Halloween?

24th October 2024

You’ve done it! The longest half term, of longest half terms, has been completed.

We’ll all have things planned for the holiday week. Some of you will be taking the full week and some of you, depending upon your working patterns, will be taking some time, if not the whole week. Whoever you are, I just wanted to say thank you.  because of tiredness or because they have been carrying the seasonal bugs.

You will be looking forward to the increasingly popular and fashionable Halloween events? Things have shifted. When I was a child there was very little mention of Halloween. It was a very American thing, observed from afar and with a longing look at that exotic vegetable – the pumpkin. We used to carve swedes (although those from the North East of England would call them turnips – I know!). There certainly wasn’t the commercial element to Halloween that we find today.  ‘In my day’ there was more emphasis on ‘mischief’ night (a Yorkshire thing as Guy Fawkes grew up in York and allegedly plotted the attack on parliament in Knaresborough) and bonfire night. For understandable health and safety reasons (isn’t that right Chris Taylor?) bonfire night, as an occasion, has diminished somewhat. Is it reasonable that we should celebrate the capture and punishment of a Catholic insurgent from back in the 17th century?

All Hallows Eve has become an event, being the day before the Christian All Hallows or All Saints Day (1st November). The day, or so the tradition would have you believe, is when all the ghosts and ghouls, demons and devils would emerge and wreak havoc. Although there may be those religious types who would want to recognise that, prior to celebrating the overtly religious day, many of us these days won’t really know the genus of these days or be too concerned about the religious aspect; we just want a reason to ‘dress up’.  It does seem that Halloween is more about dressing up and celebrating, with adults as much as with children, Chatting to some of our children in the past week about their Halloween plans, I heard them discuss dressing as, amongst other things as Disney characters, including Disney princesses. I’m not sure how that fits with witches, wizards and gremlins but it’s clearly popular and increasingly fashionable.

And beyond our children and young people I do know that for some adults it’s also an opportunity to engage in dressing up and role-play. There are some who enjoy the experience of dressing up, doing the fancy dress stuff, and letting their hair down. That’s not for me.

Whether you plan to go trick-or-treating, love wearing a pointed hat or not, I do hope that you’ve got some plans and you can find time to relax, do something that you wouldn’t usually get the time to do and have some fun.

‘If human beings had genuine courage, they’d wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween’. Douglas Coupland

‘On Halloween, the parents sent their kids out looking like me’. Rodney Dangerfield

Whatever you’re up to over the next 10 days or so. Enjoy and we’ll be onto talking about Christmas very soon