Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Halloween UK 1970's style

When I was a kid in the 1970's Halloween night meant a gang of local kids anywhere between 3 and 14 years of age going house to house in duffle coats, knitted balaclarva's etc... with a Turnip as a lantern, or a large Potato if the shops had no Turnips left, saying the old 'Sky is Blue the Grass is green rhyme' we didn't need our parents with us and what ever was collected money wise was split between the one's in the group. Occasionly a neighbour would have a barrel for Bobbing Apples or have Toffee Apples. We'd return home snot running from our noses and fingers numb from the cold with enough cash each to buy a copy of the Whizzer and Chips comic the next day.

I'm not sure when UK Halloween became Americanized, I think the first time I heard the words 'Trick or Treat' was on the Charley Brown Cartoons on TV, and no kid in our neighbourhood ever had a Pumpkin for a lantern. Now every kid has a Pumpkin, they all get dressed up as Witches, Harry Potter etc... most seem to say 'Trick or Treat', although some still say the old rhyme, and most have their parents standing at the gate as a potential paedophile lurks behind every door. And it's not half as cold as when we went Halloweening.

The fun of the old 1970's Halloween night has gone like a lot of great stuff from UK culture has gone.

4 comments:

paulhd said...

I was moaning about this on similar lines. Tsk, these modern pumpkin lanterns, turnips, build up your wrists scooping those tough buggers out!

Patt said...

touchay

Niel Bushnell said...

Happy days eh!! You can't beat the smell of burning turnip, it just says its Autumn!

Brian Sibley said...

You might enjoy a couple of Halloween posts on my blog...

I grew up in the UK's pre-Halloween era (we had Guy Fawkes Night), but have always loved the concept of Halloween if only because - however debased - it speaks of the endless turning of the year and our ceaseless questioning about matters of life and death...

My posts are at A Trick for Treaters; A Tree for Halloween and Listen With Mummy!