Halloween

[splott parker]

Re: Halloween

Indeed. I see Halloween in the same vein as pizza. Originally European and sold back to us by the yanks.
I used to be sniffy about Halloween effectively subsuming bonfire night until I remembered that it's about burning a catholic insurrectionist. However, Mr Fawkes seems to take a back seat in Lewes, where they burn and effigy of the pontiff....

Still don’t ‘get it’ that us Catholics ‘celebrated’ the execution of one of our own, just daft tradition I s’pose and we fell in with it, I s’pose all to do with cap doffing to Government & Royalty by our forefathers. Someone blowing up Parliament now would probably have a public holiday demanded by the proles in their honour

[North Cardiff Blue]

Re: Halloween

Retailers saw an opening a few years back with Hallowe’en, they’d made a killing for years around this time of year selling fireworks until health & safety curtailed that. Hallowe’en stepped in and has become a right earner. When I was a kid about now bangers were going off left, right and centre, young boys were dragging trees around the streets for their bonfire. The bonfires had to be guarded from rogue arsonists from other gangs, it was a yearly ritual. I s’pose the killer was that there was no money to be made from us cutting down trees, dragging old mattresses and furniture to our patch whereas just the fancy dress alone for Hallowe’en must be a right industry that goes on for over a week. Haven’t seen a penny for the guy kid for ages, in fact do people still make guys?

That used to be a good little earner penny for a guy!

We should have Dai Fawkes night down the Sendd this year.

[North Cardiff Blue]

Re: Halloween

The juggernaut that is "yank culture" is an interesting topic. I have lived in the United States for many more years than I lived in Cardiff (18 vs 40). I have seen American "prom" culture take hold in the UK, something that did not exist when I was whiling away the years at St. Illtyd's. Halloween trick-or-treating in costume has won the day also, even as dear old Guy Fawkes night has receded. And, of course, fast food. Our common language is a big reason for it, I suppose, since language is so formative to culture, and is made even more potent by the immediacy, first of television and the movies, and now of social media. The "yanks" do fun well, and kids elsewhere eventually want in.

Some things do not translate well. College/university sports are a massive industry here, but, so far as I can tell, remain invisible in the UK. This is a function of size. The United States is so vast that many tens of millions of people lack access to a professional sports team, so college sports supply the gap. High school sports, too. Any self-respecting high school here has its own 3,000-capacity sports stadium where (American) football games are well attended. We played in the parks and the public fields, with no one in attendance except a few particularly dedicated parents standing around the sidelines.

Do UK high schools do the big-production graduation ceremonies, now? When I "left school" (graduated) we simply gathered in the assembly hall on the final day, received a few parting gifts, and headed into the world. No gowns, mortar boards, processional music, parents and family in attendance. No such pomp. Has that simplicity also fallen to the juggernaut?

O.K., then. I'll be going home soon to hand out candy at the door. I have my scary music ready to go.

Cans of kestrel lager and an afternoon on the p!ss in the park when I left.

[jimmyscoular]

Re: Halloween

Yank rubbish, just ignore it

According to Wikipedia we have Ireland and Scotland to thank for trick-or-treating.

The history of trick-or-treating traces back to Scotland and Ireland, where the tradition of guising, going house to house at Halloween and putting on a small performance to be rewarded with food or treats, goes back at least as far as the 16th century, as does the tradition of people wearing costumes at Halloween. There are many accounts from 19th-century Scotland and Ireland of people going house to house in costume at Halloween, reciting verses in exchange for food, and sometimes warning of misfortune if they were not welcomed.

Brought it with them to the new world, I suppose.

[jimmyscoular]

Re: Halloween

Cans of kestrel lager and an afternoon on the p!ss in the park when I left.

Llanrumney boy, then, you?

[Divine Wright]

Re: Halloween

Bonfire Night and Guy Fawkes was created to shift the original "pagan" celebration on the 31st in the interest of the church.

Up to that point "Nos Calan Gaeaf" was celebrated with a bonfire and other bits and bobs.

But the people in control of affairs at the time made these types of celebrations illegal and created Bonfire night as a way to "fool" people into forgetting the old traditions.

It's just funny that people get nostalgic about Guy Fawkes and are disparaging about Halloween when they are both something that was/are sold to the masses.

As has been mentioned, if anything Halloween is actually more authentic than many other celebrations in that the traditions of dressing up and asking for food is very similar to the original event whereby the poor and unfortunate covered their faces and asked for food. They covered their faces to avoid embarrassment .

[bobh]

Re: Halloween

Retailers saw an opening a few years back with Hallowe’en, they’d made a killing for years around this time of year selling fireworks until health & safety curtailed that. Hallowe’en stepped in and has become a right earner. When I was a kid about now bangers were going off left, right and centre, young boys were dragging trees around the streets for their bonfire. The bonfires had to be guarded from rogue arsonists from other gangs, it was a yearly ritual. I s’pose the killer was that there was no money to be made from us cutting down trees, dragging old mattresses and furniture to our patch whereas just the fancy dress alone for Hallowe’en must be a right industry that goes on for over a week. Haven’t seen a penny for the guy kid for ages, in fact do people still make guys?

They'd ask for alot more than a penny these days.
"Fiver for the mister?"

Back in the 1970’s my mates and I could not be bothered to make a guy, so we dressed up my little brother as a guy and stuffed his clothing with straw. We then dragged him around the houses on a go cart, asking for a penny for the guy at each house. I think we made quite a bit by bonfire night.

Did you chuck him on the bonfire afterwards?