It’s Hallowe’en. In the local Tesco supermarket one of the shelf-stackers was so horrifically and realistically made up that he almost gave me a heart attack. He looked as though he had been in a car accident or a dreadful knife fight! The older and more sedate cashiers all seemed to have been provided with an alternative uniform for today, festooned with bright orange pumpkins.
My transport timing was immaculate today: a bus to Greenfield at 1.00 and a very short wait for the 2.00 bus home. On my way home I saw a young lady with a very elegant Hallowe’en costume do a superb run to catch the bus.
I’m currently reading “Animal Dreams” by Barbara Kingsolver, set in an invented small town in Arizona. I’ve just reached Hallowe’en there. The hispanic residents let their children go Trick or Treating on Hallowe’en, go to mass on All Saints’ Day, and go to the cemetery on All Souls’ Day (November 2nd) to tend the graves of their families’ dear departed and include them in a bit of a celebration.
Our Granddaughter Number Four and Grandson Number Two are going Trick or Treating with some small friends, accompanied I assume by a responsible adult.
Granddaughter Number One has decorated her living room window appropriately.
She has the day off work so that she and her housemate, in matching hand-knitted Hallowe’en socks,
can indulge in Hallowe’en activities such as pumpkin carving. This will also lead to pumpkin-based recipes.
Some people have been getting agitated about Hallowe’en being an “ungodly American import”. Others have been getting equally agitated about this not being the case at all, that in fact the Hallowe’en tradition was exported from the UK, probably by Scottish emigrants, to the USA. Those purists insist that rather than carving pumpkins (definitely an American thing) we should carve turnip lanterns. Such people, posting photos on Facebook, are then criticised for photographing swedes instead of turnips! I remember our local church organising hotpot suppers for Hallowe’en, the church hall decorated with turnip lanterns. Nobody dressed up, but we did go “bobbing for apples”, a curious activity that involved trying to get an apple from a huge bowl of water using only your teeth! Here’s a link to an article about old British Hallowe’en traditions.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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