In Ireland we have trick or treaters and fancy dress. I think nowadays adults are as much if not more into the fancy dress element than the kids.
We have fireworks and bangers, which are strictly speaker illegal but can be purchased easily here. They’re legal in Northern Ireland so stores open up around this time of year on the border to capitalise on the ban down here.
We have bonfires where the neighbourhood kids burn anything that isn’t nailed down. Tires, wooden pallets, I’ve even seen televisions in bonfires.
I think this might be only in my family or an old-style country thing to do but my mother sets the table as if there’s going to be a meal. A feast for the dead.
That used to freak me out when I was a kid.
I don’t think Hallowe’en traditions vary much but my Ohio girlfriend says there they don’t have bonfires nor fireworks, which is a bit of a pity.
Does “Fancy Dress” mean “dressing up”? As in evening wear and tuxedos? There’s none of that in the Chicago area, but I can’t speak for the rest of America.
If “Fancy Wear” means spending about $200 (or renting) on a costume, then we’re on the same page. People will go out to bars dressed as Gene Simmons from Kiss, Elvis, Gumby, Moe from the 3 Stooges, etc. The better the costume, the…er…better (I was pretty lame…I usually went as a soccer player, tennis player, or referee).
We carve jack-o-lanterns, which are scary faces carved out of the front of a pumpkin. Throw a tea light in there…you’re good to go.
Kids trick-or-treat, which involves going door-to-door and asking for candy. They wear costumes.
No fireworks. We do eat gravel made from decomposed tombstones, though. There is a store in my neighborhood that deals entirely in micro-crushed tombstone powder.
Fireworks aren’t usually associated with Halloween in the U.S. The fireworks holidays are New Year’s Even and the 4th of July. Bon fires are common in some places especially among teenagers. Hay rides (a trailer with hay bales pulled by a truck or tractor that loads of people hang out on) are very common as well.
Halloween is a pretty big deal around here. There are lost of elaborate haunted houses created as fundraisers that are open a week or two before Halloween. The Boston area also has a large Halloween theme park called Spookyworld that is a commercial enterprise.
My neighborhood is very into Halloween. Neighbors have Halloween parties starting a few days before Halloween and one neighbor even builds his on spooky walking tour through his property and invites everyone to come take a tour with him. On Halloween evening, the kids (or parents and kids) go trick or treating around the neighborhood and most people have cool decorations.
Halloween is my family’s favorite holiday and we are lucky that we can turn it into an entire season if we want.
Round these parts, the tradition seems to be “Harvest Parties” which are just like Halloween parties except they don’t say the word Halloween, and the kids are allowed to wear any costume unless it’s “satanic.” :rolleyes:
There is the usual trick-or-treating and such, but lots of churches sponsor the above-named harvest parties. They look like Halloween parties to me.
I’m in Florida, but read about the turnip carving when doing some Halloween research (definitely my favorite holiday) and I’ve carved turnips several times. They look like little skulls, so they work well if you’re doing a voodo themed Hallween like I’ve done in the past.
Other Halloween traditions… Let’s see… I helped decorate my neighborhood bar last night. The publicans just brought out huge boxes of decorations and let us regulars go at it. Lots of fake bats, giant spiderwebs, mannequins dressed up like ghosts or zombies, huge spiders, tombstones, and a disembodied fortuneteller’s head in a glass ball that emitted strange lights and sounds. That bar is having a costume contest with free drinks for the winners.
My friends and I are planning a huge game of Manhunt (think Hide and Seek after dark) with two teams- Zombies and Zombiehunters -after the bars close down. My sister always has a Halloween party, costumes required, with a keg and lots of spooky hors d’oeuvres. Like deviled eggs with food coloring used to make them look like bloodshot eyes, or the pretzel and peanut butter “fingers”, or cemetary cake complete with gummy worms, sugar cookie tombstones, and a doll’s arm reaching out from a fresh grave.
Our parties can get really elaborate and require months of planning. We did a Haunted New Orleans themed party where we built mausoleums, made a voodoo table with voodoo dolls, skulls, etc, and played mournful jazz dirges. We made a lot of Cajun and Creole food. One of my favorite parties.
My friends and I usually listen to the Misfits, a punk band who sings about a lot of old B horror movies, werewolves, zombies, etc. And I never feel Halloween is complete without hearing Micheal Jackson’s Thriller, though more for Vincent Price’s creepy voice than anything else.
