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Let's talk about Halloween!


Yuiina

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Hello everyone! ^_^

Since we can already feel the presence of Halloween on Neopets, from the recently launched species outfits and user's customizations, I decided it is the right time for me to write about it!

As someone who doesn't live in either the UK, the USA or Australia, Halloween is something I don't fully know/understand and I find it more interesting to interact with other people and discover new things by doing so than search on the internet by myself.

The first time I ever heard of Halloween was on my 5th grade on my English class (almost 20 years ago... I'm getting old :sad02:). The event fascinated me, to be honest, on a cultural level! Even if it was something that I wouldn't dedicate myself into since we, in Portugal, have another tradition for the 1st November.  

Well, many things changed since then and thanks to the consumerism.. Halloween is starting to be a "thing" here. It's not the same or, at least, I never saw anyone doing Treat or Trick but people make Halloween parties and dress according to the event.

I don't participate or support it but what can I do? :laughingsmiley: Don't take me wrong, I love the event but it's like celebrating Carnival in the USA! (Now it would be funny if people say they celebrate it :laughingsmiley:) or celebrating Christmas in Japan! Each culture have its events and those events should stay there.. in my opinion. 

The main thing that drove me to write this post was the fact that many people dress up on Halloween of things that... are not related to the theme... and I don't get that.. ? Could anyone explain to me why would people dress as anything but spooky/scary things? Even with the evolution of the event through the centuries, I don't understand why you would dress as a sailor or pirate or even a sandwich. :who-let-rip:

And what about you? What are your thoughts on Halloween? Do you feel any difference in the way the event is celebrated now from the days of your childhood? 

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What an interesting post! I like Halloween just fine. Of course I live in the USA and celebrated it as a kid. I went Trick-or-Treating too. Sometimes the weather was good, sometimes it rained, and I've even gone trick-or-treating with snow on the ground! LOL

If you're curious about the origins of Halloween, I'm sure there are plenty of websites that could provide really good info. One of the COOL things about Halloween, is that I learned a couple of years ago, that the Jack-o-Lantern, was ORIGINALLY lanterns carved into Turnips in Ireland. Used as lanterns at night for walking home, or wherever. Being half-Irish, I though this was really cool to learn. ?

Of the few costumes I've worn from Childhood to about 14. I think my favorite was a costume I put together myself. Did a pic of it a long time ago... lol That staff actually had a button that lit up and sounded the roaring thunder when you pressed it. Sadly, it stopped working. lol I don't know how to fix it, so it's in storage somewhere. The rest of the costume was a Vampire Cape, with the color turned down because I was a wizard, NOT a vampire. The glow in the dark sword, which you can only see the hilt and crosspiece here, was the last bit I added to the costume. The patch-work hoodie, black slacks and black dress-shoes I already had. This costume I wore beyond just the age of 14, but I only wore it to have some fun. See, this costume helped me cast a dark and imposing figure. I would literally watch as kids crossed the street with their friends, or parents, to avoid crossing my path. When that would happen, I'd activate the staff, and that would draw kids and parents into my dark clutches...... lol Nah, they were fascinated by the staff because they'd probably never seen anything like it. And to think, I found it at Kmart for $19.99! So their curiosity got the better of them and they'd come up to ask about the staff and how it worked. It was really quite fun. I did this for about 2 years before the staff stopped working. The speaker for the Thunder sound came undone and I've yet to get the means to fix it.

tumblr_pz333t4Aak1sh1duso1_250.png

Also, here is a very old animated gif I did of some Monsters on Halloween night. This was intended to be a desktop background, but by the time I completed it, about 12 or so years after I started it, the standard/most popular screen resolution for computers was no longer 800x600, PLUS Windows seems to no longer support animated gif files in their newer OS versions. Really too bad. ?
tumblr_ofujo9SKlK1sh1duso1_1280.gifv

Otherwise, the only thing that's REALLY changed from Halloween when I was a kid, is that some places, for safety concerns, no longer have Trick-O-Treating closer to the twilight hours. Some places only do it when it's bright and sunny out. Not much fun, really. If a kid were to go solo, I can see the reason for concern, but kids tend to walk with other kids, or parents, so it should, in MOST cases, be FINE to trick-or-treat around Sunset, or later. ?

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Here in Australia, it's not really accepted. Most people roll their eyes when they see Halloween stuff in stores and we're like.. but that's American. I know there are some people who love it here but it's not widely practiced. Even for those who do its usually parties not trick or treating. I didn't know anyone in Australia did trick or treating until I was 18 and moved from a secluded area in my country town to a more suburban area (still in the same town) and a few kids were doing it in our neighbourhood. People who live in different parts of Australia e.g. close to the city might have a vastly different experience to me. But in my experience it's only a fraction as popular as in the US and UK.

