloween display merged into the Christmas grotto! Zombies and elves slugging it out for our attention!
What are the feasts and festivals the next couple of months in your neck of the woods? Has Halloween got bigger or was it always big?
Well, here in the US, Halloween has been big since before I was born.
ReplyDeleteThe night before Halloween used to be "Mischief Night" to go around and run toilet paper up in people's trees and stuff. I Never appreciated that, because the next night we'd be out begging for candy from the people who'd been pranked.
I know some folks from Australia and the UK who didn't' care for the fact that American Halloween has spread to their countries, but, at least when we were kids it was all in fun and not so commercialized like it is today.
Next month over here is Thanksgiving. It's a bit sad, because my wife and I live a long ways from our families. But, she is a wonderful cook, so that makes up for much. Where I work, they still have the tradition of giving away turkeys to the employees. That's always nice.
As to Christmas, well, I'm not so crazy about the fact that the merchants begin pushing for it in Summertime! It just seems wrong to have Christmas displays up before Thanksgiving. And now they're going up before Halloween!
It just seems to diminish the whole thing.
One thing I do find kind of odd, but it's more of a societal thing:
Halloween used to be for kids and the goofy non-conformist crowd.
Now, it feels like it's for everyone.
I guess that's a good thing, but, it does make it feel a little less... fun...?
Not sure if that's the right word, but it used to feel a bit more.... intimate? Non-Conformist? Goofy? :)
Mischief night was around when I was a kid but has disappeared. Health and Safety has shut down most public bonfires, the big one in York has been a light show for several years now. Fireworks are also very expensive these days. Back in the day we'd go to a public display and then set off a few rockets and sparklers when we got home. Halloween is much much bigger now. I also miss Penny for the Guy. Anyone remember that ? When kids would dress a straw figure in old clothes and knock on your door for a few pennies to buy fireworks. Once I remember it was just a kid in a wheelbarrow being pushed around by his mates. Think we gave them 10p for trying it on !
ReplyDeleteI tried it once witj an Action Man, saying Penny for the Small Guy and it worked! Bill
DeleteHalloween has always been my favorite holiday. Of course I loved ghosts and monsters as a kid. Trick or treat was a blast. Mischief Night was something, but it didn't suit my temperament. When I got older Halloween parties were the best! The ladies went a little overboard on the "sexy witch, vampire, well anything really," but as a young man that was fine by me. When I became a parent the fall was great because we'd decorate. First Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas; it all rolled in one after the other. It's funny but as an adult I rarely got trick-or-treaters coming to my door, and I lived all over. As a parent I loved the schools having a Halloween parade, or party (for older years). Being in Los Angeles we have tons of movie people. There are neighborhoods where the kids are thrilled to go from house to house and experience mammoth special effects extravaganzas! Music, sound effects, fog machines, flashing lights, two-story displays, set pieces you can see through the windows, animated characters, and of course folks dressed up and interacting with the crowds. There are almost as many adults as kids wandering around. There are even a few houses you can go inside! Here are a few pics I found: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xStCIGX5qO4/maxresdefault.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d4/60/48/d460487f3e8aef7b1bbb3399980052dc.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a2/33/d7/a233d71edb238d9cff861146b7ad9546.jpg https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/753660/20201031/125606/styles/raw/public/processed_images/IMG_0521.jpeg?width=726
ReplyDeleteOh yes, as mentioned above, Halloween was HUGE in the states in the 60s! Trick or Treat was a big deal, and we went out begging for candy in the neighborhood. I distinctly recall coming home from T&T'ing in the early 1960s with a shopping bag FULL of candy! And was sick for a week eating it all! Also, at this time, Monster Movies, Monster Models, Monster Mash records, all seemed to gather around this time. I cant imagine there's anything like it today, what the world being so creepy and all...
ReplyDeleteI never really thought of it as Halloween, but more Mischief Night.
ReplyDeleteBonfire Night , however was huge.
The 'progging', the access to fireworks, as a child, and above all , the danger, was extremely exciting.
Lighting and throwing Bangers was a right of passage. It showed you were not scared !
In truth, I was quite brave for a short kid, and gained much cudos with harder, bigger, working class guys as as a result.
This meant something, in those days.
Have you noticed how in days gone by we had horror movies with an actual monster, but as we hit the 70s and 80s horror movies became slasher films instead? That's when I stopped calling myself a horror fan.
ReplyDeleteHalloween is getting bigger in Australia, due to the marketing potential of onselling surplus US stock! You can now buy US style Jack O' lantern raw pumpkins in the major supermarkets.
ReplyDeleteThe Broadway shopping centre got in trouble this year for their Halloween display...
More than a meal, more like a massacre!
https://7news.com.au/stories/shopping-centre-slammed-for-halloween-decorations/
In New Zealand, in the 1960s and 1970s, Halloween simply did not exist, as far as I know. It was something you only saw on American TV shows.
ReplyDeleteThen it started to creep in to NZ. The last few years it has been pretty big, but this year there seems to be less around. Some shops have less Halloween stock than they have in the past, others have nothing at all.
I was never in to Halloween, but it does now provide an excuse for some ghostly modelling projects, and spooky articles.
I do not recall bonfire nights and guys in NZ. Just fireworks. Now they are heavily restricted. No single fireworks, only big and expensive boxes. Only on sale for two or three days before 5th November. Strict age limits. All the fun I remember with a few fireworks in the backyard is now gone.
Christmas stock in the shops alongside Halloween. Yes, that too in NZ. Plus we always have Christmas in the summer time - winter here is June-July-August.
Half of Detroit burned on Devil’s Night, it seemed
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