This post is in memory of the Halloween nights I’ve sat nervously eating the children’s give-away candy while waiting for the Priory door bell to ring. I felt besieged, I was besieged.
In Edmonton Canada the children came with pillow cases to collect the sweets. In Reading England in the early 1990’s just a few children came, neighbours children. In Eugene Oregon in 1988 I became transfixed by the carved pumpkins arrayed on the porches in our neighbourhood.
You too can carve a pumpkin
This is for all those who are besieged in their homes and for the woman I spoke to this afternoon, now cooking for the oncoming hoards. Who are you going to call?
What, or who, are you going to call on when you become besieged?
:-D That is a fun site!
Living quite a ways out in the country we rarely see kids on Halloween–maybe it’s the long, dark driveway and howling coyotes that keep them away? One year a friend took pity on us and drove her little ones out to our house. Of course we had to scurry about looking for appropriate treats. Moral of this story: always have candy on hand!
GHOSTBUSTERS!!!
In the village where I live in rural Yorkshire Halloween has become a community event. It is one of the few things that seems to really work. The agreement is that children only call at houses which display either a real pumpkin with a light or a picture of one. When you get fed up or run out of treats you remove your pumpkin. Most of the children are small & come escorted by adults & this year it just happened between 6pm & 7.30pm, possibly because of early bedtimes. I am very lucky to live here where people do not have to feel afraid to open the door after dark & where neighbours watch out for one another.
And I recognise the question – “who or what are you going to call on when you become besieged?” The answer has to be The Eternal.
I also recognise Halloween’s links to All Souls or remembrance of the dead. The Segaki festivals for the dead which take place at Throssel twice a year are the most wonderful & cathartic ceremonies for me.
I’m so happy that you’re back and that you had a retreat and took your camera and became a monk but mostly I’m happy that I got to carve a pumpkin over and over and over and hear the beasties in the night. It reminds me that one can have a good time meeting beasties in the night.
one and all. Glad you all enjoyed the site. I should add that it was not me who found the link, I’m grateful to the one who did.
I loved playing with the pumpkin but found it curious that you did eyebrows on yours. Personally I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pumpkin with carved eyebrows before…. (this comment has been slightly edited.)