[BITList] the Halloween costume party; Oldie but Goodie

[HUGH]

Colin,

A really good story, but what's Happy about Hallowe'en?  Over the past few years I've noted a tendency among the young here (and I speak of Scotland) to buy things called Happy Hallowe'en cards.  This is only slightly less stupid than the fact that some shops sell them.  What's happy about the night of the the dead, and of ghosts?  Also, we have yet to reach the time of Hallowe'en and already (over a week back) I've encountered children armed with ill-stuffed boiler suits (small), soliciting "penny furra guy".  This is not the "guy" in "guising", which used to be the central feature of Hallowe'en here - it's something to do with a (regrettably) failed attempt to blow up the English parliament by someone who came from York. I stepped over these urchins (they were blocking the doorway) and went into the Coop.  The lady there told me she overheard them discussing their gains so far. "My dad took the money," one said, "and bought me a chinkie."  So much for Guido Fawkes.

Marks & Spencer in Greenock have had a big display since September of all the bits and pieces used in the American Trick or Treat season - the word "Hallowe'en" is not mentioned anywhere.  We don't do Trick or bloody Treat, though one voluble lady who heard me point that out claimed we'd always done it.  I didn't ask her to define "we". A teenage girl gazed at the display in incomprehension.  "Are we still in Scotland?" she asked me.  To the credit of the locals, they seem not to have made much of an impression on the T or T stuff.  I suppose it'll be Happy Holidays next.

Hugh.
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