View Full Version : How do you feel about Halloween?
I don't mind Halloween parties but always hated guising as a kid. (its not trick or treating) Having to go through the humiliation of a party piece for someone I barely new, was awful. Also not keen on taking my kids out guising as it reminds me of what I went through as a child.
I do not mind kids coming to the door...I am not that much of a party pooper. I do find that people up here are always keen to dress up so Halloween and Caithness seem to go hand in hand.
Anyone else have feelings about Halloween good or bad...
My cynical self is coming to the fore here! As usual, the commercial establishments have taken over yet another traditional kid's date in our lives. No longer is it fun to dress up in old clothes and wear a false face just for disguise, whether it was a ghost or ghoul or anything else scary that actually related to Hallowe'en.
Parents nowadays must spend loadsa money on disguises (guising - get it?) buy expensive outfits and masks as Hallowe'en has metamorphosed into commercial outfits, often bought, not made, alcohol infused parties for grown-ups with elaborate food and drink and noise etc.
I thoroughly approve of the party theme for the young rather than going round the doors because of today's uncertain climate but I do wish grown-ups would stop hi-jacking childrens' festivals, birthday celebrations etc., to their own ends; usually as an excuse to indulge themselves with drink and make a racket.
Hopefully the nurseries, playgroups and schools will fulfill the need of children to have parties of their own, in their own time and with suitable jellies, toffee apples, dooking and so on without drunken adults making it difficult for them to know what is acceptable behaviour. What mixed messages we give our young.....
I know there are many responsible parents out there; this is not aimed at them; this is aimed at venting my spleen and it has now been vented! :lol:
Happy Hallowe'en everyone! [evil] (that's my scary face, you should see my normal one!)
Lavenderblue2
30-Oct-08, 13:18
Torvaig I couldn't agree more - like Christmas this seasonal event has become far too commercial.
Go to the Literature section and read Trinkie's Halloween Memories - what happy times these were.
Happy Halloween to all - these days I don't need to don a scary face - I've got a permanent one!! :lol:
helenwyler
30-Oct-08, 13:24
My cynical self is coming to the fore here! As usual, the commercial establishments have taken over yet another traditional kid's date in our lives.
Happy Hallowe'en everyone! [evil] (that's my scary face, you should see my normal one!)
Och, yer a Grumpy Old Wifie, Torvaig.
Just like me ;) :lol:! Well said!
It's just not been the same since neeps have made way for pumpkins!;)
As a child I thought it was all utterly magical and brought my own kids up with the traditional celebrations - all dressed up for guising in home made outfits from the dressing up box and odd garments from the back of my wardrobe.
I think it still can be sheer magic, if you can avoid the over commercialised aspects, but like Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day....need I go on?[disgust] it's getting harder and harder not to be overwelcomed by all the trash. :(
Sorry but as it is not actually a British holiday and was foundered in america then i think we should not have it, but saying that for my kids sake i make the best of it.Begrudgingly..:confused
anneoctober
30-Oct-08, 13:57
Halloween was brilliant back when I was a youngster! Always crisp , starry autumn nights, giggling huddles of "guisers" trying to suss out who was behind the masks as we skillfully dodged one another. The odd scream when us girls heard a "crunch" behind us and thought e bogeyman wis goin to leap out o e hedge and "get us" :o .
We all went prepared to sing a wee ditty together, or say a poem or crack a cheesey joke to our hosts, who rewarded us well for our efforts........... Those were e days, now we all have a family get together, kids have games & fun ( er yes, me too ..) and they love their Nana's Carniverous Carrot soup. [lol]
arana negra
30-Oct-08, 15:00
It is americanised like so many other things in UK. As kids we stayed home dooked for apples and tried to eat treacle scones hanging from the pulley. My kids did the same and went out with their pals going round the houses of the group dressed up, sang songs, danced a wee dance or told a few jokes or poetry. They were fed and watered for the fun, if they got a few bawbies they were chuffed to bits.
Sorry but as it is not actually a British holiday and was foundered in america then i think we should not have it, but saying that for my kids sake i make the best of it.Begrudgingly..:confused
I wasnt at the Birth of christ but still celebrate christmas! :)
Its a bit of fun for the kids, what kid doesnt love dressing up and havin a party?.
