Embracing Halloween

I never use to be a fan of Halloween but when Spider Boy became old enough to enjoy it, I changed my mind.

The first two years of my new Halloween-embracing lifestyle we ventured with friends a couple of suburbs away, to a street that had a very good Halloween reputation. It was like a street festival. There was a constant stream of young people from toddlers to teens in varying states of spooky-dress. Families set up parties on their front lawns, serving lollies, cheese and crackers in between faux headstones. Someone had set up a karaoke machine on the back of a truck and there was an Aussie Idol style contest going on. It was party central.

048 — Halloween last year: It was hard to be spooked when the spookers weren’t much more than a metre tall. Spider Boy’s in the middle, between his friends “the Magician” (bat head-boppers) and another masked ghoul.

I rejected my bah-humbug attitude to Halloween and took it for what it was – a fun evening out where kids and adults get to be creative, party and eat sugar. What’s not to like?

About the same time that Spider Boy and I started embracing Halloween, my sister Senorita Margarita developed an affection for Mexican culture and the Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. I wrote a post last year about the Senorita’s Day of the Dead birthday dinner.

Learning about the significance of this festival helped me make more sense of Halloween. I love the idea of having a special day on the calendar each year for communities to remember their loved ones that have passed, to honour them with altars and gifts of their favourite food and drink. In previous years my sister has created altars for her dearly departed including our dear grandmother (who we called “Dear” because she was such a dear) who scored Tim Tams and sherry as her altar gifts.

062 — La Senorita in front of her altar.

This year, Senorita Margarita is at a Day of The Dead party in Melbourne, and Spider Boy and I stuck to our own suburb for trick or treating. Although there wasn’t any tricking going on, just lots of treats!