Halloween scares my DGC

I am a Bah Humbugger as well. Our local Asda had a truly horrible display of Halloween 'stuff' including a life size grave with recumbent skeleton which I found distasteful in the extreme having just been to the graveside funeral of a neighbour. However, I have just arrived at DD3's. The 6 year old has been dressed in a 'bride's' outfit concocted from an old dress, a veil from a curtain and copious amounts of white, black and red face paints; the 3 year old is a dragon with a black face and fangs having changed his mind half way about sporting a black bin bag. They have gone to the neighbours for some games and eats and will be back within the hour. They are happy - even though they haven't a clue what it's all about and I am happy as I am sitting safely on the sofa away from it all..... There wasn't all this carry on and hoo ha when I was a child. Blame the Americans! (Sorry Envious!)

Hallowe'en.
It's a celebration of evil so what's to like?
Small children should be in bed, not out after dark.
Some of the costumes are frightening and/or plain offensive.
Begging is beyond the pale.
Old people can be frightened by callers.
Teenagers can ramp up the 'fun' beyond what is acceptable.
Children should not be eating huge amounts of sweets.
The 'treating' aspect is bad enough but the 'tricking' part (egging and worse) is totally unacceptable and often criminal too.
The whole traditional festival which was low key has been turned into an American style spend fest.
I was a teacher and found, to my relief, amongst my colleagues, that I was not alone in deploring this horrible evening. I am dreading the night's constant unwanted interruptions but I have an appeasing bowl of sweet trash and I dare not turn the knickers away.

'Knickers'?

Goodness, that's certainly beyond the pale...

Couldn't agree more with all the comments , an American imported money making scam ,and I cannot believe that the fancy dress outfits do not have to be fireproof as they are classed as toys .After Claudia Winkleman's child was burned last year I hope parents have heeded all the warnings . I have decided not to open the door this year so will probably be clearing up flour bombs inthe morning .....

SusieB50 in its present form it is a commercial money making scam, but it is not an American import.

ANCIENT ORIGINS OF HALLOWEEN
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

Just like Christmas, it has been taken over in the main part by commercial forces.

Teacher11

I presume you meant 'knockers'

Yes, best to be prepared, and although it has got commercial and trick or treating can be against some people's principles, we don't seem to have so many teenagers throwing flour and eggs around in our town these days, thank goodness!

When I was little we always used to celebrate Hallowe'en at Brownies and Guides by bobbing for apples in a big bowl of water or trying to take a bite out of apples hanging from a clothes line and we thought it was wonderful and such fun! Nobody would have thought of dressing up! Otherwise it was totally ignored by everyone and there were certainly no scary displays in shops, or banging on doors and frightening people. We are supposed to be a Christian country and this sort of thing amounts to devil worship! What a bad example we are setting children! And what good we are doing to the revenue of the shops! Are we really that naive not to know how we are being exploited!

When I came 'up North' in the 60s my old landlady used to fear 'mischievous night' when youths would remove garden gates, stuff disgusting things through her letterbox and other outrages. This evening we have had a stream of excited little children, with their parents, trick or treating. Some little girls performed a dance, others sang or told jokes. They were all very polite and seemed to be enjoying themselves.We have had lots of fun and think it's much less intimidating than Mischief night.

My B neighbours are setting off fireworks now FGS. It's going to be a very long week . ??

Hi all,
We're upstairs tonight. Only lights at the rear duck house. Well, it's
8.17pm don't think anyone will knock now

We are irritated by parents who allow their children to knock on peoples' doors they don't know from a bar of soap . They stand and watch from the top of our drive - so rude. We'd feel better if they'd introduce themselves to us and their children and tell us where they live.

Our 4 neighbours Mums used to come with their children and chat, while their grinning children used to sort through the tin of QS .

With a very large glass of merlot I'm happy up here hic

afk now, so ttfn and dltbbb

Hi all,
We're upstairs tonight. Only lights at the rear duck house. Well, it's
8.17pm don't think anyone will knock now

We are irritated by parents who allow their children to knock on peoples' doors they don't know from a bar of soap . They stand and watch from the top of our drive - so rude. We'd feel better if they'd introduce themselves to us and their children and tell us where they live.

