In some ways I feel the same about Hallowe’en as I do about The Festering Season. Mainly it’s the paradoxes that annoy me.
In the case of Hallowe’en, we’ll float past the crap about grown people dressing up like kids and so on.
But what gets me is this :
For most of the year (excluding the run-up to the Festering Season and Hallowe’en) children get told to not talk to strangers, not accept sweets from strangers, not accept anything, so forth, so fifth. But come the Festering Season, they’re told to talk to strangers about what they want, accept presents and all that shit. And come Hallowe’en, all of a sudden it’s fine for kids to dress up, go round the neighbourhood and knock on the doors of people they don’t know and have never met, and get sweets.
Which is – to me, anyway – just really fucking weird.
As it’s Hallowe’en, our madcap village is going to be having its annual quiz tonight, where as many participants as possible dress up and get into (pardon the pun) the spirit of things.
Bizarrely, the entire thing is organised by the village church, held in the church hall, and all proceeds from ticket sales etc. go to the church. For a Hallowe’en event. Bizarre, I know.
As per the last couple of years, we’ll be down there along with other members of the family. It’s a fun night, and we normally do OK on it. Even better, it means we get to avoid any little bastards who may be out doing trick or treat. Bonus.
