Monday, October 23, 2006
NZ Halloween "BOO" or... Boo Hoo....
Hi all.. so it is a week before halloween and we hardly even know that it is just around the corner down here in New Zealand.
All my life Halloween has been a major event for me. I have always loved the crisp fall night air, the houses with jack-o-lanterns, and spoooookable decorations..
I actually really dig walking into Walgreens, Target and Safeway and checking out all the halloween items that you could buy to make your house and costume more cute or SCARY... (mostly I like it during the after halloween clearance =)
Here in New Zealand I am guessing Halloween is not celebrated in the same fashion. There is only one store in town that has a section for halloween decorations and they are tucked away in the back. It is nearing summer so we do not have the typical autumn dark crisp nights until later in the evening. It seems to me that only the folks that I know from North America seem to be talking about costumes and candy.
I asked some KIWIs if they celebrated halloween and they said that only a few people did the halloween thing (probably folks from North America I was thinking) but mainly the KIWIs celebrate Guy Fawkes Day on November 5. (hmm Guy Fawkes day.. I will have to google to find out more)... BOO HOO no halloween this year=(......
BOO! =) - Today.. We just got an invitation for a Halloween party!! Hooray!
Don and Kim work with Eric and are from the States.
Looks like I better get busy finding a costume..
Not sure what to do about trick or treating.. I will have candy available in case anyone shows up at our house.. But I may have to have the girls dress up and drive them around to all the North Americans I know in town.
Have to keep the SPOOKABLE spirit alive even if it is DEAD down under... =)
Love, Mom
: 1:28 PM GMT+13I love Halloween too...wish you were here to hit the pumpkin patch with.
(w), but i sure do miss the huge celebration of holidays there, especially halloween. the half moon bay pumpkin festival, searching for the perfect pumpkin for the jack-o-lantern in the patch, the crisp leaves under foot as you step out into the night full of wonder and anticipation...
: 7:32 PM GMT+13There is some hallowe'en action here but n ot much. As far as I understand trick or treating is a very NEW thing around here. Guy Fawkes is the big celebration here too Anna and Lisa. Wish I was having pumpkin martinis with ya!
Our British friends in Nanaimo are having a GF party the first weekend in November. Apparently, they burn an effigy (or a lot of them) of this guy and any political figures that come to mind.
Guy Fawkes (April 13, 1570 – January 31, 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, born in York, was an English soldier and member of a group of Roman Catholic conspirators who attempted to carry out the Gunpowder Plot on 5 November 1605.
The plot was an attempt to assassinate the Protestant King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) and the members of both houses of the Parliament of England, by blowing up Westminster Palace during the formal opening session of the 1605 Parliament, in which the king would address a joint assembly of both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Guy Fawkes was in large part responsible for the later stages of the plan's execution. His activities were detected, however, before the plan's completion. Following a severe interrogation involving the use of torture, and a trial in Westminster Hall by Judge John Popham, Fawkes and his conspirators were executed for treason and attempted murder. Guy Fawkes's failure is remembered with Guy Fawkes night or Bonfire night on November 5.
Sounds like fun to me:)
: 8:37 AM GMT+13A common phrase is that Fawkes was "the only man to ever enter parliament with honourable intentions."[1][2] (This phrase may have originated in a nineteenth-century pantomime, and was commonly seen on anarchist posters during the early twentieth century. The Scottish Socialist Party became embroiled in controversy when they resurrected the poster with humorous intent in 2003).
The protagonist of the graphic novel and film V for Vendetta wears a costume inspired by Fawkes.
Guy Fawkes appears in the 2002 list of "100 Greatest Britons", sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public. The list ranks him alongside others such as John Lennon, David Beckham, Aleister Crowley, Winston Churchill and Johnny Rotten. He was also included in a list of the 50 greatest people from Yorkshire.
Guy Fawkes is documented in many film newsreels (see the archives of British Pathé and Movie Tone). The discovery of the plot, the celebration, and Guy Fawkes are also mentioned in many popular songs and ballads. Notably, on the vinyl version of The Smiths' album Strangeways, Here We Come, the words "Guy Fawkes was a genius" are carved near the centre of the record.
: 8:39 AM GMT+13<< Home
