Following an internal link in Lynne Murphy's excellent Separated By A Common Language blog I found the post from November 2007 about the differences between British and American autumnal traditions. I read it with interest because I am one of those who consider Halloween to be a "nuisance or menacing form of begging". It's a good, well written article in a recommended blog, but I'm not sure that she isn't missing something important.
Halloween isn't celebrated here the way it seems to be in the US. (I've never been in the US at this time of year and can base my view only on things I've read or seen on TV.) If it were celebrated here like that, with groups of supervised children in colourful costumes going from house to house trick-or-treating, I don't think anyone would have a problem with it. I certainly wouldn't. The trouble is not with perception it's with experience. What we have where I live (near to Wolverhampton) is quite different to these benign festivities. This year has been very peaceful. A couple of times we had kids at the door. Both times it was a pair of unsupervised older teenagers whose costumes consisted of a pair of plastic fangs (in one case being held in his hand rather than his mouth) whose mumbled "trick-or-treat" definitely sounded menacing. It was also clear that what they wanted was money not sweets or chocolate.
In previous years it's been similar though more prolonged. They have sometimes started more than a week early and come to the same houses with the same attitude several times. Personally I just tell them "No" and apart from the odd bit of rubbish on the front lawn not been bothered by "tricks". On the other hand, my Dad is almost ninety and he feels very menaced by anyone coming to the door, people demanding money are especially worrying for people like him.
The attitude of the adults here towards Halloween isn't driven by some kind of general antipathy, it's driven by their experience. Maybe if schools or youth clubs organised and supervised larger groups of children with better costumes* we might take to it more kindly.
Maybe not, but it's probably worth a try.
(*and no, I don't think anyone would mind a Spiderman, Gypsy or whatever costume.)
Halloween isn't celebrated here the way it seems to be in the US. (I've never been in the US at this time of year and can base my view only on things I've read or seen on TV.) If it were celebrated here like that, with groups of supervised children in colourful costumes going from house to house trick-or-treating, I don't think anyone would have a problem with it. I certainly wouldn't. The trouble is not with perception it's with experience. What we have where I live (near to Wolverhampton) is quite different to these benign festivities. This year has been very peaceful. A couple of times we had kids at the door. Both times it was a pair of unsupervised older teenagers whose costumes consisted of a pair of plastic fangs (in one case being held in his hand rather than his mouth) whose mumbled "trick-or-treat" definitely sounded menacing. It was also clear that what they wanted was money not sweets or chocolate.
In previous years it's been similar though more prolonged. They have sometimes started more than a week early and come to the same houses with the same attitude several times. Personally I just tell them "No" and apart from the odd bit of rubbish on the front lawn not been bothered by "tricks". On the other hand, my Dad is almost ninety and he feels very menaced by anyone coming to the door, people demanding money are especially worrying for people like him.
The attitude of the adults here towards Halloween isn't driven by some kind of general antipathy, it's driven by their experience. Maybe if schools or youth clubs organised and supervised larger groups of children with better costumes* we might take to it more kindly.
Maybe not, but it's probably worth a try.
(*and no, I don't think anyone would mind a Spiderman, Gypsy or whatever costume.)
1 comment:
It was quiet here, too. Just three groups of (supervised) kids called. One of the kids was about one, and another was about two; both rather too young, I'd say. A total of about nine kids in all.
I'd splashed out on some licorice allsorts beforehand, which I dispensed, feeling much like the lord of the manor. There was therefore no adverse reaction from me. I suspect they had got quite a few brush-offs, though, as they were all standing at the gate, presumably ready for flight if I had told them to go away.
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