Bonfire night was a real event when I was a
kid. I can remember many 5th of Novembers, freezing in the cold and
wet of a local park, watching sodden fireworks splutter miserably, whilst a
huge bonfire crackled with such intensity, that to go within a hundred metres
would have melted the eyebrows from your face. It felt like one of those very
British endurance tests that we all love – like camping, or monopoly.
These days, Halloween has taken over from
Guy Fawkes as the Big One for autumn – especially for the kids. My eldest son
can’t comprehend that we even used to make a big deal out of November 5th
- its historical significance completely forgotten – and its associated weekend
fireworks displays. Personally, I’m not into getting kitted out as a freak, ghoul
or monster and I don’t really get adults doing the fancy dress thing, but
that’s me.
The kids love Halloween for the role pay,
the fear factor, being out and about late at night and of course, the
sweets. The huge bucket loads of
sweets. It really is a weird interaction
between child and homeowner. Child wearing mask and cape, or similarly spooky
costume asks “trick or treat?” Homeowner replies, “help yourself,” offering a bag
of confectionary, to which child takes a sweet, wishes homeowner “Happy
Halloween,” then turns and leaves. Is Halloween meant to be happy? It seems
like a contradiction in terms. Is dressing like a corpse or an axe murderer
really something to be happy about?
My own childhood memories of Halloween are
of apple bobbing. Thrusting my head deep into a metal tub full of freezing
water, with several apples floating on top, hoping to push one to the bottom of
the tub and force my teeth into its ripe flesh and then victoriously resurface
with an apple clasped defiantly in my mouth. In the sense of not wanting to
catch hypothermia in ridiculous circumstances, things have definitely changed
for the better.
The best thing about bonfire night was that
it brought people together. We experienced the bad weather, the toffee apples
and the dud fireworks together. It was a shared experience. Halloween on the
other hand, seems to me, a largely cynical means for kids to obtain sweets, pure
and simple. The main motive is greed - to stuff your face with candy. Again,
that’s me but it may well be another one of those reflections on society, where
we are less interested in community and more concerned about ourselves. I feel
I can’t blame David Cameron for this one though. Then again, eating as many
sweets as you can, whilst dressed as a zombie is probably a pretty cool thing
to do as a ten year old.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for getting in touch...