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American Midwest, having lived on the east cost and the south, Halloween will vary a lot on where you live, even from town to town.   Some places it;s a big deal and everyone goes trick-or-treating, while others it's barely noticed.    Some places are big of kid safety, so nobody goes house-to-house, while others lets kids roam alone well after dark.   And depending on what trends are popular, can change a lot form year to year.
I personally favor the scary costumes, but for most people it's an excuse to dress up, so they dress up as whatever they happen to want, which might not be scary.    others just want an excuse to party, don't care about the costume, so they use whatever they happen to find easy.
I also have a lot of friends who are big into anime and cosplay, so they'll typically dress up as an anime or video game character.
Also have a couple of Wiccan friends who treat it as a religious holiday.
like most things, Halloween has different meaning to different people who observe it in different ways.    This year I'll be out of town at a hotel for an anime convention that starts the next day.   Are vague plans to meet up with a couple friends at the hotel bar, and I think a couple people are planning to bring board games along.   I might dress up in something simple, plastic fangs and red contacts, or might go without, depending on how i feel the day of.

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Like all holidays in the US, Halloween season seems to come earlier and earlier every year.  Stores begin selling decorations and candy in September or earlier.  I expect we will see Christmas trees on sale as soon as Halloween is over ?

When I was a little kid, Halloween was celebrated in school, so we would sit in class as a dragon or ghost or whatever.  Some years there were "parades" where each class would walk through all the classrooms to show off their costumes.  Teachers would dress up, too, and we'd have a party during the last class period.  I went to public school, so this sort of thing is very unusual.  I think only Valentine's Day had similar celebrations.  However, because it was public school, eventually somebody decided the day was a religious holiday (or it offended religious students, I don't remember) so all school based activities were banned.

One thing I noticed as an adult is that we no longer change our clocks for daylight savings time before Halloween.  It always seemed to happen the day before Halloween, so that evening always felt super dark and scary.  Nowadays, we change our clocks a week or two later, which means the little kids who go trick or treating earlier may still be in the daylight.

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I love that TDN allows us to discuss topics like this because we can offer different points of view and get to know not only information about the topic but we get to know TDN members and learn of aspects of them that we might not have known before and, I feel , helps me gain more respect and enjoy learning what makes different people so wonderful & interesting. So thank you, @Yuiina, for bringing this topic up and I look forward to many fun responses while I offer my own.

  I am Arab-American and having been raised Muslim, we have never celebrated Halloween. My American mother had participated in Halloween when she was a child during the 1970's and early 1980's and her most repeated comment or tirade about Halloween (that I find kind of funny) is: "What is the ONE thing we teach our children before they can even talk? DON'T TAKE CANDY FROM STRANGERS! Yet, we totally reverse that warning and have a holiday that encourages kids to violate that safety. Then look at what the kids say to GET the free candy that will later HAVE TO BE CHECKED (a red flag that tells you maybe this isn't a safe thing), Trick or Treat! In other words, the neighborhood children are being encouraged to demand candy or they will feel they have the "right" to vandalize your house, car, or property if you don't comply with their demands for free candy. In my view, that is encouraging bully-like behavior which shouldn't be rewarded with candy and while most children are not malicious or planning to damage your house with soap or eggings-it still is a "tradition" that encourages children to demand something  rather than earning the candy or receiving it like a gift, which I find distasteful." This would be her answer whenever we wanted to go to a friend's house or a party that was for Halloween.

 Now, I am the youngest child and was not present for my mother's funniest interaction with someone who didn't agree with my mother's unwillingness to participate in Halloween, but my 2 older siblings who witnessed this told us how mom shut down someone who felt she wasn't a good person because she didn't want to hand out candy. 

It was  October 1995, there were no Islamic schools in NY at that time, so my mother drove my sisters (then 5 and 2 1/2) to New Jersey every day 2 hours to the school and 2 hours back (she also taught at that school-she was 1 of the only 2 American teachers that had completed her 2 year degree in Secondary Education but the need was for her to be the ELA teacher for grades 2-9 at this school) and on the 31st-she had called our father to say that she needed to stay over her friend's house to help her watch her children after school so that her friend & fellow teacher could do the taxes of a client and would drive back the following day. So my sisters and my mother went to the friend's house and as the 3 other kids and my sisters were racing around the house, my mother & her friend are going over what my mom can make for dinner and how late her friend may be, then they both realize that it is Halloween night and kids will be coming around in their costumes for candy. My mom tells my friend not to worry-she doesn't celebrate that holiday anyway-so she'll turn off all the lights and draw the front drapes closed and just keep the children in the kitchen in the back of the house eating dinner and then send them up to bed.  

  But my sisters and their 3 friends were too curious about the kids roaming the streets that night, and while my mom was trying to cook the dinner in an unfamiliar kitchen, Ali (4 yr.s old) or Aziza (6 yr.s old) would sneak to the front room to pull the drapes open and peek out and call in a loud whisper-"Someone looks like an orange ball-wait it has a face- they're a pumpkin!" and of course the other kids would run out to the room and take turns peeking. After having all the kids rush to the window to look at "Hey, Shaytan (the Devil) is running down the street and has a long pointy tail!" so loud that my mom came to the front room and said that was quite enough & dinner was ready so they needed to clean their hands and go to the kitchen and no more coming to the window any more! So after she got them all settled at the table, there was a loud banging on the door and a woman was wildly screaming. My mother instructed Aziza & my oldest sister to keep everyone at the table while she went to see what was the matter. My mother opens the door and a woman with 2 little boys is screaming in my mother's face, "We KNOW you're in your house ,you cheapskates! We see your brats looking out at us! How DARE you not give candy to children! Why are you SO CHEAP?!"

