AIBU to think that the whole HALLOWEEN thing is Americanised Shite.

[ModreB]

I never did trick or treat. And neither did DH. I am not old - mid 40's.

AIBU to think that its a money making excuse by the Supermarkets to extract more money from us?

500 if it becomes a part of the culture and the person handing out candy (yeah, I said it) wants to give it to your child.. it isn't cheeky is it?

I love giving out treats!

There needs to be a Halloween equivalent of bah-humbug. Anyone?

boo humbug

We 'trick or treated' except we said penny for the pouca, penny for the ghost and you only got something if you sang, told a poem etc. We got nuts, fruit and maybe a treat or a small amout of money. We bobbed apples, got cherries out of flour, tried to eat an apple haging from the ceiling with no hands. All brilliat craic.

boo humbug!

I was rather against it, but have given in now! My son says he likes it and says its great fun. I am a bit weird about the occult thing too. I don't mind some of it, but some it is so ghoulish.

But I suppose I will have to get some sweets in. Or should I get into the spirit and make Halloween cupcakes. Now there's a thought!

Thank you Neunundneunzig.

FFS HOW MANY OF THESE THREADS DO WE HAVE TO HAVE.

DOES NO-ONE EVER EVEN LOOK UP THINGS BEFORE THEY POST

Oh yeah asking for pennies for the guy is that cheeky too?

Also when we were kids we would trick or treat for unicef, not sure if you can do that in the UK?

www.trickortreatforunicef.org/

WHAT MARYZ SAID. With bells on.

Boo humbug, love it!

marys

OP YABU .

This year I will be scraping out a huge pumkin and sitting DD2 (6m)in it with her legs through holes and then Im going to take a picture and send it to her dad who will be working away.

And will continue to take twatty photos of her various outfits until she is old enough to hide from me

This Hallowe'en I am going to be a dement or

This thread will be followed in 5 days by the Fucking Guy Fawkes is a Commercialsed Rip Off thread, featuring:

It is wrong for supermarkets to sell fireworks, jacket potatoes and hot dogs
It is a mortal sin to light a sparkler within 50m of any child not wearing a Hazmat snowsuit
It is wrong to make noises that go bang and make dogs scared
It is wrong to set fire to effigies because some people might think its them
Horrid teenagers will take it over and ruin in for everyone

Ditto entire post for Diwali.

Nowwwwww CHRISTMAS!

It's ok, TSSDNCOP.

I have started an advance anticipatory thread for you.

I don't like it, and think trick or treating is awful. I'd never heard of anyone doing it in the UK until my late 20s (now 43).

Yabu, i love halloween, whats not to like ???

An excuse to eat sweets, bake delicious autumunal recipes and carve a pumpkin with the kids

Thank God Maryz, I'm not alone in my fun-bubble.

Posters, indeed much of MN would hate me pretty much from August Bank Holiday onward.

January totally blows for me.

The original point about dressing up as something scarey was to frighten all the bad spirits away before All Saints Day on the 1st Nov.

Now I'm religious and absolutely wouldn't mess with anything truely occult but come on wee kiddies dressed up as witches and vampires is hardly 'normalising the occult'. I would say the dressing up as something scarey in actual fact helps many children confront groundless fears by seeing that monsters are just made up and for dressing up silliness.

And "begging". If my house is decorated and I'm standing there with a bowl of goodies it's hardly begging.

As others have said, in Scotland a vital part of guising is performing some kind of party piece. No joke/poem/song etc - No sweeties!

However you are perfectly entitled to close your curtains and not partcipate in a historical community event if you wish.

Ditavonteesed - ooh, when was michief night?!? It annoys me I can't remember. It's not halloween is it?

I think the fact that I have to trudge along behind my kids as they TOT is a bit besides the point. When I was a youngster (in the US), we were solo from about age 5. It was the 70's, the golden age of negligence.

Absolutely despise halloween. It has just become another commercial event. I am in my 40's and halloween went on when we were kids but it was not about mass produced pastic tat churned out in mass and anywhere near as commercial as it is today.

It was one fucking day. 31st October but no its going just like the Asda Christmas - starting 3 months before the fucking event!

I liked it when it was low key and personal but I fucking hate it now I get a load of kids knocking at my door with their hands outstretched for something. I have never met most of them before. Some I think are from the people down the street who cant be arsed to even smile and say hello all year round but somehiow think its perfectly acceptable to send their kids uoto mine for some sweets once a year. Awww but its all OK really though because the kids love and fuck anyone who does not.

I just dont get why people think its OK to send their kids (yes accompanied with mummy or big brother) to someones house they just dont know and ask for sweets.

My friends boyfriend last year was dressed up (apparently a very authentic scarey as fuck costume - didnt see it myself heard this sorry tale after the event) and waiting for his lift to halloween do somewhere when his door bell rang. He apparently swung the door open really fast, growled and said/shouted something very offensive (lots of swearing) thinking it was his mate calling for him to piuck him up for the halloween do. Except it was a woman with her 3 kids aged about 6/7 or under. Who all were petrified and screamed. One wet themselves on the doorstep. The mother went mental and the kids could not be calmed down. Apparently the mother went back weeks later saying she wanted to sue my friends boyfriend as her kids had been mentally scarred and one was bedwetting ever since and having nightmares every night. Friends boyfriend was mortified and upset as he just didnt think kids would be knocking at his door- he knows no kids. He didnt do it intentionally it was supposed to be a joke amongst 2 grown men (?? the grown up bit tbh) He never did hear back from the woman so we guess she isnt sueing - but awful that it is what happend to those kids - part of me thinks if you take your kids in the dark to someones house down a dark path you know nothing about then thats a risk you choose to take.

I fucking despise halloween - did I mention that???? Hope it pisses it down here on the 31st so people have to stay in and eat their own fucking sweets!

Hallowe'en (as practiced in Scotland and Ireland) comes from the Celtic pre-Christian festival Samhain. Bonfires were lit and there seemed to be a belief there was a thinner veil between the real world and the spirit world. Maybe when Christianity came this was roughly incorporated into all souls day. Hallowe'en is bonfire night in Ireland and it's origins go back to Samhain. November is Gaelic is 'month of Samhain'

Nothing creepy about it when I was young! Bobbing for apples, trying to bite an apple hanging from a string with my hands behind my back. Barm breac, hoping to get a slice with the ring (there were other things in it too). Monkey nuts, hazel nuts and apples.

Fabulous bonfires ( I don't remember any creepy effigies like Guy Fawkes night), adding orange peel. The bonfires were in the countryside and were great in the dark evening. No fireworks or anything like that.

We didn't do trick or treat.

Can't be bothered with naming who said this, but yes, fireworks are dangerous AND a ridiculous waste of money and my dog is absolutely terrified for days whilst they go off. How can you find that ok? She sits and trembles and yelps all evening - and sometimes all weekend when Nov 5th falls in a Friday.

The clue that it did not originate in America is the name. It is short for All Hallows E'en (evening). No one in the US knows what an "e'en" is.

"Normalising the occult" - that'll be most religions then. Worshipping a wizard in the sky is acceptable but acknowledging people die is not?? Ffs. Get a grip.
How is celebrating Samhain wrong? The "Other" is with us always, as atheists, Catholics, Jews, Muslins etc.
To decide to deride it is ridiculous.
The Americanisation is a bit shit, but as someone up thread said its a treat to hollow out pumpkins instead of turnips (perhaps only Irish people appreciate this).
And WTF is our Halloween smiley ?