...is what I'd be saying if I was American.
As I'm an Aussie, Halloween usually slips by without me even noticing it.
We just don't do Halloween here.
While pretty much every other aspect of our culture is Americanised, trick-or-treaters we ain't.
The only American tradition more foreign to me is Thanksgiving. At least I understand the Halloween concept. All I know about Thanksgiving is that it involves turkeys and cranberry sauce... and maybe pilgrims. Does it involve pilgrims?
When I was a wee lassie* my friends and I made a couple of half-arsed attempts at trick-or-treating. If we bothered to dress up at all, it wasn't particularly inspired. I seem to remember wetting a green m-and-m and using it like a lipstick, which turned us into 'witches'. When we trawled the Mont Albert streets door-knocking, every single house we visited was unaware it was Halloween. So we scored:
a) nothing
b) muesli bars, or
c) money!
The latter was pretty sweet. Gold coins go a long way when you're eleven.
This year, the only indication I've had that All Hallows Eve is upon up is a small, hastily-put-together stand in my local supermarket with some masks and fake teeth. It was far outshadowed by the Christmas display anyway. Which is so necessary in October.
The only reason I remembered it was Halloween today is because there was a lady on my morning tram dressed entirely in black wearing an enormous black witches hat. I have to admire her dedication to the cause. If I had been off to an early-morning Halloween party(?) I think I would have carried my hat with me, not worn it.
That said, she did get off at the Royal Children's Hospital stop, so perhaps her everyday job is to dress up as a witch and scare the little kiddies! At least that's what I thought in my early morning daze.**
Anyhoo, here's a picture of Jake Gyllenhaal in my favourite movie-featuring-a-Halloween-scene Donnie Darko. (Second favourite: Meet Me In St. Louis.) You can come to my 'Halloween party' anytime, Jakey.
*And Scottish, apparently!
** OK, so it was 10am. But I'm a full-time student in the middle of the exam period. 10am is like the middle of the night to me.
15 comments:
Welcome back you! Your last post was in July - I doubt back then you thought your next one would be about Halloween. :)
Thanks suze! It's good to be home.
Facebook's been my internet communication of choice of late, but blogging will always be my true love.
Floozies like MySpace and Facebook may seduce me away from time to time, but MySpace and Facebook are like easter egg chocolate, while blogging is like Lindt dark chocolate with 70% cocoa. There's just no comparison.
Who are you, again?
:P
Yeah yeah, point taken. :)
Susanne, if nothing else, you make me feel that little bit better about my frequency of blogging :)
Believe it or not, the rural poms have a bit of a Halloween tradition, but a bit more celtic. As kids, we'd have bonfires, and eat outside normally. Not *quite* like the US version.
Boysenberry - Oh, the 'rural pom' tradition sounds lovely!
Halloween wouldn't work in the Southern hemisphere because it's marking the start of winter. Aussie Halloween would have to be in April - but I think your country is too warm and sunny for witches.
Australia has at least one witch that I can think of. Her name is Fiona Horne and she is a blonde, tanned witch.
I guess our witches are like our Christmases. Same basic concept, but skewed.
Rather than black haired witches with long noses our witches are blonde and pretty, and rather than white Christamases with snowmen and mulled wine we have Christmases with cold beer, salads and cricket in the backyard.
Hey you! I've missed you, but glad you're back
People over here think I'm weird cos I celebrate Halloween, but the nearest religion I believe in is wicca - the forces of nature, as it's the one I can see.
Although I also celebrate Thanksgiving. I know it's an American tradition, but I just use it as an excuse to spend a day thinking about the things I'm thankful for. It's just like a reminder
Thanks sweetheart! Hope you're well.
I like your perspective on holidays. It sounds like you use them in a way that relates to you rather than celebrating them for the sake of it.
Lol,
I LOVE this post about Halloween, lol, made me laugh while I procrastinate studying for a midterm tomorrow, gah.
Speaking of which, Halloween rocks... Its just soo much fun to dress up as someone you aren't and act all weird, and the streets are FULL of people in costumes. I dunno, its fun.
As for Tahnksgiving, its pretty much an excuse to eat way too much Turkey, Stuffing (bread, cranberries and bits cooked inside the bird, also known as heaven), potatoes, and cranberry sauce.
Its got some sort of history with being thankful for the harvest and such... meh, I'm not a history major.
Matt- Ha! Blogging and reading blogs is the best procrastination evah.
Having a big Halloween does sound fun. I'll have to spend one in the US of A sometime.
Locally, the most interesting Halloween news of note was that there was a Zombie shuffle through central Melbourne! I hope they didn't scare the little kiddies too much.
I love Halloween because it's the one day in America where you have a natural leg-up if your weird.
And yes there were Pilgrims. And they killed the Indians who helped them to survive their first Winter as soon as the meal settled pretty much.
I had a similar trick or treating experience which meant coming home with a whole packet of Tim Tams. Good times, must do that again.
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Chenna
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