Halloween was never observed in Australia until the past few years, as far as I can remember.
It happened suddenly one year we were living at Porepunkah that several neighborhood kids, dressed in costumes, knocked on our door for “trick or treat”.
It was a novelty then and we found some lollies for them.
Our kids took part the following year and the whole thing seemed to grow a life of its own.
Now our youngest kids, age 5, want to go trick or treating on Saturday night, which I won’t allow.
I suspect the practice was influenced by American television.
When I was young we used to celebrate “Guy Fawkes Night” in early November, also known as “cracker night” and “bonfire night”.
Fireworks were easy to obtain when I was small, until they were gradually phased out because of the obvious danger.
Bonfires continued for a year or two after fireworks were banned, but they lost their sizzle without crackers, I guess.
So to that extent, Halloween probably fills a void. Maybe there’s a primitive urge within us to commemorate the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, a festival of the dead.
Yeah, Trick or Treating is still big over here. It’s interesting to see other countries don’t do it. Canada does. All it is centered around candy though.
This idea of Australian children wanting to do Halloween and parents disapproving…reminds me of Jewish children wanting to celebrate Christmas.
One idea is to provide some kind of alternative.
My friend’s husband is anti-Halloween, so they don’t celebrate it. But my friend wanted her kids to have SOMETHING, so instead last year they had a Harry Potter celebration.
That doesn’t always work though. We always had Chanukah. We had the gifts and the food. It didn’t matter. We STILL wanted Christmas. We wanted a tree. We wanted stockings hung on the fireplace. We wanted to bake cookies for Santa.
TV makes it look so fun.
We want halloween in aus!!!
I love it but can’t do much about it until it grows a bit as i don’t want to look like an idiot!
Twitter: delmerw
says:
My boys are out right now, Trick-or-Treating with a friend in his neighborhood.
The last three years I’ve gotten zero beggars, so this year I didn’t bother to buy candy — instead of handing out goodies I’m reading blogs and watching Myth Busters.
I love it. My kids (5 and 8 yrs) went out trick or treating last night in a small seaside town, north of Sydney and the community atmosphere was just wonderful.People has placed something obvious (i.e pulmkin,black cat)at the front of their house if they were “Halloween friendly” and accepting of trick or treaters.I saw atleast 10 groups of trick or treaters making their way up the main street and some of the constumes were impressive. I just don’t get people banging on about it being an American thing. I read the Irish took it to America and doesn’t it have European roots based on old celtic belief systems. Aren’t we supposed to be a multicultured society that embraces many different traditions. Is it wrong to expose the kids to a bit of cultural variety and history.
It was great to see parents out on Saturday night, actually walking with their children, having a good time in their dress ups collecting treats. But does anyone really know the background or significance of this tradition? How can anyone trust people they don’t know to give their kids sweets, doesn’t that contradict the message of ‘stranger dange’r? What about the risk that some sicko might lace the sweets with something nasty?? Are the parents checking everything the kids are given to make sure it’s safe?? What about those children out unsupervised and those asking for “money or treats”. Come on parents, do your job and make sure your children are always supervised and know the reasons and risks associated with what they are doing
Verity,
with all due respect, that is a very paranoid attitude towards community festivals. May as well tell people not to touch what’s on offer at the cake stalls at the local school fete…because all of that stuff is made and donated by the local school community i.e.people you don’t know who could lace the goodies with razor blades and the like (I’m obviously kidding). Except for the older teens (who went around in groups) I didn’t see one child who did not have a parent hanging around. My oldest son joined scouts this year and he meets lots of new people through volunteering in community events. ‘Stranger danger ‘ is not about terrifying kids into avoiding meeting new people. It’s about teaching kids to avoid placing themselves in vulnerable situations and being aware when someone is crossing a personal boundary.
Twitter: mgorey
says:
We didn’t have any kids come to our door this year.
Verity, as Charlene said, it has Celtic origins. The pagan festival of Samhain marked the beginning of the dark half of the year. Wikipedia says:
The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family’s ancestors were honoured and invited home whilst harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm.
I like Charlene’s way of describing Stranger Danger. I teach my kids that if I allow them to talk to a stranger in my own presence, then it is OK. Here in Pennsylvania (US), we parents do inspect the candy before it is eaten so that we know it’s not opened or contaminated. It’s one thing to say you won’t let your own children do this, but it’s completely different to suggest that the parents who do aren’t being responsible adults about it.
I was watching a show on The History Channel last night about the origins of Halloween and it was said that the masks came from a group of extortionists who would bribe shop owners and wear the masks to hide their identity (they would also vandalize neighborhoods). If the shop owner didn’t pay up, they’d vandalize the property.
It was also said that not a single child has ever died from tainted treats.
Rebecca,
so what are you saying…the one about the psychopath putting the razor blades in the apples was all just an urban myth.
No, what I said was that “[on the show I was watching] was also said that not a single child has ever died from tainted treats.” That is still true, although several children have received tainted candy, none have died from it. And while one boy did die from a tainted pixie stick, his own father is the one who poisoned him and staged it to look like the boy received it trick-or-treating.
I also suggested that parents are far more astute about inspecting candy and supervising our children than people give us credit for.
I discovered a lot more reading two articles snopes dot com.
I was actualy kidding when I wrote that. When I was growing up the Hallowen story about the razor blades in apples used to circulate pretty heavily and as I got older I just presumed it was an urban myth. Like the one about the two people sitting alone in the national park, and one leaves the car. The companion left behind hears a banging on the roof and they get out to see a maniac holding a stick with their friends severed head on it and that’s what’s being banged on the roof of the car. That was a sleepover classic. However, I found your following comment particularly disturbing
“although several children have received tainted candy, none have died from it”
Not very reassuring.
Thanks for the chat.