My mother says to the woman, "Why can't YOU buy your kids candy yourself and expect everyone else to give you candy? " The woman was still angry, "What? It's Halloween! You HAVE to give kids candy!" My mom says, "This is America, and if I choose NOT to celebrate this holiday-it is MY choice. I turned off the lights which was supposed to let you know that WE are not participating. Please take your children and LEAVE." The woman starts pushing her kids to the driveway and starts cursing my mom out, to which my mother replied, "Hey lady, when it's my holiday, I don't dress up my kids and drag them to your door to beg for candy! Just respect that we have the right NOT to participate if we choose not to." " And my sisters said that there was a group of parents & children on the sidewalk that clapped and told that lady to leave my mom alone.

Now, I think Neopets is a great place to enjoy this "controversial" holiday in a way that is safe. I entered my Pet, Kokariia, in JellyNeo's Costume Contest, I can go virtual trick-or-treating getting Goodie Bags that will not have tampered candy or questionable treats, and I can wish my friends to enjoy their holiday and know that they aren't people intending any harm and I learn about how others just like to have fun on this holiday.

   I really hope that I didn't offend anyone with my sharing a different take on Halloween. I hope that it would just give you a chuckle to see it from the "other side". ? 

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@Yuiina I think Portugal and The Netherlands are similar in this way, as Halloween has been growing in popularity here in recent years, but mostly just the parties/dressing up part, and not the trick-or-treating. (We do have two different dressing up & trick-or-treating events for kids though; it kinda depends on where you live which of those two (if any) you celebrate.) Unlike you, I actually like that this tradition is spreading to different countries (now, baby showers and bachelor(ette) parties could've stayed in the US, if you ask me...). (If it comes to traditions inherently linked to the country they originated in, celebrating them in different countries might be weird, but Halloween didn't even start in the US, and is linked to much broader cultural/religious influences that aren't confined to just one country.)

@midnight_spell360 Interesting! I had no idea Halloween could even be considered controversial. By the way, the whole "candy that's been tampered with" thing is mostly just a myth. According to Snopes there is no evidence of any poisoned candy, and "foreign objects" in candy are so rare that "our fear of them is greatly out of proportion with the likelihood of their occurring". Hope that sets your mind at ease a little on the whole tampered candy thing. Despite the fact that watching the news (on any day of the year) is pretty depressing, the vast, vast majority of humans are actually good people, and are definitely not out to poison/harm innocent children. :smile:

As I mentioned, I'm glad this tradition made it to Holland. I have a friend whose birthday is November 1st, and she always celebrates it with a Halloween party, which has a different theme each year. (Not necessarily spooky; just an excuse to dress up.) Since Halloween was most definitely not a thing here when I was a kid (or a teen), I'm happy I get to (kind of) celebrate it now. :smile:

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American here, Halloween is my favorite holiday. When I was younger, our parents would take my sisters and I trick-or-treating at our old apartment complex in Davis, California. There were no cars to worry about there. The only thing that ever went wrong was some guy dressed up as a bear to terrify us. He used a bowl of candy with a "take one please" sign as bait, then came around the corner roaring at us. That was mean, and gave me nightmares about bears for a while. Besides that, it's always been about fun for me. And sweets, that's important too. I definitely don't condone demanding candy or destructive behavior. People who don't respect the "no porch light on means this family isn't handing out candy" rule ruin it for everyone, and it's awful that a parent would encourage such behavior.

 I'm too old to trick or treat now, but I still dress up and take a walk to look at decorations. In the past I've helped take my friend's little sisters around the neighborhood. Don't know if I'll do that this year. I'm hoping I'll have time to make a new costume, as I've been a white mouse for about 4 years in a row due to school taking up time. Need ideas though. 

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Halloween has some of its origins in an old Celtic holiday called Samhain. It was supposed to be a day when you honored your ancestors and the dead-as per Wikipedia "According to Irish and Scottish mythology, Samhain was a time when the 'doorways' to the Otherworld opened, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into our world" but over the years it's been changed and modernized to become the celebration it is today. Wikipedia has some great articles on Halloween and its evolution over the years, especially when it was brought to the US and Canada. It is one of my favourite holidays.

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First of all, thank you all for participating in this chat! Very glad that it had good feedback from you all. ^_^

Thank you so much for sharing :heart: I'm really glad I made this, I'm learning a lot by reading your texts!

 

@Aquamentis12 

Those early traditions were beautiful and fascinating! I like them as pumpkins too. 

I find also very interesting that many kids (or their family) made the costumes themselves! I believe that nowadays people just buy them, right? 

Your staff seems so cool :thumbsup: 

You telling me about the change of time of Trick-o-Treating is one of the reasons I made this post for.. I had no idea it was like that nowadays, even if it is understandable on some occasions.

 

@gypsyknees 

Australia doesn't have that tradition?!?! o_O As a previous UK colony, I was expecting it to have the same tradition.

 

@Rayd1978  

Some places it;s a big deal and everyone goes trick-or-treating, while others it's barely noticed.

