Halllowe'en Costumes

[Mile-O]

I occasionally pop in , mainly in the jazz section ( i know you hate jazz) ,

I don't hate jazz. I may have done once. But I've listened to jazz tag radio on occasion. I just don't like the bland freestyle stuff. Love a bit of trumpet.

 

[Bodisathva]

I reckon the whole halloween thing came from the USA, thats why we now get these horrible little brats practising extortion on the 31st. "You give me nice sweets and I won't smash your car up" - it stems from the American way of life where extortion and protection payments are the norm.

uhhh...nope! Wrong again...as usual :

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.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

The Jack-0-Lantern apparently comes from Irish folklore about a man named Jack who tricked the devil into climbing a tree. Once the devil was in the tree, Jack carved a cross on the trunk, preventing the devil from coming down. The devil then made a deal with Jack to not allow Jack into hell after Jack died if only Jack would remove the cross from the tree. After Jack died, he couldn't go to hell, and he couldn't go to heaven. He was forced to wander around the earth with a single candle to light his way. The candle was placed in a turnip to keep it burning longer. When the Irish came to America in the 1800's, they adopted the pumpkin instead of the turnip. Along with these traditions, they brought the idea that the black cat was considered by some to be reincarnated spirits who had prophetic abilities.

So, it appears that the origins of Halloween are a mixture of old Celtic pagan rituals superstition and early Catholic traditions.

The worst that we did when I was a kid was Papering the trees in your front yard (sorry, 'garden') or 'blocking' your car, both of which are merely aggrivating. That whole destructive thing seems to be a UK invention

 

[Ron_dK]

Rak - whats some basic prices?

Say

a cup of coffee in a cafe

a litre of petrol

20 fags

a fry-up meal in a cafe

a hotel room for a night (say 2 or 3 star)

you can do it in euros, I'll convert to GBP

Col

a cup of coffee in a cafe approx € 0.80
a litre of petrol approx € 1.26
20 fags approx € 4.10
a fry-up meal in a cafe approx € 7.50
a hotel room for a night (say 2 or 3 star) approx € 45.00

A good beer ( bottle 0.3 ltr) approx. € 1.20
A terrible beer ( bottle 0.3 ltr) approx. € 2.40

A new halloween suit approx € 240

Calc with 1 € = 0.6707 GBP


Cheers, Ron

 

[Ron_dK]

actually we arrived at 1535 and left at 1135, pennyless

What , you moved to Euro's ?

 

[Ron_dK]

I don't hate jazz. I may have done once. But I've listened to jazz tag radio on occasion. I just don't like the bland freestyle stuff. Love a bit of trumpet.

In that case , I can highly recommend Miles Davis or Wynton Marsalis.
Plenty of stuff on those at Youtube

 

[Groundrush]

The first time I was made aware of halloween was when the movie E.T came out.

 

[MrsGorilla]

We always dressed up and went trick-or-treating, but never did anything destructive. Must be a UK thing.

 

[Rich]

We always dressed up and went trick-or-treating, but never did anything destructive. Must be a UK thing.

Now Now Cindy, we've seen pictures posted here of some of the things Americans have done for Halloween

 

[Matt Greatorex]

Not that it's got anything to do with motorbikes or jazz, but someone briefly mentioned Halloween at one point so just thought I'd pass on what I've seen here .

Halloween in Canada - well, Ontario at least - is HUGE as a celebration. I remember some news story saying that the amount of money, time and effort spent getting ready for it comes a close second to Christmas.

The decorations, costumes and general 'feeling' for this time of year is unlike anything I ever noticed in the UK. Yes, we did trick or treat, but here it's expected that people will all buy in sweets especially to give to the kids and really seem to frown on anyone who doesn't. The kids also make a genuine effort with costumes (not just putting a sheet over their head to be a ghost) and it seems to be a lot more fun.

One particular difference I've noticed is that any decorations put up on the outside of the house or in the garden - for Halloween or Christmas - tend to get left alone. Where I grew up, they'd have lasted maybe a night before being stoled or smashed. A sort of amnesty appears to exist on seasonal decorations.

