Last year, I was circling Great Britain around Halloween, because in Europe, you can zip off to foreign countries without spending very much money at all. I visited my "twin" Alan in Dublin, who was born on almost the same day as me, and then I headed south to England.
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| Halloween costume Norfolk-style |
On Halloween Day 2012, I was in Norfolk, happily thrift shopping at King's Lynn charity stores with Joan -- an incredible woman and the sister of my entertaining friend Rob (photo above). Joan and I had a great day together. In addition to finding the best used clothing on the planet, we saw some little British trick-or-treaters, and stores were handing out candy. Though Halloween isn't celebrated in England quite like it is in the States, it didn't bother me that I missed it, because I wasn't at home. Anyway, retail therapy and a good cup of tea with Joan satisfied my every need. I even got my picture taken with a real bobby!
And everyone spoke English. That's a plus.
And everyone spoke English. That's a plus.
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| Handsome bobby and me |
Fast Forward: Heidelberger Halloween, late October 2013
This year, I would be in Germany on Halloween, and I would make the best of it.
At school, we had a Halloween party on our last day before fall break. For some of the kids -- all of whom are at least half German or have grown up here -- it was their first Halloween celebration. They dressed up for our Halloween parade and party, and one little girl even came dressed in her witch costume a day early. Fellow teachers, classroom assistants, and one 10th grader helped decorate our lunchroom, making it frightening with the lights down low. We had kid-manufactured spiders and bats hanging from the ceiling, monster cookies, grape eyeballs, a floating hand in a pitcher of juice (thanks, Frau Bell!), bloody fingers (hot dogs and ketchup), rubber snakes and spiders, and other adornments.
At school, we had a Halloween party on our last day before fall break. For some of the kids -- all of whom are at least half German or have grown up here -- it was their first Halloween celebration. They dressed up for our Halloween parade and party, and one little girl even came dressed in her witch costume a day early. Fellow teachers, classroom assistants, and one 10th grader helped decorate our lunchroom, making it frightening with the lights down low. We had kid-manufactured spiders and bats hanging from the ceiling, monster cookies, grape eyeballs, a floating hand in a pitcher of juice (thanks, Frau Bell!), bloody fingers (hot dogs and ketchup), rubber snakes and spiders, and other adornments.
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| Just a small representation of the infinitesimal amount of Halloween frights at school |
As chief American (the only American) and master of ceremonies, I let the kids in one at a time so they could soak up the ambience of the spooky stuff... and then we turned on the lights and blew out the candles. Kids wrapped their parents and classmates as mummies (with toilet paper), we played Hot Pumpkin (a version of Hot Potato), and we danced a little. Because it was the last day before a break, everyone over the age of 10 was pretty exhausted, except the kids of course, who played hide the IKEA rat 20 times before they grew tired of that game.
Okay, so the buildup to Halloween wasn't so bad. There was active participation and it felt like Halloween, mostly. Our room decor topped any I've seen at any school ANYWHERE, and we even had a flying red-eyed bat.
But you know that sometimes, with too much anticipation and great expectations, the letdown can be frightful.
HALLOWEEN - October 31, 2013, Viernheim, Germany
The day before Halloween, I bought three small, undernourished pumpkins (bad crop this year?), and we brought them home to carve. Surprising, the 4-pound pumpkins were easy to work with and cake to scoop out, for they had hardly any guts. After carving and lighting the two scary faces and a Halloween lights pumpkin, I felt our front walkway would be welcoming enough to little German varmints out on Halloween night. Or... we might not get any trick-or-treaters whatsoever! I had no experience with these matters, and Heinie, who told me we could wait to buy candy until Halloween, was no help at all. He knew NUTHINK.
Alas, that was the entire problem. I had no help at all.
Certain enough, the skies of Viernheim grew dark, and the howling and barking of dogs became rampant. Before I could complain twice that there weren't enough children filling the sidewalks of our neighborhood like they do back home at dusk, I saw little bandits dressed in dark clothing approaching!
By this time, I had begun imbibing, because the resident ghoul at home was not talking to me (bad day at work and bad mood for the day), and I was far, far away from home on one of my favorite holidays.