Good excuse for the grown ups too, I'll wash my face and go out as a stranger ;)
Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain - nowt to do with USA! But i do agree it has become Americanised, like a lot of other things these days.
I don't celebrate it nor do I want kids at my door :-)
I love it, my favourite time of year, i like the darker side of life, won't be answering the door to any blasted kids though...scrounging little gits who just stand there with their bags open....bah humbug!, i'll be chilling out in the dark watching the movie Halloween followed by some 1920's/1930's Universal studios B&W Horror movies, which is pretty much the same thing i have done for the last 20 years :)
i love halloween!!
just came back from the school disco and the kids have had a blast! they all looked great in their costumes and were well behaved! i was even dressed up myself as an american indian.. *G* have a look at the pic! will be taking the kids out trick or treating tomorrow night, "even though ben wont be able to eat much sweets as hes having prob. with hyperactivity.. but its more about the fun of dressing up and going out that anything!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! my door will be open and sweets for everyone!
Brandy in Scotland its known as guising although its quite a similar thing. Kids visit houses dressed up in costumes, they are given sweets and monkey nuts for doing some sort of party piece such as a joke or a song.
i love halloween!!
just came back from the school disco and the kids have had a blast! they all looked great in their costumes and were well behaved! i was even dressed up myself as an american indian.. *G* have a look at the pic! will be taking the kids out trick or treating tomorrow night, "even though ben wont be able to eat much sweets as hes having prob. with hyperactivity.. but its more about the fun of dressing up and going out that anything!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! my door will be open and sweets for everyone!
Great stuff Brandy - it's what Hallowe'en was made for. :) I went "guising" and you went "tricking or treating" Same difference really, so long as you have a good time. :)
Oh btw Brandy you did not scare me one bit - I just knew it was you. Great make up all the same :D
I too loved Halloween as a child. Dooking for apples, treacle scones on strings and dressing up. Spending endless hours scraping out a turnip and then trying to make the face on it as scary as possible. I can still recall how it smelt too with the candle inside it. A plastic false face and some old clothes of your mother's and you were set. Out early to the houses that you knew made toffee apples so as you would be sure to get one. Real toffee apples that is, not like the ones you see now with chocolate and hundreds and thousands on them or bright red sticky goo. Yuk.If you were lucky you get end up with your mother's message bag full of apples, nuts and sweeties and (some money if you were lucky) that lasted about three days. Then it was all fun because the kid's put effort into it.
Nowadays everything is ready made. Whatever did folk do for costumes before Tescos arrived? Everyone striving to see who has the best or most expensive outfit. Why? It's supposed to be fun. I have noticed too when kids do come to the door that hardly any of them do anything. We used to recite things or try and sing for what we got. Now its just "Anything for Halloween" and a carrier bag shoved at you. What really annoys me is you get droves of kids you don't even know from other parts of the town, half of them too old to be trick or treating, just out to get as much as they can. I make up bags for all the children round about us and once they come and go then that's it. I don't answer the door after that.
The only thing scary now about Halloween is the amount of money supermarkets and the like must be making from it. [evil]
No affinity to Haloween, Samhain as I know it.
Loved guising in my young days and I like the kids coming to the door now.
Would love to join them but a bit too long in the tooth now. Ah well!!!!!!!
Brandy in Scotland its known as guising although its quite a similar thing. Kids visit houses dressed up in costumes, they are given sweets and monkey nuts for doing some sort of party piece such as a joke or a song.
Guising meant you were expected to dress up in some form, but you had to perform for your reward.....just demanding Trick or Treat, never came into the equation, that's the influence of the USA
a) I dressed up in whatever was around I never once said trick or treat we just stood at the door in our old style paper mache false faces looking gormless and got a apple and some monkey nuts and a penny and at posh houses maybe a bit more we maybe didnt like the people but loved when they were trying to be posh and gave us a sixpence or real sweeties or posh nuts
b )I have a friend who will not entertain Guising of any kind who says it is a form of begging and would never allow her children to participate however that child has now grown up and passed it on to her child who will simply never entertain it
Why is everyone giving the term Trick Or Treat such a bashing?, when i went guising in the mid 70's to early 80's we always used to say Trick Or Treat when someone answered the door.
