Happy Halloween

[gfwgfw]

Not much else to do

I had an away day to our multi massive super dooper out of town shopeeee

The best seller isles was flooded floor to ceiling with paraphernalia for the, new to me Halloween extravaganza

Clutching my loaf of bread to the fast auto "whatsit"

I was intrigued by the heavily loaded trolleys laden with goodies to celebrate this pagan imported advent - added and abetted money grasping supermarkets

Not intending to be a old **** spoiler

I wish you all a happy and enjoyable

Halloween

But beware if any trick or treat funster come knocking on my door, I am prepared, with a bag a seriously out of date goodies

[GillD46]

I don't like halloween and my 83 year old mum, who lives alone, in a less than affluent area, is terrified. She has had all sorts of egg, flour mix hurled at her doors and windows in the past, so these days sits in her sitting room with no TV or lights on. Sad really.

[jacksparrow]

Hey Giant,

Have you got a batch of keefy's out of date choccies...?

Happy Halloweeen....

[Manoverboard]

It's the time of the year to buy a pumpkin ... not to celebrate but to make soup out of it.

[emjay45]

I don't like halloween and my 83 year old mum, who lives alone, in a less than affluent area, is terrified. She has had all sorts of egg, flour mix hurled at her doors and windows in the past, so these days sits in her sitting room with no TV or lights on. Sad really.

That is awful Gill. My mother is in residential care now, but like your mother when she was still in her house on her own she dreaded 'Trick or Treat'. It's her 94th birthday today and she has always hated it being on Halloween.

[GillD46]

It isn't the little children that are the problem, it's the older teens that expect to be given something and if they are not, retaliate by making a mess and banging on the door on and off all evening.

[Silver_Shiney]

This "trick or treat" nonsense should never have been allowed to start in the first place.

Why on earth are we encouraging children to celebrate death and horror in this way?

[Meg 50]

I have a 'no trick or treat' poster in my window. They are distributed by Saltbox in Stoke.


The whole Halloween thing has got out of hand - it is celebrating evil without including the light aspect represented by All Saints day tomorrow.

And as for trick or treat - it's just an excuse for vandalism

[Silver_Shiney]

I have a 'no trick or treat' poster in my window. They are distributed by Saltbox in Stoke.


The whole Halloween thing has got out of hand - it is celebrating evil without including the light aspect represented by All Saints day tomorrow.

And as for trick or treat - it's just an excuse for vandalism

I was beginning to think I was the only one who thought that.

[Meg 50]

nah, have no fear, you are not alone - despite my avatar!

A few years ago , Halloween fell on a Saturday and I ran a children's fun day on an anti Halloween theme - celebrating the light aspects - no ghosts and ghouls allowed, though we did play some of the traditional games like apple bobbing

with the help of this book:
http://www.chpublishing.co.uk/books/978 ... -halloween


I was even allowed the editorial slot in the Parish magazine to explain it all!

[Delboy]

We certainly have got a few Victor Meldrew's on here.

I think it's just a bit of fun, our grandchildren with some of their friends, will be out tonight all dressed up and faces painted, knocking on friends and probably our door. We usually have a lighted pumpkin in the window, but have not bothered this year .

We also have a bag of treats ready for any callers, have never had any problems with callers in our cul-de-sac over the years.

I think some of the costumes and the make up are amazing, I notice some of the larger shops have whole areas set up with costumes, one has a grotto like they have at Christmas with halloween items to purchase.

I know of one top restaurant in this area tonight is fully booked, and you had to pay to get a table. They have a mystery Halloween night. The restaurant is on the edge of a village green, and as part of the theme night, they have paid for actors to dress up, as ghosts and ghouls erc, who will walk across the green towards the candle lit restaurant, what will happen during the rest of the evening, I am not sure, other than it will be a fun night.
For us I think this is the whole essence of the night, it's a fun night for the youngsters, and we try to enter into the spirit of it with them. A bungalow next door but one from us, has all its front windows decorated, the women is from Canada.

Our daughter and two of our Grandchildren plus a friend, have just been round all dressed up and faces painted, they look great, all had a large bag of sweets they had collected, they said all the houses they visited entered into the spirit of it. Other than them we have had no other visitors so far.

What does suprise this year, is that we are so near to November 5th, and I have not heard a single firework yet , normally we have loads prior to the night.

[Kendhni]

Been up and down like a yo-yo tonight but the kids have been great ... The fun bit came when a couple of kids said 'trick or treat' and i asked for a card trick ... This totally confused them.

[Silver_Shiney]

There are a lot of "light" parties happening these days. I've got no problem with kids having good clean fun, but the way it is being done today is not it.

[Holiday Planner]

nah, have no fear, you are not alone - despite my avatar!

A few years ago , Halloween fell on a Saturday and I ran a children's fun day on an anti Halloween theme - celebrating the light aspects - no ghosts and ghouls allowed, though we did play some of the traditional games like apple bobbing

with the help of this book:
http://www.chpublishing.co.uk/books/978 ... -halloween


I was even allowed the editorial slot in the Parish magazine to explain it all!

