Halloween’s not a big thing in Australia. That’s something for which I’m very grateful. Apart from knowing that it’s got something to do with evil spirits I don’t really know what it all means and what all the fuss is about, although I do agree that the pumpkin is a scary vegetable. (Unless it’s in a really well made pumpkin soup.)
I personally don’t get the point in sending young children out to beg for food from strangers. It’s the kind of behaviour we would forbid at any other time of the year.
While there does seem to be a little more recognition of the day here over the past few years we will usually skip right past the 31st of October without anyone knocking on our door asking for something to rot their teeth. A few years back we had one group of a couple of kids. The last couple of years we’ve had no visitors for Halloween.
Yesterday afternoon we had two visits. The first was three rather oddly dressed and fairly young kids, the next was two boys from around the corner who sometimes visit our next door neighbours to play. They were dressed mostly in black with combat helmets and toy guns. What was that all about?
I told the little darlings that ‘we don’t do Halloween’ and sent them on their way. By the sag in their bags it didn’t look like many other people in our neighbourhood were doing Halloween either.
I was quite surprised that in both cases the kids were quite young yet they were out knocking on strangers’ doors with no parents in sight. I guess that’s why Halloween is so scary. While we didn’t get a visit last year I did see a dad walking around with a young girl in costume as I cycled home. That looked like a much better idea to me.
I’d really like to get your thoughts on the whole subject. Just click the comments link below and let me know what you think.
Did you get any Halloween visitors? What’s your standard response to trick or treaters? Are you a fan of Halloween? Would you encourage your kids to eat treats prepared or offered by strangers?
Posted by Rodney Olsen
Technorati Tags: Halloween – Strangers – Stranger Danger
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one of my friends gets visitors every year, though she just ignores them.
the problem is they had their house egged last year, another reason we don’t need halloween here.
I have quite a few American friends and have attempted many times to find out why they (Christian friends) are so accepting of Halloween. The response I always get is that it’s a celebration of harvest etc…
Now, I’d like to know that if its celebrating harvest, why do they need to focus so much on ghosts, witches and all things from the dark side??? I’m sorry, I’m not buying it. I just don’t see how harvest has anything at all to do with evil things. Don’t people understand the reality of witches???
I went for a bike ride last night at around the time they would have been visiting. I saw a few groups of kids going from door to door in Palm Beach. I heard somewhere that most kids just ask for money these days.
While I don’t “do” halloween, personally I have mixed feelings on the issue. On the one hand, if I had children I’m not sure I’d like them visiting strangers unsupervised. ON the other hand, part of me says that for once we should just let kids be kids for once.
Its my least favorite holiday and I forgot it even was Halloween till halfway through the day. But yes, its a big deal here in the states and I think, like most holidays, its made that way by companies that stand to make MONEY off it. As a child growing up I loved to dress up and get candy, it was very fun. I never considered that there was anything wrong with it back then.
My son also liked to dress up but we would usually go to the “Harvest Festival” at church. I think in most areas here its considered a very innocent and fun time for children. Yes, there are the ghoulish costumes – but I think mostly adults where that sort of thing.
We’ve had quite a few at our door this evening: Batman, several princesses, a fire fighter, Peter Pan, a gorilla, a pirate, a gypsy…I can’t remember the rest.
I heard a radio announcer this morning tell the story of how he had kids dressed in Halloween costumes come to his door last night. He didn’t have any lollies and when they said “trick or treat”, he decided to say “trick” and see how they reacted. They looked at him absolutely dumbfounded, they just thought they were going to get food. This just shows that a lot of Aussies really don’t have a clue about Halloween and that the kids are just copying Americans.
In Germany Halloween started to get popular the last years – at least in the shops. I didn´t see any costumed kids outside, though.
Last year older children who weren´t answered at the doors wrecked cars and facades of some houses, which is really sad.
Wasn´t it also poor old Jack O´ latern who “helped” us to this ritual? As I learned he tried to fool the devil, made him climb up a tree and carved a cross in the log so the devil got stuck. Jack made the devil promise he won´t send him to hell and removed the cross. The devil didn´t let him go to heaven either and gave him a hollow beet filled with a lighted coal so Jack might at least see where he was going in the night. “Poor” guy… These days pumpkins are easer to handle, but this also is a Halloween-Story.
Tim Allen has some really funny episodes in Home Improvement on Halloween though – recommended for a good load of fun! 🙂
No one came to our house as we have a big fence and gate, but I did see a few kids walking around all dressed up.
Usually we just ignore the whole thing. But this time for the first year I thought I could use it to reach out to the local kids. Maybe I could give them so treats and some little bits and pieces from Koorong. Who knows? Maybe next year.
But then again I am not sure I want to encourage the local kids to be on the streets and knocking on doors at night!
Here in Kenya no one celebrates Halloween, in fact they do not celebrate much any holidays at all. No halloween is not that bad but I do miss it. I grew up celebrating it in America. I do not know about all the focus on the dark side or the “reality of witches”. We never focused on anything dark. Before we left for Kenya our own children dressed up and went trick or treating.
Here in America, Halloween is HUGE. Billions of dollars is spent on scary decorations and candy every year. For me, it’s just a time to dress up and act silly for a change. Because it’s such a big deal here, there is a strong emphasis on safety. No kid should ever go out without an adult! They should wear clothes that have reflective material, or carry flashlights, never eat candy until a parent inspects it, etc.
If people knew the real reason behind Halloween, they wouldn’t have a bar of it. My brother in-law did some research on the roots of Halloween, & basically it’s the devils Christmas. It all comes from Druids & child sacrifice. People say it’s just all a bit of fun for the kids. No, it’s real evil that we Christians should be keeping right away from. It’s like playing with occult & I believe God will hold us responsible for it.
Thanks for bringing up this subject Rodney.