 

[MrsGorilla]

Now Now Cindy, we've seen pictures posted here of some of the things Americans have done for Halloween

Not from my neighborhood.

One particular difference I've noticed is that any decorations put up on the outside of the house or in the garden - for Halloween or Christmas - tend to get left alone. Where I grew up, they'd have lasted maybe a night before being stoled or smashed. A sort of amnesty appears to exist on seasonal decorations.

I've carved pumpkins the last several years (from these kits) and, to date, they've always been left alone. Other people I know haven't really experienced any problems with decorations being vandalized either.

 

[Matt Greatorex]

I've carved pumpkins the last several years (from these kits) and, to date, they've always been left alone. Other people I know haven't really experienced any problems with decorations being vandalized either.

When I was little, pumpkins were hard to come by and pretty expensive (certainly compared to here, where we've got a 'pick your own' place just down the road). As a result, we used turnips and I can categorically state that it's a damn sight harder work carving a recognizable face out of the latter.

 

[MrsGorilla]

When I was little, pumpkins were hard to come by and pretty expensive (certainly compared to here, where we've got a 'pick your own' place just down the road). As a result, we used turnips and I can categorically state that it's a damn sight harder work carving a recognizable face out of the latter.

I can imagine, although that is how the tradition got started, isn't it? It's a wonder that it ever took off.

 

[Matty]

When I was little, pumpkins were hard to come by and pretty expensive (certainly compared to here, where we've got a 'pick your own' place just down the road). As a result, we used turnips and I can categorically state that it's a damn sight harder work carving a recognizable face out of the latter.

So did you just carve a face out of the front of it, or did you actually dig out the insides, like you scrape the guts out of a pumpkin? The only experience with turnips I have is on the thanksgiving table, mashed with butter and pepper.

 

[Matt Greatorex]

So did you just carve a face out of the front of it, or did you actually dig out the insides, like you scrape the guts out of a pumpkin? The only experience with turnips I have is on the thanksgiving table, mashed with butter and pepper.

The whole thing, hollowed out and carved a face. I forget whether the insides were eaten or thrown away.

 

[TessB]

We all dressed up as people you would find in the ghetto.
I'm the dude that sells necklaces out of his coat.
We got the dude that comes up and washes your car windshield while you're stopped at a red light and then demands payment for smearing his dirty rag on your glass. We got the dude on the street corner who "Will work for food" competing for cash with the other dude on the next corner whose sign says "Ninja's killed my family. Need money for Kung-Fu lessons!"
We have a pimp, and a REALLY ugly transvestite who wouldn't make that pimp a single dime.....
We got a couple drug dealers...
We got a rap artist in need of some major dental work...
And of course, we got the preacher lady who's trying to save all our down-trodden souls.

And... later... I should have a picture of us all to share.

 

[KalelGmoon]

you should also check out Nina Simone, Herbie Hancock, Louis Armstrong. just to name a few if you are into jazz.

 

[Alc]

Felt like sharing this one.
My son's first Hallowe'en.

 

[MrsGorilla]

Awww. Cute pic. This year my 4 1/2 year old is going as Tinkerbell (really into Tink right now), and my 18 month old is a kitty cat, although she keeps trying to pull her ears off. I'll have to see if they will stand still for any pictures.

 

[John Big Booty]

I reckon the whole halloween thing came from the USA, thats why we now get these horrible little brats practising extortion on the 31st. "
Col

Wrong it's older than that

 

[TessB]

I reckon the whole halloween thing came from the USA...

What do you reckon?
Col

Holy mother of.... Col, you used the word reckon twice.
I thought that was a made up word, myself. Made up, of course, in America, as I've only heard it on old episodes of the Beverly Hillbillies.
I had no idea proper British people used it.

Well IIIIIII'llll be!
I never caught that the first time around.
LOL

Well, this year we had the cutest ever little 10 month old lady bug come walking up our driveway.... SOOOOOO precious! I just wanted to scoop her up and hug her.

At work, we dressed up as bikers. (Motorcyclists... Col.... I'm certain you would have approved.)I'll see if I can't send you the pic on PM. (Never sent a pic on PM before, so I don't know if we can.)