I’m from Spain, so to me Halloween is something from the movies which Spanish schools (always very happy to do anything that looks secular) are trying to copy without understanding it.
Everybody knows the sentence “truco o trato” (the horrible translation from the movies) is about Jalogüín, but nobody knows what it means.
The other day in easyJet’s flight magazine there was a little article about Halloween traditions in Europe. A horrible little article, if I may say so. What it listed as “traditional in Portugal” was simply the Halloween relocation; what it listed as “traditional in Madrid” is… traditional in Mexico. Only a tiny weeny ocean in between
In Spain some bakers make a sweet called “huesos de Difuntos,” which aren’t skull-shaped (like the article said) but femur shaped, and sold only on November 2nd hence the capital D. November 1st is the Feast of All Saints; November 2nd is the Feast of All Deceased Believers (direct translation from Spanish, someone please give us the correct name in English?): Fiesta de Todos los Santos and Fiesta de Todos los Fieles Difuntos. On Difuntos we traditionally go to the cementery to visit the family’s grave; that means that people have cleaned up the place in the week prior. Other than that, there’s no big celebration.
The closest thing to a Trick or Treat tradition would be el Aguinaldo and Inocentes. Aguinaldo is similar to the Boxing Day tradition. An Aguinaldo is a gift (money or material) given to someone as a tip around Christmas Day; Inocentes is December 28 and it’s similar to April’s Fools. Someone who didn’t give aguinaldos would have been likely to, say, step out of his house on December 28th into the kind of things one should not find outside one’s doors… although now that we’ve all gotten Sibilised (we’re not in Africa any more, apparently) that kind of jokes aren’t done any more.
Oh, heavens! Back in the stone age, we kids dressed up in the parental furs and hit every cave for miles. Heh, I keed. But no one ever went with us. We just descended on our side of town like a plague of locusts. People must have spent a fortune to get enough candy for all the boomer chillun around when I was growing up. We always used double bag paper grocery bags which always seemed to rip open somewhere on the route.
I went with my kids until they were big enough (read middle school) to go by themselves.
These days I buy a couple of 100-piece bags of the candy bar assortments and once they are gone, or 8:00 pm whichever comes sooner, the front light goes off. After that it’s just the big kids without costume so eff em.
So can I hijack? I saw a commercial for the HP Touch computer over the weekend. So I’m asking all the geek Mumpers…the next big thing or the latest POS???
This is our first Halloween in our house, so Mr Tavi and I are very excited for the trick or treaters that the neighbors promise we’ll get. Last year we were in a flat on a semi-busy street and didn’t get many kiddos at all.
When I was TOT age we lived in townhouses, so it was quick and easy to fill a pillowcase with candy without going out of the neighborhood. Mom accompanied little bro and I until we were old enough to go with friends instead. He was Jason for several years running, and I recycled my cat costume a few times.
One year we went as a cowboy and cowgirl, in identical costumes except I wore a skirt and little bro had jeans on. I felt quite cool with my shiny plastic guns at my hips, a plastic star pinned to my fringed vest, and ten gallon hat perched on my head. Until we rang the bell of an eldery neighbor and she squinted out at us:
“Oh! A cowboy!” she said.
“And what are you little girl, his horse?”
I don’t remember any outstanding Halloweens growing up. They were fun, I quit actively trick-or-treating roughly around 12, and the best hauls were when my sister and I went out with our older teen aged cousin leading the way.
When we lived in Indianapolis, the neighborhood we were in looked like the Halloween scene in ET.
Now, because we like in the middle of nowhere, we don’t get trick-or-treaters at home. Instead, VWife and I go down to the fire station and pass out candy there with the chief. That is a real blast if you’re into Halloween.
I also get a kick out of the station’s Santa Clause activities.
Grew up in the country, didn’t ToT except once when I was sixteen when I was too shy to get much candy.
Nava, would November 2 be Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead? I usually go by the Mexican tradition which celebrates it on November 1.
Apparently Joe Biden decided to disrupt traffic at My Fair University this morning which means I had a run-in with the Secret Service. After a morning of thinking very mean thoughts towards them (mainly involving testosterone and their lack therof) I realized the best revenge is indeed living well and not working a job that will give you crippling PTSD in five years.
Still, this election needs to be over direct now. I’ve decided that I very much dislike living in a battleground state.
Oh, on Saturday I tried altering the sponge cake recipe into a chocolate cake. I added a cup and a half of ganache (equal parts chocolate and heavy cream, melted together) to the creamed stuff, and a third of a cup of cocoa. It’s really good. A bit fragile, but moist, and chocolately-buttery.