Why is everyone giving the term Trick Or Treat such a bashing?, when i went guising in the mid 70's to early 80's we always used to say Trick Or Treat when someone answered the door.
Before my time gismo we never heard of trick or treat
gosh you were lucky to buy or get a mask
Strewth, aren't you lot kind. Where I am from there was no trick or treat and no masks either. Halloween was Mischief Night and people weren't given the option of bribing us to go away. It was fatal to leave anything loose lying round or it was definitely going to find itself moved somewhere else. The case of the disappearing gates was favourite, with everybody trying to find out where their gates had gone and whose gates had appeared in their driveway.
Dustbins were a definite attraction to disappear.
When you got older it was off to the top of Pendle Hill to search for the Pendle Witches.
As for it being an American invention, it was going long before we even know America existed starting off as a pre-Christian celebration being the time when the dead were thought to be most likely to be closest to the living and was later adopted by Christianity as the eve of All Saint's Day. .
Long may it last in whatever form it takes and under whatever name, it has a long and worthy history.
Oh, and we never did see any witches flying on broomsticks over Pendle.
Halloween did not become a holiday in the United States until the 19th century, where lingering Puritan tradition restricted the observance of many holidays. American almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th centuries do not include Halloween in their lists of holidays.[29] The transatlantic migration of nearly two million Irish following the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849) finally brought the holiday to the United States. Scottish emigration, primarily to Canada before 1870 and to the United States thereafter, brought the Scottish version of the holiday to each country. The main event for children of modern Halloween in the United States and Canada is trick-or-treating, in which children disguise themselves in costumes and go door-to-door in their neighborhoods, ringing each doorbell and yelling "trick or treat!" to solicit a gift of candy or similar items.[30]
Scottish-American and Irish-American societies held dinners and balls that celebrated their heritages, with perhaps a recitation of Robert Burns' poem "Halloween" or a telling of Irish legends, much as Columbus Day celebrations were more about Italian-American heritage than Columbus per se. Home parties centred on children's activities, such as apple bobbing, and various divination games often concerning future romance. Not surprisingly, pranks and mischief were common as well.
ahem... so i guess its the scots and irish fault for the whole halloween thing in america! *G*
so look to your own doors! *winks*
us american puritans tried to keep it away!
"just jokin guys so dont take the comments seriously"
but the whole halloween that we know today in america is based on the scots and irish traditions!
Why is everyone giving the term Trick Or Treat such a bashing?, when i went guising in the mid 70's to early 80's we always used to say Trick Or Treat when someone answered the door.
I went guising at the same time as you and never used the phrase trick or treat...like someone else said thats the American influence.
So now we're supposed to be "Bah Humbug" about Halloween too?
My boys and I have been looking forward to tonight for weeks. We delivered goodie bags to our neighbours this morning (Halloween is not celebrated here), we've a selection of pumpkins at the doorstep, the house is bedecked with ghosties, spiders and bats, even the dog has a costume!! In a few hours we'll be putting on our costumes and painting our faces. Can't wait!!
No Sandra, it's ok really! I am an old bah humbug but I would never stop anyone having fun; in fact, the more fun in life the merrier and I wish laughter to all everyday! Good for the soul....
I will confess to being anti-consumerism though; with all my heart! :)
So now we're supposed to be "Bah Humbug" about Halloween too?
Not at all, i'm glad you are looking forward to it so much, my Bah Humbug reference was just a little humour and dig at myself, i love Halloween, but i will be enjoying it MY way and can't be bothered with a load of ungrateful little brats knocking on my door :)
No Sandra, it's ok really! I am an old bah humbug but I would never stop anyone having fun; in fact, the more fun in life the merrier and I wish laughter to all everyday! Good for the soul....
I will confess to being anti-consumerism though; with all my heart! :)
I'll try to get you a photo of our dog in his chicken costume, there should be a laugh or two in that...:)
I'll try to get you a photo of our dog in his chicken costume, there should be a laugh or two in that...:)
:lol: now that i have to see, brilliant
For goodness sake don't let him see his reflection in a mirror; I know what my dog does to chickens! :lol:
i LOVE halloween, always have and always will.... hence the reason im sitting at work dressed up as adam ant!!!!
