Halloween for people who didn't grow up with it

[SherryDAmore]

My Honey is Australian, and didn't grow up with it. He is a highly regarded professional, and usually level and logically headed -- until it comes to Halloween and then he is Batspit! Since he didn't grow up with it, he turns into a 12 year old at this time of year. Seriously, spiders, skulls, witches; I never ever thought I would turn to him and say, "Do you want to put up this devil bat?"

I noticed that a lot of Brits and Canadians have embraced it, but....why? For the costumes, the panhandling for candy, the general silliness of it?

My gay friends say it is the High Holy days for gay culture, but other than that, I don't get it. It was a dress up/beg candy from stangers night when I was a kid.

What's going on?

 

[CharlieD]

I never got into it. Never cared for it. Never did anything for it. And definitely not about to start now.

 

[GotGarlic]

Advertising works.

 

[Alix]

Halloween isn't American, I think its North American. So we Canadians have done it about as long as you Americans have. I'm not a big fan of the gore and stupidity, but I like seeing the little kids in their costumes.

Brits tend to do Guy Fawkes stuff on the 5th I think.

 

[Rocket_J_Dawg]

I'm the first born Canadian in my family and didn't get introduced to Halloween until I started school. We lived in a European neighborhood of mostly German, Hungarian and Polish immigrants so it wasn't celebrated. Mrs D doesn't understand it either, but she used to love Fasching every year when we lived in Germany. Kind of a mix of Mardi Gras and Halloween celebrated for the week starting on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday.

 

[forty_caliber]

Nothing but the facts...

Halloween - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

.40

 

[Steve Kroll]

It's definitely a kid's holiday, although there are many adults who seem to enjoy it, too. My work has a big Halloween office party, complete with potluck lunch and best costume awards.

Fortunately it isn't mandatory, because I don't get it, either. I haven't really been into Halloween since I was... I dunno... 12 or 13. But then again, I work with a bunch of 30 and 40-somethings who still play video games and read comic books.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I will be in costume on Thursday...haven't quite decided what yet. It's fantasy, make-believe and a blast of fun! I give out candy all year, for the joy of giving and seeing people happy to receive. Halloween is just another day, but with COSTUMES!!!

 

[Gravy Queen]

Interesting to look at the original meaning and the history going back centuries in the UK , as it was All Hallows' Eve celebrating the souls of the dead .

Now ,it's an excuse to dress up , have a bit of fun, get sweets for free, can't see much wrong with that . It's mainly younger children here and I have a delightful gaggle of little witches and skeletons on my doorstep each year, all accompanied by adults , and I have bowls of sweets ready for them .

It has gone bigger no doubt with the dressing up .

 

[Mad Cook]

My Honey is Australian, and didn't grow up with it. He is a highly regarded professional, and usually level and logically headed -- until it comes to Halloween and then he is Batspit! Since he didn't grow up with it, he turns into a 12 year old at this time of year. Seriously, spiders, skulls, witches; I never ever thought I would turn to him and say, "Do you want to put up this devil bat?"

I noticed that a lot of Brits and Canadians have embraced it, but....why? For the costumes, the panhandling for candy, the general silliness of it?

My gay friends say it is the High Holy days for gay culture, but other than that, I don't get it. It was a dress up/beg candy from stangers night when I was a kid.

What's going on?

Whilst Hallowe'en has been a tradition for centuries in the UK, trick or treating has really only taken hold in the UK over the last 20 years or so. It has featured in so many movies from "Meet Me In St Louis" to Charlie Brown via a whole clutch of horror films so I suppose it isn't surprising that American culture has been embraced over here. There are two aspects of it that concern me - one being the trick part which can be quite vicious and an excuse for varying degrees of vandalism -some very serious (a car set on fire, would you believe?) and the other being child safety issues.

When I lived in Hyde we used to get a lot of children at the door. Some were with parents who stood at the gate and kept an eye on proceedings but a large number were toddlers accompanied by older children often no older than 9 or 10 with no apparent adult supervision and who were strangers to the immediate area. (I lived in a row of Victorian terraced houses with just a very small patch of a "garden" in front so you could see up and down the street and everyone knew everyone else.) The object of the game was not sweets/candies. What they wanted was money!

Because I was an old grouch and worried about encouraging unaccompanied children to knock on strangers' doors, I didn't play the game and when the same child had knocked on my door 6 times over 2 nights one year I decided to fight back. I informed him that if he came again I would turn him into a frog. He never came back - and I never had a trick or treat-er or "Penny for the Guy" child at the door again! The word must have got round that I was an old witch!