I’m very “eh” on Halloween. I think I stopped enjoying the whole thing when I was about 13.
Thank you for listening,
Mr Wet Blanket
How long since I’ve been in here? I am sooooooooooooo gol-danged busy these days, my fuse grows shorter by the minute. I’m going to listen to the therapist, the wife and my pal and just NOT do some of it. Seriously, I get something knocked off of my to-do list and three more jump on.
I’m gettin’ very drunk tonight. As in “here’s the keys honey” drunk.
Show of hands everybody who expects, nay demands, a punk drost from MBG tonight!
Secret shame confession follows in spoiler…
I like malted milk balls and cirucs peanuts. welby shall be reported to the home planet for special observation.
Howdy Y’all! Home from work and makin’ dindin as I post. I made up a meatloaf last night and it’s cookin’ away. Succotash and one of those Uncle Ben’s [sup]TM[/sup] wild rice packets shall be the sides. Also, I shall bake some of those brown ‘n serve rolls. Ol y’all know who is comin’ for supper but won’t be stayin’ the night due to work stuff.
Today I learned all about makin’ changes to people’s PII. What can and can’t be done. Fun stuff. :rolleyes: Tomorrow is a day of watchin’ videos and listenin’ in on phone calls. Envy me!
It appears that work has blocked access to photobucket or something. I can view it, but I can’t upload pics. And it really doesn’t like it if I try to upload pics through my illegal copy of Firefox. Oh well. No baklava pics, sorry.
My back is really really sore so I’m going to the chiropractor soon. I hope that’ll fix things 'cause this isn’t a lot of fun. Medicinal baklava may help though.
I guess I’m half alien because I like malted milk balls, but I think that circus peanuts taste like the Styrofoam That Time Forgot. I also hate candy corn and those candy pumpkins. Fun-size Krackel bars, though, that’s the candy to get in the treat bag.
Home, headachy from being hungry. Stew will be ready in 45 minutes, so that’ll solve itself soon. I have a question, though: I want to add more color to my stew. So far it has beef, onion, garlic, potato, turnip, and carrot in it. What else can I toss in there to make it less pale?
Whew - for getting off work early, I’m getting here late. I came home, cut up some beef and tossed it into some broth to simmer. Then I got 3 teeth filled. Came back home, added veggies to the beef-n-broth, and futzed about till the soup was ready. It was yummerrific!
Daughter and SIL got home about 9:30 this morning - foolish kids ended up swapping off every 30 minutes or so for the last part of the drive - dummies!!! But they got some sleep, and SIL is at work now. Daughter goes back tomorrow - almost has her voice back.
I just ordered a mattress and foundation for our guest room. I was going to buy a 5-year old one from a woman at work, but I got this brand new set for under $500 delivered. It’ll be here a week from Sunday. Yay!
As for Halloween, I grew up in a row house. yeah, now they call them townhomes, but they’re row homes. Unlike today, we didn’t wait till dark. Right after school was out, we ran home, put on our costumes, and went to the farthest reaches of our neighborhood to start collecting. Then after supper, we’d hit the closer streets and end up with massive amounts of potential tooth decay.
Once we finished, we’d assemble in our living room to sort and trade. One sister didn’t like anything with nuts or peanut butter, so my brother and I would fight over who would trade with her. Mom would take all the bubble gum and give it out to kids who came to our door. And for the most part, the candy didn’t last a week. I suspect Mom and Dad grazed in our bags…
When we first moved here, we decorated and bought a bunch of candy. We had maybe 2 dozen kids. We haven’t done anything since then - I didn’t want to deal with the dogs and the doorbell. So we leave the lights off and hide. Boo humbug.
Mmm, malted milk balls. Those are what I didn’t get yesterday at the store when I picked up some candy. I’ll have to go back to get some before Friday.
I work until 8 that evening, which is well after dark; I also live right near a trailer park which has a lot of kids. I guess I’ll have to leave a bowl out and hope a group of jerks doesn’t make off with the whole thing. I’m a pretty generous candy-giver, but I forgot how late I was working when I bought candy and I’d just as soon not have to eat it all myself! (Words I never thought would come from my brain…egad, I have grown up!) I don’t want to save it all for the undressed-up teenage types, because they are no fun.
At least when I was 16 and ToT’d I wore a costume. And I’d have taken a handful of candy but not the whole thing. Dare I hope for civilized kids living nearby?