 I thought it was a big deal everywhere in the USA, the things I'm learning :heart:

but for most people it's an excuse to dress up, so they dress up as whatever they happen to want, which might not be scary.    others just want an excuse to party, don't care about the costume, so they use whatever they happen to find easy.

I also have a lot of friends who are big into anime and cosplay, so they'll typically dress up as an anime or video game character.

So Halloween turned into a marriage between Halloween and Carnival? How nice :mellow::hmmph:I definitely do not support that notion. 

 

@discobiscuit 

Like all holidays in the US, Halloween season seems to come earlier and earlier every year.  Stores begin selling decorations and candy in September or earlier.  I expect we will see Christmas trees on sale as soon as Halloween is over ?

I feel your frustation... I'm sure by the end of October we'll start seeing Christmas decorations and their products on stores... sigh... 

Nowadays, we change our clocks a week or two later, which means the little kids who go trick or treating earlier may still be in the daylight.

I think that might be on purpose... for security manners. The world is not like it used to be... unfortunately. 

Your school activities seemed like fun times ^_^

 

@midnight_spell360

You're most welcome! Thank you for your words and for sharing your opinion ^_^

What is the ONE thing we teach our children before they can even talk? DON'T TAKE CANDY FROM STRANGERS!

:laughingsmiley::laughingsmiley::laughingsmiley::laughingsmiley::laughingsmiley: Right?!

In other words, the neighborhood children are being encouraged to demand candy or they will feel they have the "right" to vandalize your house, car, or property if you don't comply with their demands for free candy. In my view, that is encouraging bully-like behavior which shouldn't be rewarded with candy and while most children are not malicious or planning to damage your house with soap or eggings-it still is a "tradition" that encourages children to demand something  rather than earning the candy or receiving it like a gift, which I find distasteful." This would be her answer whenever we wanted to go to a friend's house or a party that was for Halloween.

Now that is what not many people talk about, am I right? I'm sure Halloween it's not entirely funny nowadays, especially when parenting has deteriorating during the last years. 

I like your mother :thumbsup: Well done! 

 

@Nielo

The USA was a UK colony so I assumed it was natural such tradition was followed there. I stick with my opinion about keeping your traditions for their original cultural route. 

One thing that human society has of much fascinating is the difference between cultures and it's variety! I "hate" the fact that they all are trying to be alike others. Embrace your culture people! :D 

 

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@Yuiina

In Lebanon , as kids , we didn't celebrate Halloween. Still don't, but the dress-up parties are a huge thing now. 

Nov. 1 is a religious holiday called All Saints Day which was established by the church to replace the pagan tradition of Halloween. However Halloween still wins. 

We have another similar feast called Eid Berbara (St. Barbara Day) which is on December 4th of each year.

The legend : Barbara is a Saint from my city who lived around 300 A.D, she was the daughter of the ruler of the city in the days of the Roman Empire, who had her locked up in a tower because of her beauty. Everyone was still mostly pagan, but she converted to Christianity. When her father knew, he tried to kill her but she ran away and hid in the vast wheat fields, then disguised herself with some charcoal. Her father finally found her hiding in a cave and beheaded her with the sword after torturing her and attempting to burn and hang her. He was struck by lightning and killed shortly after. 

St. Barbara day is celebrated by kids dressing up. School activities revolve around Eid El Barbara, as kids draw, cut and decorate their own cardboard masks. Upon returning home, many proudly wear their mask and surprise their parents. In the old days, parents used whatever was handy to dress up their children, and kids were so happy to wear their mother’s dresses and father’s jackets, but nowadays they just buy ready-made masks and Halloween costumes) .. In the evening they  get to the streets, dancing and singing a special song for Barbara, knocking on doors and asking for money or treats (usually candy/chocolate)

A local tradition on this day is to plant wheat seeds (or chick peas, barley grains, beans, lentils etc…) on a bed of cotton wool. The seeds germinate and grow to 6 inches in time for Christmas, when the shoots are used to decorate the nativity scene, usually placed below the Christmas tree to recreate one of Barbara’s miracles. 

She hid in wheat fields, which is why a special wheat dessert is prepared. Boiled barley is flavored with orange blossom water and served with almonds, pistachios, raisins, walnuts, pine kernels, and sweetened with either sugar or honey. 

Other traditional desserts include macaroons and luqaymat.

However in recent years Eid Barbara has taken a huge blow in favor of Halloween, or I can rather say we had a split holiday. Kids dress up for Halloween in school and adults have Halloween parties , while on St Barbara (some) kids still go trick-or-treating with the same outfit they wore for Halloween. But it's a dwindling tradition nonetheless and has been mostly confined to schools or small villages where people know each other and feel their kids are safe. 

As a kid, I knew about Halloween from movies / cartoons , but only started recognizing it when I traveled to Europe at age 17. Lithuanians have their own Halloween, which spans over November 1 (All Saints Day) and November 2nd which they call Velines (Day of the Souls).  October 31 is usually when young people dress up and party all night at home or clubs, but for the next 2 days you can see them in cemeteries lighting candles for the dead (just like Dia de los Muertos in Mexico.) Lithuanians also have a mask carnival on Ash Wednesday called Užgavėnės (literally meaning Time Before Lent) where they dress-up in disguises and knock on doors for treats while singing "Winter Winter go away" (I believe it coincides with Mardi Gras and the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro)

 Either way , these days all I do for Halloween is watch some spooky movies because no one I know celebrates it ...  

