Hallowe'en

[ailbhe]

I think I'm going to make up a bunch of Trick or Treat flyers and post them through doors on this street, on about 26 October. Each house to get one each of "NO TRICK OR TREAT" or "Trick or Treat welcome" - or something. Something about right to stick in the window or on the door.

I really love Hallowe'en and trick or treating, and I hate hate hate the idea of bothering people who don't want to be bothered.

Suggestions for wording or design welcome.

Comments

[the-changeling.livejournal.com]

Please don't call it 'Trick or Treat'.

Can you please call it by the 'home' word? I know it's only left in some parts of Scotland & Ireland, but the term is 'guising'.

Are guisers welcome, or not!! ;-)

And that's guisers as in 'disguise'. You put on a 'guise'

The other good thing about Guising, as opposed to Trick or Treating, is that Guisers have to _earn_ their reward. Not expect it.

"The sky is blue, the grass is green, please may I have my Halloween?" is the littlest contribution expected, to earn your treats.

But any song, dance, or piece of poetry will do.

But you have to WORK for it!!!! :-)))))

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/guising

http://krisalis.org/weblog/?p=237

[ailbhe]

Not where I come from, it's not. The main tradition was adults in disguise showing up completely silently and being fed and going away again. No-one earned anything. As children we went trick-or-treating and did a trick and got a treat. "Guising" is not an Irish word. "Guising" is a British word for a similar thing, but definitely not for the traditional Samhain thing as done by adults, which was silent, menacing, and involved no earning of any kind.

[the-changeling.livejournal.com]

You did ask for suggestions...

[ailbhe]

"Guising" on the signs instead of something people might understand? Interesting idea...

Edit to add

That came out nasty, sorry, that's not what I intended.

I think that setting up a tradition revival of Guising would be a good idea but it would need much more general education and publicity than I can achieve. I think turning trick-or-treat on this street, maybe ten houses or so, from a tedious menace to an enjoyable costumes-and-singing event is all that I'm able to do, given the broad public perception of trick-or-treat here.

[the-changeling.livejournal.com]

I just thought you could put it down on the cards, since you were pre-approving people as such.

Lots of people don't like 'trick or treat' as a concept, as they feel it's some new fangled USAn thing. Exlaining it's also 'old fashioned' might help.

Or not. :-)

[buzzy-bee.livejournal.com]

Guisings not really local to Reading though as it never really reached further than the very far north of England (and its never been common in Ireland apart from amongst Scottish immigrants in the North) so its really no different from the equally "foreign" term trick or treat. Its just imported from somewhere a bit nearer.