Baby's first...Hallowe'en
November 1st is All Saints Day. Just like April 23rd is St George's, March 1st for St David's, November 30th for St Andrew's, and just to keep the Irish happy, March 17th for Paddy's. So what was the significance of and "All Saints" day? Well, it was a Church attempt to control the masses, to convert them form their Celtic past, to make them "turn" to Christ. Just like Christmas then.
BatfinkBack in the good old days when Celts were Celts and Snickers were Marathons, we had new year on November 1st. And just like any New Year, there's a celebration to see out the old and bring in the new. And that was the festival of Samhain, meaning end of summer. To this day the pagan festival still exists, but now, like then, it varies, depending on the position of the moon.
When the Church stuck its oar in and wanted a slice of the congregation they came up with All Saints day, otherwise known as All Hallows. And as the night before was All Hallows Eve, Hallowe'en came about. There's extra stuff about the original festival having the dead wandering, leaving offerings etc, but I can't be bothered typing any more.
What a load of old codswhallop. Hallowe'en was invented jointly by Tesco and Wal-Mart to sell sweets and costumes. And over the last few years here in the UK we seem to be going the way of our American cousins who seem to have been at it for ages.
Junior had a present sent up from deepest South Yorkshire in the form of a bat suit and a "trick or treat" bib. The suit was a hit, the hat part was a miss (he hates hats in general) and the bib just looked so cute. The mums of the kids knocking on the door were all cooing (so if there's a baby boom around here in 9 months time we know who to blame). MOTS was not best pleased when it came to bedtime that she hadn't managed to get a photo of the bat suit with the hat (and therefore ears) on Junior without him crying, and was once again weepy when I duly presented one that fit the bill. I'd managed to get a sneaky one while she went out for an hour. Where's the HRC when you need it?
Junior's first "guising" as it's known in these parts. What, a third Hallowe'en story? Why "guising"? Because you go round in disguise, d'uh.