It will be interesting to see if any T-or-T-ers call tomorrow at the new house. It's Thursday and I usually have the horse fairies looking after Horse so I'll be in. I shall have to get my witch costume out of storage.

 

[Mad Cook]

Nothing but the facts...

Halloween - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

.40

I assume that a post which has "Nothing but the facts" and "Wikipedia" in the same sentence is ironic. :-D

 

[pacanis]

When I was a kid we did not "beg for candy from strangers". We walked around the neighborhood and knew everyone's house we were stopping at. Some invited us in and gave us cider and warm candy apples from the oven. Of course this was years before the first razor blade or pin starting making the news.
Now I wish the holiday was confined to events, schools and parties. Having a bunch of kids walking the streets after dark, even with their parents, just doesn't seem right from a safety standpoint. Not to mention the trouble the older kids cause.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I don't encourage trick or treaters. I'm busy enough at work handing out to all the kids brought into the facility. The residents love it and the kids are safe and warm.

 

[Andy M.]

Our condo complex and the one next door have a lot of town homes in a smaller space than individual homes. We see a lot of little kids from the neighborhood and it's fun. My daughter brings my grandson up to trick or treat so we get to walk around to see the homes decorated.

Not to mention the carloads of kids that are brought in from the poorer neighborhoods in the next town so they can TorT safely.

We buy around 150 mini candy bars or so. When they are gone, we turn off the lights.

It's harmless, fun for grown-ups and children and I get the leftover candy.

 

[Whiskadoodle]

As a kid, I grew up on a farm. We didn't go trick or treating. My parents both taught school in addition to farming. It was our treat the next morning to see what the high schoolers did quiet in the dead of night to get back at their teachers. Like moving the out house to the front porch.

Mistake # 1. I bought candy Yesterday. Looks like I will need to get more Tommorroww. There are no kids who actually live on our block. They just magically appear at my door. I think it is exciting for them to dress up in costumes and do this. Free Candy. Squeals.

 

[Alix]

We give out candy to anyone who dresses up and comes to the door. I don't care how old they are! Dads with little ones get special treatment.

I'm a bit sad that the numbers of kids going around the neighbourhood have diminished in the last few years. Most of the kids go to the mall these days and wander about there.

 

[CharlieD]

We live in a nice neighborhood, kind of closed in development. We have been here since it started 15 years ago. I pretty much new, still know every kid and parent if not by name, then I recognize the face. But last 3-4 years we have these minivans pull in and bunch of kids come out and ran from door to door collecting candy. Very entrepreneurial, but I do not like it. It is not even that mind giving candy, we buy few bags and that is all we give out no matter how many kids show up. I just feel bad that our kids, I mean our neighborhood kids are not going to get any if these visitors are going to collect all.
But I cannot just say to them hey you are not from here, you are not getting candy.

 

[pacanis]

We live in a nice neighborhood, kind of closed in development. We have been here since it started 15 years ago. I pretty much new, still know every kid and parent if not by name, then I recognize the face. But last 3-4 years we have these minivans pull in and bunch of kids come out and ran from door to door collecting candy. Very entrepreneurial, but I do not like it. It is not even that mind giving candy, we buy few bags and that is all we give out no matter how many kids show up. I just feel bad that our kids, I mean our neighborhood kids are not going to get any if these visitors are going to collect all.
But I cannot just say to them hey you are not from here, you are not getting candy.

What my mother used to do, this was when we had moved and I no longer trick or treated, was have two sets of handouts. We did not have a lot of younger kids in that neighborhood, but the ones we did would get something nice and the transplants would get something simple, like one piece of wrapped hard candy. Nothing went to waste as she would buy something she liked for the simple handout, too, probably butterscotch if I recall.

 

[Gravy Queen]

I did actually grow up with it so I am aware of it for much longer than 20 years in the UK , it just got bigger and became more of a dressing up themed night .

Our main activity on Halloween was actually called Duckapple when I was young we always did duck apple , fishing for apples in a bowl of water with your mouth.

 

[taxlady]

I did actually grow up with it so I am aware of it for much longer than 20 years in the UK , it just got bigger and became more of a dressing up themed night .

Our main activity on Halloween was actually called Duckapple when I was young we always did duck apple , fishing for apples in a bowl of water with your mouth.

We call that bobbing for apples.