Holloween in UK & Europe?
Oct 25th, 2007, 07:01 AM
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Holloween in UK & Europe?
The recent issue of TimeOut London email version carried a lengthy list of Holloween events in London
It seemed mainly in clubs and pubs, etc.
I wonder if trick-or-treating is happening anywhere in UK or Europe. I know Holloween is gaining as party thing but for kids?
Or is it just in the clubs?
It seemed mainly in clubs and pubs, etc.
I wonder if trick-or-treating is happening anywhere in UK or Europe. I know Holloween is gaining as party thing but for kids?
Or is it just in the clubs?
Oct 25th, 2007, 07:07 AM
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Our local grocery stores have stocked lots of bags of Halloween sized candy and plenty of cheap costumes.
Last year we had trick or treaters, I imagine we'll get them this year too. But nowhere on the scale of what we'd see in the U.S.
What I really don't like are the Christmas carolers. Back in the U.S. when carolers came to your door, they usually were happy groups singing (in tune) for pleasure. Here, when you answer the door, you'll get a few surly teenagers badly droning out a chorus from a single carol and then waiting expectantly for some cash.
We don't play along.
Last year we had trick or treaters, I imagine we'll get them this year too. But nowhere on the scale of what we'd see in the U.S.
What I really don't like are the Christmas carolers. Back in the U.S. when carolers came to your door, they usually were happy groups singing (in tune) for pleasure. Here, when you answer the door, you'll get a few surly teenagers badly droning out a chorus from a single carol and then waiting expectantly for some cash.
We don't play along.
Oct 25th, 2007, 07:10 AM
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It's a bloody nuisance.
If you don't buy a wodge of chocolates, kids turn up (especially if Americans have moved in nearby). If you try to palm them off with apples or oranges, you get a filthy look. If you do buy a wodge of chocs, no-one turns up, and you're left with a tin of stuff that makes you realise just how horrible all those brands you used to eat (like Milk Tray) really are.
I think the trick is to buy a tin of Quality St, so if the brats don't turn up you can donate them to an aged auntie at Christmas.
If you don't buy a wodge of chocolates, kids turn up (especially if Americans have moved in nearby). If you try to palm them off with apples or oranges, you get a filthy look. If you do buy a wodge of chocs, no-one turns up, and you're left with a tin of stuff that makes you realise just how horrible all those brands you used to eat (like Milk Tray) really are.
I think the trick is to buy a tin of Quality St, so if the brats don't turn up you can donate them to an aged auntie at Christmas.
Oct 25th, 2007, 07:18 AM
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So in the U.S. if you turn off you light it means kids should not waste time going up
it seems to work
save for the odd pissed off tricker who may, yes, throw a rotten egg or tomato at your door.
I'm rather surprised to learn that such door to door trick or treating is actually going on.
Kids love it anyway and so do the candy companies
Do you also have carved pumpkins in front of most every house?
it seems to work
save for the odd pissed off tricker who may, yes, throw a rotten egg or tomato at your door.
I'm rather surprised to learn that such door to door trick or treating is actually going on.
Kids love it anyway and so do the candy companies
Do you also have carved pumpkins in front of most every house?
Oct 25th, 2007, 07:22 AM
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Hey, as a member of the Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Aged Aunts, we want Belgian choccies and Fortnum and Mason Champagne Truffles thank you very much, not cheapo Quality Street.
I only like the green triangular one and the big purple one.
I only like the green triangular one and the big purple one.
Oct 25th, 2007, 07:30 AM
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It'a a horrible custom - masked teenagers knocking at doors and demanding money with menaces. Last 2 years I've tried to keep the lights off and not answer the door and still had eggs thrown at the window.
Oct 25th, 2007, 07:59 AM
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Yes, the shops have developed in relatively recent years party-theming gear related to the US-style Halloween. Some older customs (like bobbing for apples) can still be found, but I never remember very much being made of it until the last 20 years or so.
Time was when it was perfectly OK around this time of year for children to go round the streets asking for a "Penny for the guy, mister", with whatever rough approximation of a human they had put together with dad's old (we hope they were old and not just filched for the occasion) clothes and hat, and a turnip for the head, supposedly for burning on Bonfire (Guy Fawkes) night. The money might well go on buying fireworks (yes, in my childhood, children were allowed to buy fireworks, and a damn nuisance we were too).
On the other hand, the idea of children knocking on complete strangers' doors expecting sweeties just for the asking would have been thought very strange, and I still object to the principle of it.
