10.31.07

Halloween

Posted in Family & Friends, London at 9.30 pm by Caitlin

www.flickr.com Niltiac1′s Halloween 2007 photoset

Happy Halloween! Tonight is the actual night, though all the activity seems to be on the weekend either side. I did see one lone trick-or-treater out with her mother earlier in the evening but no one has come knocking at our door so the silver chocolate coins are sitting in the cupboard looking rather forlorn. (They had run out of gold coins at the store, so I had to make do with silver ones. They were the same price and it’s bound to be the same rubbish chocolate underneath but I feel slightly cheated, as if they are somehow less valuable).

As a child I remember going trick-or-treating in groups of children without adult supervision. We didn’t go when we were really small but I went from the age of eight sometimes with younger kids in tow, like my cousin Kim. Halloween wasn’t massive in Sydney in the 1980s so a lot of people weren’t really expecting us. Despite this we always managed a good haul of yummy stuff to eat – it’s amazing how many people still had sweets or biscuits in the house as a matter of course. I remember one year there were just four of us and only my friend Jenny and I wanted to try a particular house – we were so delighted when they gave us a little clown doll each and of course, the other two were very jealous.

Halloween is often billed as an American festival but it isn’t really. All Hallow’s Eve is a pagan festival that was celebrated in Britain until relatively recently but more or less fell out favour, and is now coming back via our trans-Atlantic cousins. Also the tradition of trick or treating has a lot in common with the tradition of dressing up the Guy and wheeling him around in a barrow asking for pennies on the day before Guy Fawkes Night.

Guy Fawkes Night is a great festival, involving bonfire parties and firework displays. My aunt in Cardiff holds a bonfire party for Guy Fawkes Night every year – unfortunately I can’t go this year as it’s on a Sunday night and I need to work in London the next day.

I love Halloween but I hope it doesn’t replace Guy Fawkes Night. The retailers have figured out they can sell more junk food and cheap costumes for Halloween so it’s got more of a marketing backing and everyone seems to be going for Halloween in a big way this year. I’ve been invited to three different parties (two were last Saturday and I only made one and the third is our neighbour’s party this coming Saturday), there are Jack-O-Lanterns on the window ledges of the house opposite, and the shops seem to be full of Halloween stuff (at least it delays the onset of Christmas). However, I think it’s a bit of a temporary fad and the bonfire night tradition will remain strong. Ultimately it will be a mix of both. It’s just a shame they are only five days apart as it means they tend to merge together.

Last week’s party was at the house of my friend Liz, who I used to work with in Australia. She’s been over here for a year and working at The Times but I’ve managed to miss seeing her until now. It was a great night. I knew Liz and Sophie, another colleague, and I met lots of other nice and interesting people. I went as a Dark Angel, my boyfriend as a skeleton in a pin-stripe suit, our two hostesses were also skeletons, and we also had witches, fairies, pumpkins, zombie doctors, and euthanasia doctor Harold Shipman. The best costume was a close run between a guy dressed as Wolverine in the original comic book outfit and Sophie as Amy Winehouse – but I think the Amy costume won. My boyfriend took along his Tarot cards and did some readings, and there was also dancing and much eating, drinking and merriment.

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