{"id":894,"date":"2016-10-07T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T22:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/?p=894"},"modified":"2018-01-24T13:32:11","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T03:32:11","slug":"halloween-in-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/halloween-in-australia.html","title":{"rendered":"Halloween in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Quoting myself. Image, public domain via pixabay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
When I was young I lived in Queensland, which is the northern most state of Australia, and one of the nicest weather-wise in my allergic-to-the-cold opinion.\u00a0 I lived there up until just before my teen years.\u00a0 I remember every year getting dressed up and roaming the streets with other kids, and even sometimes our parents, knocking on peoples doors and blackmailing them for lollies, or candy if you prefer.<\/p>\n
I remember one year being wrapped in those infernal bandages, because every child apparently dreams of being mummified \u2013\u00a0like having your organs removed and brain ripped out through your nose is something to aspire to.\u00a0 I remember one of our family friends getting dressed up in a very tight and small mini-dress and heels \u2013 he was very pretty that year.<\/p>\n
I remember that one year when things seemed to change a little and we were warned to only accept wrapped lollies, and no apples or anything.\u00a0 Because apples were always so tempting to our sweet teeth.\u00a0 I suppose there was some sort of tampering the previous year \u2013 or perhaps it was one of those pre-Facebook \u201cThis town banned Christmas lights\u201d hoaxes.\u00a0 Who knows? My mum probably, I might ask her one day.<\/p>\n
Then when I was eleven I moved to Victoria, the southernmost state before Tasmania (which no one counts anyway).\u00a0 I obviously had little choice in the matter, when the parents decide to move you apparently cannot stay behind.\u00a0 Ridiculous.<\/p>\n
So here I was, stuck in this hellishly cold state (I do recognise the irony of that phrase, yes), and imagine my surprise when Halloween comes along and the very idea of dressing up and trick or treating was completely foreign to everyone around me.\u00a0 A much loved yearly event, completely gone.\u00a0 Victorians, so bloody backwards and slow.\u00a0 I still live in Victoria by the way.<\/p>\n
As the years passed some people attempted some Halloweeny things occasionally.\u00a0 Dress up parties and the like.\u00a0 But it was only a few people.\u00a0 More often I would hear the oddest statements from the people around me \u2013 usually adults, because kids and teens couldn\u2019t care less about such things.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s an American holiday and we don\u2019t need to become more Americanised than we already are!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cHalloween has never been in Australia and never will be!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a Christian holiday and we already have enough of those!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
These statements are becoming far more common and ever so louder with each passing year, because with each passing year Halloween seems to be growing ever more popular.\u00a0 And I still find them extremely odd.<\/p>\n
Did you read my first few paragraphs? I was celebrating Halloween, indeed from what I can tell, the majority of Queensland was celebrating Halloween decades ago.\u00a0 But it\u2019s now new and horrible and taking over our country? And let\u2019s not even get started on the fact that Halloween is mostly based on Samhain, a Celtic festival and the majority of white multi-generational Aussies happen to be of Celtic descent.\u00a0 And it wasn\u2019t Christian to begin with.\u00a0 So the whole \u201cAh too Christian, too American\u201d thing is a bit ridiculous.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Look I get it, the fear of our Americanisation is real and legitimate.\u00a0 Each year things get worse here as our government attempts to adopt certain American ways.\u00a0 But how about you put a bit more of your outraged energy into fighting the privatisation of our almost free healthcare system and get the hell over a non-compulsory, not-actually-American, not-actually-Christian commercial festival that is about fun and fear!<\/p>\n
And just to be mean, maybe we should copy America in some things \u2013 like marriage equality.\u00a0 But no, let\u2019s just pretend we are better with our former Prime Minister quietly changing the wording of the marriage act a couple years ago to specify that marriage should be between a man and a woman, thus sending us into the bloody dark ages.<\/p>\n
Pick your battles Australia. Halloween is fun, find something better to fight.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, there is another reason some people hate the idea.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want kids knocking on their door blackmailing them for candy.\u00a0 And parents are worried about their kids going to strangers houses. And allregies are a concern too.<\/p>\n
That is actually relatively easy to fix, especially in a small town like mine \u2013 ever heard of a Facebook group where people can list their houses as good for trick or treaters?\u00a0 I have also seen other people suggest tying a certain coloured balloon to their mailbox or fence or gate, or hanging a sign stating that Halloween is welcome here.\u00a0 And of course, if you are hanging Halloween decorations outside your house, then you really shouldn\u2019t complain if kids come knocking!\u00a0 And as for the strangers thing, try walking around with your kids, you might have fun.<\/p>\n
The allergies thing is easily fixed too, those people who offer candy to the kids, could try having alternatives to give out \u2013 like balloons and glow sticks and fun things like that. \u00a0Or, if you really want to get into the spirit of Halloween, why not give the kids something scary, like one of those birthday whistle things. \u00a0That is sure to terrify, or is that terrorise, every parent out there.<\/p>\n
But these are all mundane issues.\u00a0 For the Aussie Pagans, Witches and similar, there is of course the other concern.\u00a0 I have made myself quite clear about how I feel about the various commercial festivals that inundate us with the wrong seasonal imagery.\u00a0 It is something that really annoys a lot of us Aussie Pagans.\u00a0 But I have also been honest that I don\u2019t include Halloween in this, because, it\u2019s Halloween.\u00a0 Halloween is our time and we should be happy to celebrate it.<\/p>\n
I get it, pumpkins and apples aren\u2019t exactly in season, it is a bit on the nose when they come popping out of the shadows like they belong.\u00a0 But you do not have to partake in such things if you don\u2019t wish, and there are Aussie alternatives when it comes to the seasonal decorations.\u00a0 Skulls, witches and all that various spooky stuff should not, ever, at all, be limited to one season.\u00a0 And spider webs? This is Australia, we have the monopoly on spiders!<\/p>\nWhen you add coke to icecream? We call that a Spider. This, is not one of those types of spiders. My own photo of my own drink and apparently my own huntsman spider.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
![\"Australia](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/690\/2016\/10\/pizap.com14756792209921.png\")
![\"Not](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/690\/2016\/10\/spider-coke.jpg\")