I almost forgot: we saw two oddly costumed people outside a flower shop apparently using halloween as an excuse for using a sheer lace bunny suit and a pink wig with cockles as a method to get people to buy flowers. We couldn’t quite ascertain this flamboyant person’s gender for certain.Â
Fellow Americans: please proclaim Halloween an American heritage, not to be stolen by foreign countries. You’d do a lot of us a favor.Â
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Not my fault! Hallowe’en used to be a minor children’s holiday, where little kids (anyone over about 11 too embarrassed to do such baby things) dressed up in cute, creative costumes and showed them off to the neighbors, who loved trying to guess who was who and rewarded them with small amounts of candy. We carved jack-o-lanterns out of pumpkins and roasted the seeds, mulled cider, and ate doughnuts and apples. Now first graders are dressing up as slashers and cocktail waitresses, and the adults and commercial markets have taken over. And apparently this is what we’re exporting.
I hadn’t realized, until Hallowe’en made an appearance in the Harry Potter stories, that other countries have taken an interest in the holiday. It was only about 20 years ago that a friend from England asked, “What is this weird American custom, “Hallowe’en”? We have no such thing in England.
I never did figure out why the Harry Potter books feature Hallowe’en but don’t even mention Guy Fawkes Day. Has England changed that much?
Me, I prefer All Saint’s Day, myself. I do still love carving pumpkins and drinking hot mulled cider, though.
All Saints’ Day is today, right? How do you celebrate that?
I have the suspicion that perhaps the movie “Halloween” started some of the recent developments. Clueless about England, I remember that the first entity to import Halloween into Switzerland that I was aware of was McDonald’s, offering some odd promotions. Then a year or two later Migros was selling chocolate with pumpkin seed, overestimating its appeal, because there was still a lot left to go at half price after Halloween. Tasting it explained why.
All Saint’s Day is tomorrow, November 1. Though with you posting from all over the world, it’s hard to know what day you mean when you say “today.” 🙂 Hallowe’en, of course, is “All Hallows Eve,” hence the connection between the two. I’m not sure I’ve ever been to a church service on the actual day, but on the nearest Sunday I’ve almost always sung “For All the Saints” (SINE NOMINE tune). And of course it’s a great day for remembrance of departed loved ones.
Sometimes on the nearest Sunday I’ve also sung “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” in honor of Reformation Day, which is October 31st, thanks to Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, and has nothing at all to do with Hallowe’en. On very rare occasions I even get to sing it with a “Genevan jig” feel that I’m told Luther would have approved of, instead of the stodgy version most churches use. 🙂
Chocolate with pumpkin seed? Well, it was worth a try. After all, people like chocolate with almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, and many odder things.
I did mean November 1, but apparently the time stamp is Swiss time, and I’m in Japan.
I guess I missed the opportunity for an All Saints’ hymn on Sunday. At least the opening Psalm was from the lectionary. It’s a little tough trying to juggle harvest thanksgiving, Reformation Sunday, and All Saints’ in one service. Harvest was more obvious and won out.
I think All Saints’ Sunday is November 4th, so you didn’t miss it.