Hallowe'en

[ailbhe]

I realised this evening that for me, Hallowe'en is a festival of giving. It's just before my birthday (Happy Birthday Becky!) and I love it to bits.

I love children getting dressed up in costumes - one boy this evening was keen to point out he'd dyed his hair and I had to turn on another light to see it - and the way they turn and preen and beam and roar and display when admired. I love giving them sweets and satsumas and nuts. I love putting a candle (some years a skull candle, some years a jack o'lantern) in the window so that they know they are welcome to knock.

I love having lots of children (10 walking guests, 1 pre-walking, and my own 2 today) milling around my house on a carpet of popcorn, crisps and monkey-nut shells. I love wet hair and sleeves from bobbing for apples.

I love the dressing up - not disguising yet, for these little children, they want to be known as who they are - and the way masks and costumes come off when they get in the way of play.

I love having parties where I can prepare all the food the day before so there's only normal housework to do on the day of the party.

And of course I love that tomorrow is my birthday, the thirty-first anniversary of the day my mother had a baby on her birthday. I really love the years when we spend that day together.

Comments

[erik]

A candle, eh? Where I live, the universal "Trick-or-treaters welcome here" signal is the front porch light.
I do have a 15kV Jacob's ladder in the window, though.

[ailbhe]

No-one has a front porch and very few people have a front door light. There's no universal symbol because it's not a south of England tradition, though it's fairly common.

[erik]

Well, you have a similar tradition in 5 days, though, right? I mean, no costumes, but an effigy and children begging coppers for him, which always struck me as vaguely trick-or-treat like.

[ailbhe]

I think that's gone; I've been in the UK 10 years now and never seen a "penny for the guy" group. But they do still burn effigies on bonfires. It's not something I'm keen on.

[sfred]

I'm not keen on it either, but "penny for the guy" is still going strong in Yorkshire!