I included some pictures of St Barabara Day :) 

 

crunchy-sweet-dumplings-luqaimat-pinterest.jpg

Saint-barbara-1_010539.jpg

Saint-barbara-2_010540.jpg

Saint-barbara-4_010540.jpg

now-barbara-ins.jpg

Image result for st barbaraImage result for st barbara

Image result for st barbara

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@Sciurus carolinensis 

In my opinion, I think the commemorations of Halloween are more appropriate for teenagers and adults. But I didn't grow up with Treat-O-Tricking so maybe some of you will jump on me for saying this :laughingsmiley:

 

@bonnie_morrison 

I know that Halloween origins came from the Celtic / Irish region/culture but I'd love to dig in on the subject. Even though I love Wikipedia, I'm one of those people that hate to read articles online. I prefer books above all :heart:

 

@Angeló

Saint Barbara story and tradition is incredible, thanks for sharing it and its pictures :heart:

However in recent years Eid Barbara has taken a huge blow in favor of Halloween

This makes me sad! Why people mix traditions?! :who-let-rip:

 

I'll take the chance and share with all of you the tradition we have/used to have here in my region. I can't confirm if it's practiced everywhere around the country or just here.  

On the 1st November, children walk around their village with these traditional bags 
Resultado de imagem para talego alentejano image.jpeg.2af3aed945082e59828ac003b8756ad7.jpeg 

and knock on everyone's door saying a specific sentence that I'll try to translate (it's difficult though)

"Small cake", "small cake" 
In honor of your deceased 

and what's most common for people to give was these:

image.png.46068db3b4c120757745f9a4c1bd4f2c.png 

Broas: they're made with corn flour and aromatic herbs. There are many variations! 

Resultado de imagem para castanhas 

Chestnuts

Resultado de imagem para romã 

Pomegrade

 

It's sort of similar to Treat-O-Tricking, but kids are not demanding candies in exchange for them not doing anything to you and people gladly give those above in memory of their deceased ones

It's a beautiful tradition and a very funny one because old ladies used to make a "silence competition" amongst them to see from who the best "Broa" was xD

I remember very well that, as soon as I got home from collecting those, my grandmother immediately wanted to see how many Broas I had and analyze them. :laughingsmiley: Size, smell, taste, sugar quantity, etc. And after a while, she used to ask me "These don't seem bad but granny's ones are better! Aren't they darling?" :laughingsmiley:

We weren't accompanied by our parents, we always went along with our group of friends/cousins.

Unfortunately, such tradition is dying because the youngest people are not interested in "honoring" their deceased ones and the people who made those cakes are dying... one by one... 
it's very sad. 

And instead... they're starting to commemorate Halloween more and forget the 1st November. It's sad. 

I don't hate Halloween but... I don't think the world should behave like this. Unfortunately, in a general way, our global society is trying to make us all look the same... think the same... act the same... talk the same... 

Diversity is such a beautiful thing ^_^

I like Halloween and Dia de los Muertos but liking it doesn't mean I need to follow it or merge it into my own traditions!

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On 10/9/2019 at 5:19 PM, Yuiina said:

Those early traditions were beautiful and fascinating! I like them as pumpkins too. 

I find also very interesting that many kids (or their family) made the costumes themselves! I believe that nowadays people just buy them, right? 

Your staff seems so cool :thumbsup: 

You telling me about the change of time of Trick-o-Treating is one of the reasons I made this post for.. I had no idea it was like that nowadays, even if it is understandable on some occasions.


@Yuiina I completely agree! It was only several years ago that I learned the apparent origin of Jack-o-Lanterns. Up until then I thought they were always pumpkins.

Oh yes! The costume I had the longest was one my Mom made out of some white fabric and some glow-in-the-dark tape. It was a ghost costume, and I don't know where she got the glow in the dark tape for around the eye and mouth holes, but it only worked when you gave it a good dose of Light before going out. And even then, because it was twilight usually, there was still some light in the sky, so the effect was underwhelming. lol  As you couldn't really see the glow. Even from the inside. lol Eventually, I added a cowboy hat and a holster and cap-gun to make the ghost costume that of a dead cowboy or sheriff. Just, something different with what I already had to work with. lol

A lot of adults do, but if you look at people who enjoy cosplay, (costume play), like at anime conventions and such, they're pretty craftsy and able to make wonderfully detailed costumes. I've even seen costumes for sale online that individual people, not companies, made.
The very LAST thing I did to celebrate Halloween, I mean pseudo-costume-wise, was to get a small travel pillow, and using some safety pics, I'd curl the top of it and pin it into place. Then I would pin it to the inside of a larger shirt, sweatshirt or hooded sweatshirt. A very quick and inexpensive hunchback look. lol I haven't done that in a few years though. lol

I'm glad I could help provide you with some references then! Some places are going back to Trick-or-treat times being closer to twilight, sometimes later. Which is good in my opinion. It's not really as fun going out dressed as a spook when the sun is still high in the sky. lol

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On 10/9/2019 at 1:52 PM, gypsyknees said:

Most people roll their eyes when they see [snip] stuff in stores and we're like.. but that's American.

