It's the middle of spring, and it's still quite cold here—especially at night. Also, it hasn't stopped raining in days. At one point over the weekend, it died down to a faint mist, and I took the opportunity to walk over to the shops. On the way, I passed a mob of little kids in raincoats, splashing around in the puddles. I'm glad somebody's enjoying it.
As much as I dislike the fact that Halloween has become a thing over here, I do have to admit that it's the right weather for it. Cold and gloomy. That's why I was surprised to find that my local supermarket didn't have any Halloween stuff up. This year, they've apparently decided to skip Spooktober, and go straight into Christmas mode. That's right—the tinsel was up, and the first thing you came across when you walked through the door was a big table full of Chrissy puds.
I wonder if I'll live long enough to see the day when they start putting the decorations up in August.
Anyway, how's things where you are? Seems like it's been ages since I talked to youse mob.
15 comments :
I'm especially keen to hear about what the Squibs/Squiblings are doing for Halloween (costumes, parties, whatever). I may not like having Halloween here in Oz, but that doesn't mean I have to begrudge other countries for having it.
I too am against Yank traditions, but oh boy do I love seeing the kidlets in their outfits. If we are home, we put the bunting out and they come and get the chocolates etc. Last time, we looked to be running out of goodies so I put fruit in the bowl and the next lot of kids cleaned us out of it, so I'll be buying fruit again this year. I've been wondering though, what's acceptable in that regard, because with lollies, they have to be individually packaged, so they can see they haven't been tampered with (some scare a while back apparently). Especially after the strawberry thing this year. Anyway, I bought some super expensive pencil toppers (Marvel/DC characters - NO princesses!) and some lollies when they first appeared, just have to get a few more things and figure out the fruit problem closer to the day.
I went to visit my Mum in QLD - it rained almost the whole time I was there, and then turned warm and humid, which was equally unpleasant. Can't bitch about the rain though, they aren't on town water and hadn't had any rain for two months, so we were happy, I guess. I have a sore knee and Mum wouldn't let me do anything - I was fussed over almost the whole time, until I started just doing things without permission. Mind you, I do agree that my knee is now 400% better, mum is 70 and not 100% well (though for a 50year smoker, she's doing pretty well), I did feel guilty until I just started insisting on doing stuff and just letting her focus on the things she would normally be doing anyway to keep her house going.
I feel like we've had this conversation before but anyway(from Wiki):
'In North America, trick-or-treating has been a Halloween tradition since the late 1920s. In Britain and Ireland the tradition of going house-to-house collecting food at Halloween goes back at least as far as the 16th century, as had the tradition of people wearing costumes at Halloween.'
In Scotland, trick-or-treating is called guising and someone in our street actually has apple 'dooking' for the kids. So anyway, my mum always used to moan about how awful it is because it's American and I bet her parents said that too. 1. It's not just American and 2. So what if it was? I don't hear anyone saying, I'm not using dental floss (etc) cos Americans invented it!
LittleSquib hasn't got any plans yet (15 and playing it cool). Last year she just went as the kid from 'It' in a yellow raincoat with a red helium balloon so that was easy peasy
Suze, I'm the last person you want to ask about Halloween protocols, but yes, I imagine people will be more wary of the fruit this year.
My folks also continue to fuss over their kids/grandkids. I swing between wishing they'd take things easier and wondering if it's helping to keep them fit and active.
Squib, I don't reject Halloween because of a dislike for all things American, but because it's not an Australian tradition. I'd feel the same way if we suddenly started aping Mexico's day of the dead, or Japan's penis festival.
My goodness, LittleSquib is 15 already! I can't believe how time flies. Next thing, she'll be going to uni and moving out. I have to admit to being a little sad that I won't get to hear about any more ridiculously creative costumes or theme parties. How old was she when you did the big Narnia birthday extravaganza?
Squib, I don't reject Halloween because of a dislike for all things American, but because it's not an Australian tradition. I'd feel the same way if we suddenly started aping Mexico's day of the dead, or Japan's penis festival.
I don't really get that. Jesus is not really Australian, is he. Also, things change. If they didn't, we'd still be celebrating 'Pioneer Day' where we all pay homage to white 'pioneers'.
She was 7 for Narnia. She's decided to be a crow for Halloween so we're going to make a papier-mache mask and I'm going to sew some feathers made of card to fabric wings
She was 7 for Narnia.
That was 8 year ago!? Where has the last 8 years of my life gone?
So, is the crow thing some sort of specific pop-culture reference, or is it just a generic "spooky" thing?
Jesus is not really Australian, is he.
If Christmas and Easter were new things that had never been celebrated here before, and people suddenly started trying to import them from Europe (or wherever), then I would be against them too. Also, if Christianity wasn't a thing here, and people suddenly decided to start importing it, I would be against that too.
Also, things change.
Yes, they do. I'm not in favour of all change and I'm not against all change. It's a case-by-case thing. And if any old celebration should come back, it should definitely be cracker night.
I dunno about cracker night. I did Territory Day in NT in 1993 and one of the people I was with (a smart man who'd been living there for a couple of years and should have known better) set one off and when it did nothing was leaning over it trying to figure it out when I screamed at him to move and it went off in his face. He lost his eyebrows and some of his hair, he would have lost his sight if I hadn't yelled at him to move when I did.
Even though setting off crackers is heaps of fun, that one incident (and another where I burned right across the palm of my hand with a sparkler) has really put me off public pyrotechnics.
Think of it as a form of Darwinism, Suze. If you lose a hand or an eye, that particular body part obviously wasn't fit enough to make the cut.
Yeah well it was a pretty stupid thing to do and one we are always warned about.
Being in Holland on New Year's Eve put me off crackers for good. It was INSANE
Bit over the top were they, Squib? How bad was it? Also, did you see any Black Petes while you were there?
I stayed inside - all I could see was smoke. There were a gazillion crackers going off in all directions. The spent casings were ankle-deep on the streets
Every time I hear illegal fireworks going off here, I get so angry. There's just too much risk of fire in this country.
Actually, the fire-hazard argument is probably the best one there is for not bringing cracker night back.
Shame though.
I'll let you do it, as long as you're in the middle of the Tropics in the wet season and on a beach that's more than 100m wide, so a stray cracker can't cause a fire. ;)
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