Our 4 neighbours Mums used to come with their children and chat, while their grinning children used to sort through the tin of QS .

With a very large glass of merlot I'm happy up here hic

afk now, so ttfn and dltbbb

Wow rose thanks for your insight

You're repeating yourself now, LuckyDucky!

Carry on enjoying your ...

I am quite happy for my neighbours to come with their young children and have always got chocs in for them. However this year we have only had one set of three children ( with parents) and will be eating chocs for weeks.

Rosequartz, thanks for your info, it's exactly what I was told by my mum. We lived in the north west and always celebrate All Hallows' by dressing up, ducking for apples and telling ghost stories.
We also as older children, early teens enjoyed mischief night when we took gates off their hinges, knocked on doors and ran and generally tried to find mischief to get up to. It mainly consisted of roaming the streets near our homes before being in at 8 or if you pushed it, 8.30 .
I'm in Germany tonight and the city is full of groups of small children dressed as witches, skeletons etc. some adults and big groups of teenagers also dressed up and having a good time.

Same here Ann
One little visitor with her mum, delighted to show me her lantern and pumpkin and I was really pleased I had a supply of Frozen chocolate bars with Elsa on the wrapper.
Don't know what we're going to do with the rest of the stuff though!

My 12 yr old DGS told me on the phone this morning that he doesn't trick or treat any more but 'Dad always buys loads of chocolate and toffees and I eat all the leftovers so why go out begging for it?'

Smart Lad!

My parents, who migrated, in retirement, from Scotland to Yorkshire, were used to Halloween as we celebrated it as children. So they were mystified by Mischief Night which seems to be peculiar to the North of England. It was after Halloween in their village, so not related to Halloween. Where did Mischief Night come from?

My B neighbours are setting off fireworks now FGS. It's going to be a very long week
Here too, Nelliemoser - and it will go on randomly until NYE!

We have a tub of haribos, a mixed bag of sweeties and two chocolate 'ghosts' just in case.

No-one came round, so they will have to go to the DGC and I will be worrying about their teeth!

Thanks rosequartz for putting teacher right about the origins of Hallowe'en!

'Celebration of evil' indeed!! Just a commercial festival like so many more. Let's be accurate about it. I think the film ET gave Trick or Treating a huge boost then mammon saw an opportunity.

I had Gs's Haribo and raisins ready, alone in the house and feeling under the weather. Intended to stock up at supermarket but hadn't.
Had an enchanting 3 year old skeleton and his nan, he was cold and about to go home. Later two teenage girl ghouls came, a schoolgirl and a cheerleader and assured me that they weren't cold at all! That was it! A friend in Eire had happily had 95 callers at her last post!!

Here in deepest rural France they almost ignore Halloween, but there's a lot made of All Saints Day, which I think is today?
For the last 2 weeks the shops have been full of huge planters of chrysanthemums, and today familes will go to the cemeteries to place the flowers on the graves of their relatives .
Maybe in the bigger towns they keep Halloween, I've seen a few costumes etc in the shops. There are plenty of pumpkins around for lanterns.

Elrel I can't claim all the credit, someone posted the link on FB!
I think you're right about the ET film

For what it's worth, LD: the parents hovering at the end of the drive/path are striking a nice balance between:
letting their children TorT unsupervised;
and accompanying them right to the door (thereby both restricting independence and making it clear to the children that no unknown adult can be trusted to even speak to them).
That's how I see it anyway.

Halloween at the surgeon's operating room fish stall at the Barcelona food market yesterday.

Teacher 11.......I must agree about Halloween in schools. At school we didn't mentioned it in my part of Birmingham and hadn't done for over 20 years.

We had children from such a mix of religions including the occult. It was felt prudent to ignore it on the grounds of offence to some families. Diwali falls at a similar time and was relevant to Sikh and Hindu kids. As much fun and as colourful.

Having said that in this part of Hampshire it's all different and everyone has fun including my GCh.