HAHAHAHA, tell me about it,  I doctored your words as they do it with anything they can think of here (red velvet cake as an example, that's 100% an American cake, but it's everywhere here now) but Hallowe'en's got to be the biggest thing.

In the UK Hallowe'en has always been a thing, because of those ancient Pagan roots. But trick-or-treating? Nope. That's a modern import. We also spell it with an apostrophe, at least people of my generation and older do, I'm guessing the American way will have infiltrated the Millennials and younger. But we've never really celebrated/ackowledged it much in modern times.

I remember making spiral snakes out of black sugar paper to hang from the ceiling when I was in my first year of primary school, these dudes.

image.png.00b7755612f4534d40153cda25a6c92c.png

But they never taught us WHY, it was just Hallowe'en so this is what you did... I've no idea why we call the stuff we used sugar paper, pretty sure it's what's called construction paper in the US, but sugar paper it is! But yeah, that's my sole recollection of doing Hallowe'en stuff during my life-time!

Kids NOW, I'm very sure, do the trick-or-treating thing, but this is entirely supermarket-driven. The supermarkets are forcibly changing the UK's culture solely in the name of profit.

Welcome to the 21st century...

The pub next door to me goes all out for Hallowe'en, decorating the front of the building and encouraging patrons to dress up. Because pubs are a dying breed in this country now, since smoking in them was banned basically, and the supermarkets (again) sell alcohol so much cheaper, so like the supermarkets other establishments use as many holidays - ours or anyone's! - as they can to drum up business. So there'll be some interesting sights out of my window in a few weekend's time. ?

So yeah. In the UK Hallowe'en is an ancient thing that is mostly ignored by the modern population, we pay FAR more attention to Bonfire Night 5 days later. But then all kids get taught about Guy Fawkes and the gun-powder plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament at school, so it's embedded in everyone's minds, and, well, there's fireworks!!

Kids used to make their own "Guy" - out of sacking and stuffed with straw, a scarecrow basically - to throw on their own bonfire, and they'd wheel him around in a barrow before the day, asking "penny for the guy" to buy their own fireworks with. 

image.png.33906b64faa8ca4a18ab7b979d957f94.png

Our version of trick-or-treating! Candy?? Nooo, we burn an effigy on a fire! :lmaosmiley:

The whole guy thing doesn't really happen any more though, for all kinds of reasons, health and safety fears being foremost. Look at these cheeky monkies though with their price increase xD See the cost is 3d, so this is pre-decimalisation in 1971.

I don't know why pennies then were d instead of p, so I looked it up!

The pre-decimal penny (1d) was a coin worth 1/240 of a pound sterling. Its symbol was d, from the Roman denarius.

Ok then, now we know!

@Yuiina I LOVE your grandma analyzing everyone else's Broas. ?

and @midnight_spell360 another example of your mum being the bad-[word I can't say on here] ninja that she is! ?

OH, and the dressing up thing. People here are still far more inclined to go for the spooky/creepy costume than just ANY costume. These are the costumes being sold by the supermarket I shop with.

nILfDCH.jpg

Z9aSTqq.jpg

Pretty standard stuff with a slight step sideways for the dead American footballer, bit bizarre xD and the "scare queen" which is random but kinda cool.

That pumpkin dress is exactly the same as that awful Frillkin Korbat Dress... 62222.gif

But these costumes... they epitomise today's culture, don't they. Poor quality fast fashion (polyester from China) that's gonna get worn once then likely disgarded. it MIGHT be saved for younger sibs, it MIGHT go into a dress-up box (do kids still do that?) but it's all junk. Making their own costumes from old clothes would be so much fun, but I imagine there'd be the modern issue of being bullied/ridiculed for not having store-bought. : /

Humans are horrible. angrynegg.gif

 

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On 10/12/2019 at 2:45 PM, jellysundae said:

In the UK Hallowe'en has always been a thing, because of those ancient Pagan roots. But trick-or-treating? Nope.

That's what I thought! I don't remember learning, back on 5th grade, about Trick-or-Treating on my English class! Halloween from the UK seems more fun in my opinion. I'm not a fan of Trick-or-Treating. :who-let-rip:

On 10/12/2019 at 2:45 PM, jellysundae said:

I remember making spiral snakes out of black sugar paper to hang from the ceiling when I was in my first year of primary school, these dudes.

That's so cute :laughingsmiley:

On 10/12/2019 at 2:45 PM, jellysundae said:

The supermarkets are forcibly changing the UK's culture solely in the name of profit.

Welcome to the 21st century...

Feeling depressed already...

Absolutely loved the Guy tradition :laughingsmiley: :laughingsmiley: :laughingsmiley: :laughingsmiley: :laughingsmiley:  and the kids' faces are priceless. 

On 10/12/2019 at 2:45 PM, jellysundae said:

OH, and the dressing up thing. People here are still far more inclined to go for the spooky/creepy costume than just ANY costume.