Meg, I too have run fun days celebrating light as an alternative to Haloween. A few years ago we had an American minister on exchange working with our group of Methodist Churches. When he came to the fun day he couldn't understand why we had a problem with Halloween, but was absolutely horrified by our description of Bonfire night! His words went along the lines of : "So you build an efigy of a real person and burn it?"
I avoid celebrating Halloween myself. The Museum where I work had a big event last Saturday .. I confined myself to the kitchen cooking for the volunteer stewards. However, tonight there is a big basket of sweets by the front door, and when some children came knocking earlier I admired their costumes. If teenagers come round later this evening I'll offer them sweets, but shall pretend they look normal ... I taught many of them at Primary school, and it always annoys them when I recognise them under their disguises

[Delboy]

Well our Daughter and 3 young girls were out tonight having some good clean fun, and judging by how many goodies they collected, there were a lot of people who also joined in the fun.

When Halloween first took off in this country, yes it was a lot of the older children who saw an opportunity to cause a bit of trouble. Not that we have ever had trouble, as we have always put a lighted pumpkin in the window, and always have a bag of goodies available for any callers.

Nowadays it's many of those children in primary or junior school who take part, the older children no longer seem that interested, if they are like my 14 year old grandson, he would rather be at home on his computer.

[Felix2]

I am a little confused by the term Celebrate Halloween. I am not sure what we are supposed to celebrate.

I find it sad that even little babies are being clothed in Halloween garb. People seem willing to slavishly follow a growing trend and not understand why they are doing it.

[Delboy]

I have just googled Halloween, and it has a tradition in Britain going back thousands of years

Halloween is always celebrated on 31 October.

Halloween is one of the oldest celebrations in the world, dating back over 2000 years to the time of the Celts who lived in Britain

Halloween is also know by other names:

All Hallows Eve
Samhain
All Hallowtide
The Feast of the Dead
The Day of the Dead

Halloween in Welsh is 'Nos Calan Gaeaf'.

Halloween is correctly spelt as Hallowe’en.

When Christianity came to England and the rest of Europe, 1 November became All Saints Day - a day dedicated to all those saints who didn't have a special day of their own. They performed a mass called 'All hallows mass' and the night before became known as All Hallows E'en and eventually Hallowe’en or Halloween.

When the Romans conquered England, they merged Samhain with their own festivals, a harvest festival called Poloma, and a celebration for the dead called Feralia.

In Mexico, they celebrate El Dia de los Muertos or the Day of the Dead starting the evening of October 31.

It is thought that the colours orange and black became Halloween colours because orange is associated with harvests (Halloween marks the end of harvest) and black is associated with death.

Black cats were originally believed to protect witches' powers from negative forces.

A pumpkin is really a squash, and comes from the same family as the cucumber.

About 99% of pumpkins sold are used as Jack O' Lanterns at Halloween.

The biggest pumpkin in the world tipped the scales at a whopping 1,446 pounds. This gigantic gourd was weighed in October 2004 at a pumpkin festival in Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada.

The record for the fastest pumpkin carver in the world is Jerry Ayers of Baltimore, Ohio. He carved a pumpkin in just 37 seconds!

The very first jack o' lantern was made out of hollowed out turnips.

Ringing a bell scares evil spirits away.

If you see a spider on this night, it could be the spirit of a dead loved one who is watching you.

To meet a witch, put your clothes on inside out and walk backwards on Halloween night.

Top Tips for Halloween

If your pumpkin lantern shrivels up, you can restore it by soaking it overnight in water to re hydrate it.


http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent. ... oween.html

[Stephen]

More money than sense some people,

We don't open the door to beggars, not that we get any callers.

[Frank Manning]

None here yesterday evening, which was just as well because Sue wouldn't let me buy any sweets for them in case we ate them ourselves. A few years ago we had a gaggle of lovely little children round, and they didn't really understand the significance of it, consequently they were great fun. It is the students and their aggressive demands and threats which I dont like.

Unfortunately it has become a major marketing exercise for the shops.

I dooo not believe it!!

[Onelife]

I was out for most of the day yesterday but arrived home to find our daughter had decorated our front window with pumpkin x2, dangly spiders, and candles and at my request a picture of Stephen as I thought this would be enough to deter any would be beggars from the front door.

Alas they kept coming and I ended getting it the neck for only buying one bag of sweets.

All of the kids had gone to a lot of effort getting themselves made up and all were very polite...just as Mr & Mrs Halloween would have wanted it

[Stephen]

I assume a cheque for a substantial amount is in the post for photo advertising rights Onelife.

[Onelife]

There is indeed Stephen but there’ll only enough to give the little beggars a penny for the GUY

Happy Bonfire night

[Romig1]

There seems to be two waves of Trick or Treaters round these parts.
Firstly , at around 6pm you get the little kids (with their parents).
Later, you get the teenagers - with some of the girls dressed in all sorts of undress...I do wonder if their parents know what they look like?

[qbman1]

Later, you get the teenagers - with some of the girls dressed in all sorts of undress...I do wonder if their parents know what they look like?

Any photos, R.....?!?!

Seriously, though, I question whether many of the parents even care let alone have the balls to do anything about it

[Onelife]

Hi Romig,

Last year we had several groups of teenagers come round and I have to say some of their makeup and outfits were brilliant. On the down side I did feel a little awkward presenting them with a sweet so perhaps it is a thing that should be kept for the little ones.

Regards

Keith