Perhaps the Germans don't understand. Obviously, Heinie hadn't a clue. Halloween is the spooky precursor to November: the month of my favorite Uncle Martin's birthday, Day of the Dead, the birthdays of many of my Scorpio friends, and then Thanksgiving!!!! Halloween a time that arachnids enjoy. Scorpions have a knack for scaring the crap out of people, and I am no exception.
My drinking days behind me, I became quite intoxicated on one or two (or three?) Liquid Valiums (Crown Royal and Amaretto). Children were walking up the driveway and were about to ring. I had to frighten them, and being a drunk, middle-aged American woman in the middle of Germany was not enough! Thank goodness my Halloween CD was still in the player, and my sister had mailed a large bag of candy corn with my birthday shipment. I tore open the bag, filling a bowl, and I hit the play button on the stereo.
Opening the door, I found 5 or 6 older children, mostly dressed in black. I couldn't tell what their costumes were, but mostly they had ghoulish masks. Perfect. I dug into the bowl of candy corn and adorned them and their bags with it, explaining what it was. I knew Germans were unfamiliar with candy corn. What I wouldn't have done for some individually-wrapped Gummi Bears, or even Snickers at that moment, but oh, well. One child said he didn't have a Tüte, and he opened up his hands to receive the candy. Not a one of them said "Trick or Treat," but it was a beautiful moment nonetheless.
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| Candy corn - difficult to find in Germany |
After the kids left and I wished them "Happy Halloween," I stepped outside the door to listen for more. It sounded as if the streets of Viernheim were now overrun with little ghouls. I heard screams and loud gasps. I heard parents speaking in muffled German. I'd better get my scare ready once more.
Children continued to visit our doorstep, and I counted about 20 or 30 kids. Not too shabby for a first Halloween overseas, but there were problems.
The candy was not wrapped - a BIG no-no in America, because of all the razor blade and poison scares. I wonder if that razor blade thing was just a lie purported by the news media, backed by the candy manufacturers, so homemade popcorn balls and cookies would be banned from the Halloween bag? (That is a question calling for more research.)
I had no help. It would have been great to employ the services of the big ghoul with whom I reside. He has lots of scary knives, and he is tall enough to hold the red-eyed bat over the heads of the children. Or he could jump out from behind a corner and scare the living daylights out of young German children. Before Halloween came, he said he would help, but on the day of, there were barely words spoken. Das geht nicht.
Next Halloween, we WILL have pre-wrapped, wahrscheinlich American candy for Halloween. And I'm either going to get some help scaring the children, or I'm fleeing the country. Shopping in England is a good option.
Even better? Home for Halloween. It's not unheard of, is it?
If I sound spoiled to you -- as if I should be satisfied with the German Halloween I had -- you're right.
Halloween, since I was a little girl, was a favorite holiday. How else do you rake in a whole BAG of candy, all in one night?! No waiting for the Easter bunny. Trick-or-treating and other Halloween shenanigans were what we kids lived for every fall.
As an adult, I began minor frightening from inside my front door after my son was old enough to trick-or-treat on his own and didn't want me around, dressing up in doom and playing scary music when the children rang. That progressed to setting up haunted houses in every place I lived in Colorado to a full-fledged haunted western town one year, with help from 20 of my best friends. Those were the days.
So yes, I'm spoiled.
I know Viernheim isn't big on Halloween... yet. But we can change all that.
If I sound spoiled to you -- as if I should be satisfied with the German Halloween I had -- you're right.
Halloween, since I was a little girl, was a favorite holiday. How else do you rake in a whole BAG of candy, all in one night?! No waiting for the Easter bunny. Trick-or-treating and other Halloween shenanigans were what we kids lived for every fall.
As an adult, I began minor frightening from inside my front door after my son was old enough to trick-or-treat on his own and didn't want me around, dressing up in doom and playing scary music when the children rang. That progressed to setting up haunted houses in every place I lived in Colorado to a full-fledged haunted western town one year, with help from 20 of my best friends. Those were the days.
So yes, I'm spoiled.
I know Viernheim isn't big on Halloween... yet. But we can change all that.
Happy November.
Dictionary
Das geht nicht. - That will not do.
etwas enttäuschend - somewhat disappointing
die Tüte - the bag (candy, paper, etc.)
wahrscheinlich - probably
2 comments:
Happy to know that you are having a good time at the new school. Its pretty nice to know how to scare children on Halloween. :)
Danke, Durga! I miss your beautiful face.
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