? Thank you for that! On jellyneo's Halloween Contest I downvoted every entry that was not spooky or dark. Sorry but I don't think that dressing as your favorite characters from pop culture is Halloweenish. 

This is super easy to fix. 

Like to cosplay? There are events for that. 
Like to dress as like sailor, pirate, barbie, mermaid, sandwich, etc.? Make costumes parties and such. Or! Buy a ticket to Portugal or Brazil and enjoy the ride xD 

Just don't mix those ups with Halloween.. it doesn't make sense. 

Speaking of Carnival in Portugal, there is something that "upsets" me.

You are familiar with Rio de Janeiro's Carnival. People dancing Samba half-n&ked women with glorious outfits. Right? 

For many years, Portugal's Carnival was all about having fun and dressing randomly like this 

Resultado de imagem para espirito carnaval portugal Resultado de imagem para carnaval tradicional

Can you guess what's happening more and more in the latest years?

 

BINGO! It's turning more and more like Brazil one. But there's something people don't think of. While the Carnival in Brazil happens in their summer, here in Portugal it happens in our winter. If  you want to get sick, all you need to do is go dance Samba here during Carnival :laughingsmiley:

On 10/12/2019 at 2:45 PM, jellysundae said:

But these costumes... they epitomise today's culture, don't they. Poor quality fast fashion (polyester from China) that's gonna get worn once then likely disgarded.

Yes, it even hurts to look at them :confused:

 

On 10/12/2019 at 2:45 PM, jellysundae said:

Humans are horrible. angrynegg.gif

Yeap... yeap, we are. 

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On 10/8/2019 at 5:45 PM, Yuiina said:

caption_635.gif

Hello everyone! ^_^

Since we can already feel the presence of Halloween on Neopets, from the recently launched species outfits and user's customizations, I decided it is the right time for me to write about it!

As someone who doesn't live in either the UK, the USA or Australia, Halloween is something I don't fully know/understand and I find it more interesting to interact with other people and discover new things by doing so than search on the internet by myself.

The first time I ever heard of Halloween was on my 5th grade on my English class (almost 20 years ago... I'm getting old :sad02:). The event fascinated me, to be honest, on a cultural level! Even if it was something that I wouldn't dedicate myself into since we, in Portugal, have another tradition for the 1st November.  

Well, many things changed since then and thanks to the consumerism.. Halloween is starting to be a "thing" here. It's not the same or, at least, I never saw anyone doing Treat or Trick but people make Halloween parties and dress according to the event.

I don't participate or support it but what can I do? :laughingsmiley: Don't take me wrong, I love the event but it's like celebrating Carnival in the USA! (Now it would be funny if people say they celebrate it :laughingsmiley:) or celebrating Christmas in Japan! Each culture have its events and those events should stay there.. in my opinion. 

The main thing that drove me to write this post was the fact that many people dress up on Halloween of things that... are not related to the theme... and I don't get that.. ? Could anyone explain to me why would people dress as anything but spooky/scary things? Even with the evolution of the event through the centuries, I don't understand why you would dress as a sailor or pirate or even a sandwich. :who-let-rip:

And what about you? What are your thoughts on Halloween? Do you feel any difference in the way the event is celebrated now from the days of your childhood? 

I think a lot of the more innocent dressing up came from people that don't like the dark intonations of said holidays. Myself being a Christian, Halloween themes can tend to be dark, Though I'm not going to lie, I love myself a good scary movie or haunted house, but I've never been a big blood and gore person.  

As someone said before it's origin is actually of Celtic descent and not of American/US, but it actually started as a way to ward off ghosts. They'd light bonfires and wear costumes to get rid of them. The part about honoring the dead I think has a more Spanish/Mexican descent.

But like I said, as far as it goes for me and I know for a lot of Christians or people of faith (IF they even celebrate it) the nicer costumes is way for us to participate without having to go against our beliefs and have to partake in the blood and gore. My mother was never big on the haunted aspect, we weren't allowed to go into Haunted houses or watch scary movies growing up (oh lawdy, hope she doesn't see that I kind sorta have done that and like some of them! lol), plus dressing up is just so much fun! Me being a cosplayer myself (Someone who dresses up as their favorite characters or makes costumes and goes to events throughout the year) Halloween just gives me another reason to dress up as something super neat and show off my costume making abilities

@Yuiina Not all of us can afford a ticket to another country and "enjoy the ride" and to downvote people's creativity just cause it's not spooky seems mean. Just because something isn't spooky doesn't mean it's not Halloweenie, as said before Halloween costumes didn't necessarily have a spooky origin. I doubt the Celts were running around like a murderous Clown trying to eat children (just saying).

Me being someone that likes to cosplay, as I said above, Halloween is a wide event in which it's almost free to participate in, having to buy a ticket to every convention and event that's not Halloween just because I don't want to wear a spooky costume is too expensive and I can't say a lot of people wouldn't be able to afford that. I don't think it's entirely fair to also say kids should be excluded from an event in which they can get some goodies just because they don't want to dress in the bloody and gorey, or spooky aspect of Halloween. I guess it also depends on the way your were raised but seeing kids running around as witches and serial killers or killers from movies just makes me sad. I would much rather see them dress as their favorite character, heck even a Disney Villain  would be much less demonic then Freddie or Jason (which I will never understand why you want you kid dressed like that! (not you but the world haha))


 ?