Signed,
E Scrooge
www.bahhumbug.com
Time was when it was perfectly OK around this time of year for children to go round the streets asking for a "Penny for the guy, mister", with whatever rough approximation of a human they had put together with dad's old (we hope they were old and not just filched for the occasion) clothes and hat, and a turnip for the head, supposedly for burning on Bonfire (Guy Fawkes) night. The money might well go on buying fireworks (yes, in my childhood, children were allowed to buy fireworks, and a damn nuisance we were too).
On the other hand, the idea of children knocking on complete strangers' doors expecting sweeties just for the asking would have been thought very strange, and I still object to the principle of it.
Signed,
E Scrooge
www.bahhumbug.com
Oct 25th, 2007, 08:17 AM
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I remember staying with my elderly father a few years ago around Halloween. It was a nightmare. Teenagers just terrorised the whole area. Didn't want sweets - money or else. He said it was getting worse each year. We had his next door neighbour with us as she was terrified. I went to the door and gave the yobs a few choice words.
Spent the next day clearing up the mess. A neighbour had a window broken because they pretended not to be home. This was not some grim inner city estate, but a leafy Buckinghamshire suburb.
They try to promote Halloween here too, but it hasn't caught on thank goodness. Kids in some areas of the Netherlands still celebrate St Maarten's on 11 November. Then they go round and sing the Sint Maarten song, whilt carrying lanterns. They get a handful of sweets, a piece of fruit or a small amount of money. The area where I live doesn't have this tradition.
Spent the next day clearing up the mess. A neighbour had a window broken because they pretended not to be home. This was not some grim inner city estate, but a leafy Buckinghamshire suburb.
They try to promote Halloween here too, but it hasn't caught on thank goodness. Kids in some areas of the Netherlands still celebrate St Maarten's on 11 November. Then they go round and sing the Sint Maarten song, whilt carrying lanterns. They get a handful of sweets, a piece of fruit or a small amount of money. The area where I live doesn't have this tradition.
Oct 25th, 2007, 08:20 AM
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Halloween, done properly, is a lot of fun. It's just the the UK version is so undeniably crappy.
For Halloween everywhere we lived in the U.S., people would decorate their houses. We picked pumpkins from a pumpkin patch and carved them (very badly but with plenty of enthusiasm). We tied cornstalks and Indian corn to the columns on the front porch. We drank fresh cider (soft cider, which I miss terribly, there's nothing like fresh, cold organic cider from PA, New England or the Northwest).
Little kids dressed up adorably and many people answering the door dressed up too.
It was fun for almost everybody. But none of that has transplanted to the UK, only the greedy demand by British youth for sweets. Don't pin the blame for that on the U.S.
For Halloween everywhere we lived in the U.S., people would decorate their houses. We picked pumpkins from a pumpkin patch and carved them (very badly but with plenty of enthusiasm). We tied cornstalks and Indian corn to the columns on the front porch. We drank fresh cider (soft cider, which I miss terribly, there's nothing like fresh, cold organic cider from PA, New England or the Northwest).
Little kids dressed up adorably and many people answering the door dressed up too.
It was fun for almost everybody. But none of that has transplanted to the UK, only the greedy demand by British youth for sweets. Don't pin the blame for that on the U.S.
Oct 25th, 2007, 08:29 AM
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Why is Halloween so terrible over in Europe? I would hate it if it was like that over here in the U.S. In my neigborhood, we just get young, well behaved toddlers and children dressed like Disney characters, witches, animals, etc. The just say "trick or treat" and then "thank you" after you drop a few pieces of candy in their bags. And their parents are usually supervising from the street.
I hope it doesn't evolve into the disaster many of you have described.
I hope it doesn't evolve into the disaster many of you have described.
Oct 25th, 2007, 08:31 AM
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As Patrick points out, Guy Fawkes or Bonfire Night is the traditional English start of Winter Festival.
Celebrating All Hallows Eve is a Catholic thing, and was therefore suppressed in England. It was the Irish that took it to the US, where it took on its present form, and has come back across the pond due to TV and money grabbing merchandisers.
The current UK version is a distorted adaptation of the American/Irish tradition.
When I was a kid, halloween came and went pretty much unnoticed.
Celebrating All Hallows Eve is a Catholic thing, and was therefore suppressed in England. It was the Irish that took it to the US, where it took on its present form, and has come back across the pond due to TV and money grabbing merchandisers.
The current UK version is a distorted adaptation of the American/Irish tradition.
When I was a kid, halloween came and went pretty much unnoticed.
