Here in the UK we still haven't got a handle on Hallowe'en. For example: our local branch of the food market Fresh & Wild has pumpkins painted on its window with the bizarre slogan:HAPPY
ORGANIC
HALLOWE'EN
ORGANIC
HALLOWE'EN
Absurd!
Meanwhile, regular Sibley-blog Comment-leaver, SUZANNE, e-mailed me recently from Rebecq in Belgium:
Following up on your unseasonal blog [about Hot Cross Buns being on sale alongside Christmas goodies]: one evening, last week, I went to collect my daughter in Braine-le-Comte, the town just down the road from the village where I live. On my drive through the town, I saw several Halloween processions -- and this is only October 19th!
There must have been a nest somewhere because they were all over town, and our half-term doesn't start for another week and everybody here gets 1st November off anyway.
My first reaction was a typical Peanuts' "GOOD GRIEF", but as they began to multiply, I started planning revenge: turning off the doorbell in case it spread to my village and they came to trick or treat; having jugs of water at the ready for when they do turn up! I was ranting so much that I started vociferously looking for the Easter Bunny - I don't know what I would have done to him, but I don't think it would have involved carrots!
Dear, oh dear, Suzanne! It sounds HORRIFIC! All things considered, it's probably best if you don't read today's - albeit brief - blog celebrating Pumpkin-time...
The feast of Hallowe'en once more
Comes trick-or-treating to our door.
Comes trick-or-treating to our door.
The living and dead stand cheek by jowl
And smile at the children's banshee howl.
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No blogs for a couple of days as we will be in Amsterdam with our good friends, ROB and MANDY helping to celebrate Rob's 60th birthday!
Images: Pumpkins © Brian Sibley 2007; Rob & Mandy © Andrew Eborn (using Brian's camera!) 2007
3 comments:
Hallowe'en processions ? Sounds great.Often wished I lived in Belgium especially as I see pumpkins on the cafe tables and vegetables in gardens from the first week in October whenever I go there.There's a country that really knows how to celebrate ! I'm glad I will be in Belgium for New Year as well this year.
As for you Mr B - no trying any herbal remedies in the Coffee Shops of Amsterdam when you're there !
Well, Halloween is not part of the tradition in Spain, but, as the hamburgers and the donuts, know we can see in the markets smiling pumpkins, bats, ghosts (as Casper), and all the legacy of the foreign customs, which threaten the local custom.
For all saints, the local tradition is go to the cemetery, pray for your loved ones, perhaps going to mass too, see the family you don´t want to enjoy ... as you can see, all very melancholic, except if you can enjoy a good chesnuts roast and sweet potatoes, in my litle homeland you can enjoy an assorted of tradicional sweets, cakes.... as you see, the treatment for the depression or, as latin knows as acedia tristitia, was invented many years ago.
Halloween has never been something I have actively participated in, but this year my girlfriend and I made Jack-o-Lanterns for the first time ever. Fantastic fun! Want to see them?
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