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Since Halloween is my favorite Holiday I've read a lot about it.  What I understood from it is that the costumes had two purposes.

1. Try and make deceased family comfortable, make them feel that they still belonged

2. Ward off spirits/ghosts with evil intentions.

If you dressed like beings from the other realm, your own family wouldn't feel weird or ashamed and would appreciate all the effort. And at the same time the evil ones would only try and posses living humans. So if you dressed up like a ghost or a faerie (a being that crossed the realms too) they would leave you alone.

The light of the carved turnips would guide the spirits to their families homes and the "trick or treat" part was actually food aka "treat" you would prepare for your deceased family. If you didn't make them feel comfortable they would get angry and haunt your house (this is the "trick" part). If your ancestors were happy and content they would quietly go back to the other side as other realm closed again. If you made them angry they would resist it and be stuck in our realm and continue to haunt you, your family and house.

I myself do not believe in ghosts but I very much respect how they would honor the deceased and I'm a bit sad that we lost the original celebration and now that it's coming back from the USA it lost so much of it's origin. Seems that most people forgot the main aspect: honor the dead. It doesn't matter if you believe in a heaven or not, what religion you have or whether or not you're an atheist. Everyone has ancestors or maybe friends and family that died. Just thinking about them and respecting them once in a while is a nice thing to do. I'm not saying every country should go out for "trick or treat"-ing or celebrate Halloween as it's being celebrated now and I do believe most countries have a way of honoring the dead so it's all good.

I for one am happy it came back but I'll just celebrate it in honor of the original meaning. I have Celtic blood running through my veins so I might as well honor it a little. So, IF I have time to carve, I'll carve a turnip. :laugh:

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  • 1 month later...

Ups, I forgot to answer this post :blush:

 

@Musical_Shoyru

On 10/13/2019 at 4:17 AM, Musical_Shoyru said:

to downvote people's creativity just cause it's not spooky seems mean

I don't consider that as mean at all ^_^ What I think it's mean, for example, is to downvote everyone except yours or/and your friend's entries. 
We always vote, not only in Neopets contests but in everything else, according to our beliefs and personal taste. 

Let me try to put it this way... 
You live in the USA and you're Christian. There are Halloween and Christmas holidays. 
How would you feel if they mixed them at Christmas time? Exactly like in the famous movie The Nightmare Before Christmas when Halloween Town takes over Christmas and kids receive creepy spooky gifts instead of toys, skeleton raindeers instead of real raindeers, etc. 
Would you consider it normal?
And what if there is a Christmas Customization contest and there were entries related to Easter, Saint Patrick's Day, the 4th July, etc. Would you upvote them? 

That's exactly how I feel towards Halloween costumes people are using. I see it as a mix of Halloween and Carnival. 
Althought, I'm not really in favor for bloody and too scary outfits... like scary clowns, horror movies characters. etc. I think that is too much and if people do choose to wear that, then it should be contained to adult parties only to not traumatize kids. 
What I learned when I was kid and what I expected kids/adults to dress during Halloween is as the following example:
Resultado de imagem para halloween traditional costumes

Cosplays? Sure! But alike such examples:
Resultado de imagem para addams family cosplay Resultado de imagem para cosplay hotel transylvania 

image.jpeg.d7f7c29bdcffa67c6b42230ba7baf663.jpeg image.jpeg.07332afba8eedd46fa226bdc12ee1565.jpeg image.jpeg.68b87d5569839adb5dfcbbe279eb9e73.jpeg image.jpeg.129df034c68cf9281521e42d329e788a.jpeg

At least, that is my opinion.

 

@Duma

Thank you for your post, loved to read all about that :heart:

On 10/13/2019 at 8:28 AM, Duma said:

If you dressed like beings from the other realm, your own family wouldn't feel weird or ashamed and would appreciate all the effort. And at the same time the evil ones would only try and posses living humans. So if you dressed up like a ghost or a faerie (a being that crossed the realms too) they would leave you alone.

That's so fascinating :dance:

On 10/13/2019 at 8:28 AM, Duma said:

The light of the carved turnips would guide the spirits to their families homes

That resembles the Mexican tradition, doesn't it? From the day of the Dead? I love how the many different traditions around the globe have some similarities ^_^

 

On 10/13/2019 at 8:28 AM, Duma said:

The light of the carved turnips would guide the spirits to their families homes and the "trick or treat" part was actually food aka "treat" you would prepare for your deceased family. If you didn't make them feel comfortable they would get angry and haunt your house (this is the "trick" part). If your ancestors were happy and content they would quietly go back to the other side as other realm closed again. If you made them angry they would resist it and be stuck in our realm and continue to haunt you, your family and house.

:dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance: 
How fascinanting!!! 

 

On 10/13/2019 at 8:28 AM, Duma said:

Seems that most people forgot the main aspect: honor the dead. It doesn't matter if you believe in a heaven or not, what religion you have or whether or not you're an atheist. Everyone has ancestors or maybe friends and family that died. Just thinking about them and respecting them once in a while is a nice thing to do.

Exactly my thoughts ^_^

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