Oct 25th, 2007, 08:45 AM
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>>>Why is Halloween so terrible over in Europe? <<<
No it is not so terrible all over Europe. How many countries there are in Europe. I have not really counted lately, but it is different in all of them. In most places it goes totally unnoticed, because it is not part of the local tradition and culture, and in some countries (like the one where I live) it is not "Halloween" but a day when living memorize their dead ones, and cemeteries turn into sea of candle flames. It is a solemn day. We have our own tradition of children going door to door dressed as little witches, but that is connected to Easter.
No it is not so terrible all over Europe. How many countries there are in Europe. I have not really counted lately, but it is different in all of them. In most places it goes totally unnoticed, because it is not part of the local tradition and culture, and in some countries (like the one where I live) it is not "Halloween" but a day when living memorize their dead ones, and cemeteries turn into sea of candle flames. It is a solemn day. We have our own tradition of children going door to door dressed as little witches, but that is connected to Easter.
Oct 25th, 2007, 08:47 AM
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Yup, when I was a kid halloween was a non-event (30 odd years ago). I have never trick or treated or done anything for halloween as a kid (but I did have to go to church the next day).
The big thing was Guy Fawkes night - 5th November when we would make guys (as described above) and ask for a "penny for the guy" and we would have a bonfire in our back gardens with our own fireworks (which included some seriously deadly stuff - remember aeroplanes and jumping jacks).
This happens less now because local councils put on spectacular displays that the back garden stuff can't compete with and also people have realised that fireworks and children (and alcohol) is a bloody dangerous mixture.
Cholmondley - remembering his dad poking fireworks that hadn't gone off with a stick.
The big thing was Guy Fawkes night - 5th November when we would make guys (as described above) and ask for a "penny for the guy" and we would have a bonfire in our back gardens with our own fireworks (which included some seriously deadly stuff - remember aeroplanes and jumping jacks).
This happens less now because local councils put on spectacular displays that the back garden stuff can't compete with and also people have realised that fireworks and children (and alcohol) is a bloody dangerous mixture.
Cholmondley - remembering his dad poking fireworks that hadn't gone off with a stick.
Oct 25th, 2007, 08:54 AM
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Thanks Elina. I didn not mean to generalize. I just did not know the countries from with the various posters above were writing, and all gave negative reports.
Which country or region do you describe?
Thank you again.
Which country or region do you describe?
Thank you again.
Oct 25th, 2007, 09:04 AM
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In my area just outside London, about 20% of the houses participate in trick-or-treat. Where I come from in America it was more like 95%. Most of the English kids (which is most kids in general here) dress as something scary - a witch or gouhl or something like that. The few kids dressed in Disney are generally the Americans.
In our area it seems like the houses that participate usually have pumpkins. Most pumpkins are not carved.
In our area it seems like the houses that participate usually have pumpkins. Most pumpkins are not carved.
Oct 25th, 2007, 09:06 AM
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laura, I live in Finland, and I think it might be a little inappropriate to go trick or treating when you are supposed remember your grumpy old grandfather who died 30 years ago .o) Ah not really, cemeteries are really, really beautiful on "Halloween".
And those little Easter withches get candy or cookies or a coin just like trick or treaters. And as a reward they give people willow branches decorated with coloured feathers. They also have to recite old "magic words". Which must be really old because they wish that the lady of the house will get a really fat bottom.
And those little Easter withches get candy or cookies or a coin just like trick or treaters. And as a reward they give people willow branches decorated with coloured feathers. They also have to recite old "magic words". Which must be really old because they wish that the lady of the house will get a really fat bottom.
Oct 25th, 2007, 09:08 AM
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lauraallais:
All the whining on the board about Halloween comes from people who live in, or in one case are referring to, though they don't live there anymore, England.
In fact, Hallowen rituals are slightly more deep-rooted in Scotland, where there's less abuse. As far as I'm aware, nowhere outside the British Isles has donethis thing of recently borrowing the worst side of Halloween without the sense of its being a universal festival.
But don't get it out of proportion. Mostly, Halloween is a complete non-event in England.
All the whining on the board about Halloween comes from people who live in, or in one case are referring to, though they don't live there anymore, England.
In fact, Hallowen rituals are slightly more deep-rooted in Scotland, where there's less abuse. As far as I'm aware, nowhere outside the British Isles has donethis thing of recently borrowing the worst side of Halloween without the sense of its being a universal festival.
But don't get it out of proportion. Mostly, Halloween is a complete non-event in England.
