halloween, restrictions

[tielan]

So, Halloween is likely to be the first 'celebration' that we'll see since lockdown. Not that there were any particular celebrations from June to October (as some of you may have heard from me before, there's a June long weekend - "The Queen's Birthday" and the "October Long Weekend") and although Halloween isn't a big thing usually, I think it might be a little bigger this year because of lockdown.

So, plans.

Pumpkin carving. I think I will if the shops sell the pumpkins. I can display them up on the porch, visible from the street.

In contrast, I would really like to make this design to hang in the window: it's Luther's Rose - a seal of the Reformation, which is also celebrated on the 31st October. But hoo boy, that'll be a lot of work for a month! 75 x 75 inch-squares is...a lot of squares.

Don't know if we'll be allowed picnics/gathering by that time, but I might arrange for an afternoon tea on the lawn if I can. That would be fun, and nice to see people and socialise a little.

Trick or treat; last year I pegged chocolate bars on fencing across the yard and kids were invited to come into the yard and take a chocolate. There was a sign on the gate. Not everyone read it. I'll make a bigger one this year.

Decorating the yard... Hm. I might look up what kinds of decorations are doable but easily compostable. I did a course on weaving/basketry with natural materials, I should try some of those. I could probably put a tealight in a jar, hang the jar on a wire up in a tree, then put a woven basketry thing around it for decoration. And probably not set the whole thing alight. Probably.

Comments

[senmut]

Sounds fun!

[tielan]

I feel like the planning is fun. The actual doing, on the other hand, is often a hassle...

[kass]

I am fascinated to learn that pumpkin carving is a Halloween custom where you are too. Are you far enough south in Australia that the end of October is autumnal for you like it is for me? (I'm at 47N more or less; I think Australia ranges from 19S to 30S or so, but I might be wrong.) Or is it a custom imported from someplace where pumpkins are in season at that moment in the year?

[tielan]

Oh pumpkin carving is totally not a Halloween custom. I mean, we don't really have any Halloween customs except 'trick or treat' and even that's a bit desultory. We barely did it when I was a child (maybe once or twice, just around to the neighbours either side), and never did it when I was a teen (because venturing down some forty to fifty stairs without a handrail just to reach the front door was a terror in and of itself before you had to toil all the way back up to reach the street again), and not until we moved into this neighbourhood seven years ago was there any sign of ToTing.

At the time of Halloween, pumpkins are absolutely not in season in Sydney (our pumpkin seeds are only just sprouting). But they're sometimes sold in the big supermarkets, so they're probably grown over winter up in far-north Queensland (FNQ) and shipped down to our more moderate regions.

I have no idea how to go about pumpkin carving. It'll be an Experience!

[kass]

Ah! That makes more sense, then. Trick or treating is absolutely a custom here in the northeastern USA -- my eleven year old will dress up in an anime costume and he and a friend will roam the streets of the neighborhood near the elementary school (you might call it a primary school?) -- houses will be all decked out with autumnal lights and "scary" decorations and people will give out candy at every door. That said, pumpkins are actually in season here at the end of October -- as opposed to south Texas where I grew up (about 2000 miles away) which is closer to subtropical, it's much warmer there.

[deird1]

The main problem with Aussie trick or treating is that it's only getting dark at about 8:30 in October. So you can't really decorate with lights in the way that the USA can. (And there's no "turning my porch light on so people can see I'm participating" – you'd never see it.)

[wpadmirer]

We used to decorate, but we live on a dead end road, so no one ever comes here. (sigh) I love Halloween.

[tielan]

See, we used to live in a cul-de-sac and down about forty stairs to our front door from the street. We didn't get any trick-or-treaters!

Now, we live in a faintly sloped street of suburban houses, with a school in the next street, an open front yard, and a very visible front door from the gate. We are very exposed, and we quite enjoy meeting the kids and parents in the neighbourhood...

[beatrice_otter]

Well, that is a lot of 1-inch squares, but I love it, so I think it would be worth it ... but then, I am a Lutheran myself, so I might be biased.

[tielan]

LOL. Maybe for next year...

[eggsbenedict]

Have you seen the pineapple carving video? It's a neat idea but it doesn't look that easy... 😆

[tielan]

I haven't! But I'd much rather dry or glace pineapple for later...

[novel_machinist]

That project is *so pretty* I could not even attempt that.