I'm not fussed for Halloween other than the opportunity to dress up, make costumes and stuff like that. Tonight is supposed to be when the veil between the living and dead is at it's thinnest, creepy...
changilass
31-Oct-08, 23:05
All the left over sweeties aint gonna help me from wasting away to a barrel.
We brought a rake of halloween candy back from the states an hardly any of it has gone tonight,a well the g'children will have a feast on it:D
Kevin Milkins
01-Nov-08, 12:18
I feel like a right old misery guts just now.
Mrs M was at work till eight last night and I was given a list of instructions as useual:confused.(feed the the dog ,let her out the front garden for a wee, put the dinner on, etc).
I was looking foward to the guising and seeing the young uns dressed up and having some fun.
Mrs M had left 2 big bags of sweets ready to distribute to the kids.
I was very engaged in making an onion and mustle stew from a recipe book and having just finished and feeling pleased with myself thought it time to fetch Mrs M from work.
It was then I realised that no kids had knocked our door and it seemed a bit stange as last year it was a steady stream of people for about 2 hours.
I opened the front door and poor old Megan (who I had let out 2 hours earlier for a wee) was sat shivering on the door step.
Its only a thought ,but I would guess that any would be guisers would take one look at my boxer dog and think:eek: "give this one a miss".
So, sorry Megan and all the guisers .:confused
I only had one knock at the door, it looked about the size of your average teenager, but obviously one with reading difficulties as he seemed oblivious to the 'NO GUISERS PLEASE' sign on my door:rolleyes:..tsk
I only had one knock at the door, it looked about the size of your average teenager, but obviously one with reading difficulties as he seemed oblivious to the 'NO GUISERS PLEASE' sign on my door:rolleyes:..tsk
Gizmo....thats cos you should have put no trick or treaters :lol: they dont know what guisers are ;) Seriously though it was very quiet last night,I usually make up 30-40 bags and run out before they have all been round but this year I had loads left over....perhaps the guising tradition is dying out? x
Gizmo....thats cos you should have put no trick or treaters :lol: they dont know what guisers are, Seriously though it was very quiet last night,I usually make up 30-40 bags and run out before they have all been round but this year I had loads left over....perhaps the guising tradition is dying out? x
Haha...the trick or treater probably thought it said No Geezers Please, and maybe it was one of the female teenage type things at the door :lol:
Reckon it must be dying out though, never even saw more than half a dozen people out and about, and the weather was good so it was the perfect night for some begging :)
flowertot
01-Nov-08, 13:33
Sorry but as it is not actually a British holiday and was foundered in america then i think we should not have it, but saying that for my kids sake i make the best of it.Begrudgingly..:confused
May be celebrated in America but certainly didnt originate over there. Possibly they spoilt it for the rest of us tho!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
Nobody came to my door that Baseball bat must've worked last year!! ;)
Youngest went out he was happy, me personally I stayed out until there was nothing left, I was a greeedy little beggar :)
That baseball bat must've worked from last year very quiet.
Or maybe they were all put off by the Bah Humbug brigade on here!!!!!;)
Very quiet here last night. I spent all afternoon shopping, then making up bags filled with goodies, and I only had 3 kids at the door!!!
There's a lot of parties on so maybe that explains it.
i took wee one to relatives houses and was suprised as there was more kids going about that normal
was nice to see them all out
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff200/ks1975/PA310017.jpg
My cynical self is coming to the fore here!
<snip>
I don't believe you have a cynical bone in your body :)
well I for one did not participate closed curtains low lights in house took my friends advice turned off drive and security lights and not one caller just as well as had nothing in
I don't believe you have a cynical bone in your body :)
Hehe.....;) I like your poppy by the way; nice picture...
Thanks. My new avatar sure beats banging my head on a hard surface :D
Thanks. My new avatar sure beats banging my head on a hard surface :D
Do you usually bang your head on a hard surface for Hallowe'en? And where did that tradition start.....? :lol:
Yes.
I think the "tradition" started last year and I am keen to end it. Will you save my skull and join me in another thread?
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