There is no reason for us to celebrate Halloween in France for we have all saints day on November 1st, which is the day the Catholics celebrate the deaths. Only because bars and restaurants find it handy to boost their business with an extra occasion to get the people to eat and drink more, you can find Halloween parties in several places. And, of course, costume rental shops like this one (Au fou rire, 22 bis rue du Faubourg Montmartre) have to provide the right outfits and accessories... Happy halloween to those of you who celebrate it (mostly Americans I suppose?) and don't forget, tomorrow is our theme day...
Looks like he didn't like you taking his photo! Watch out for that scythe!
ReplyDeleteEric, Australia (Sydney) is now 10 hours ahead of you guys in Europe because of our day-light-saving happened at the same time you turned back into Winter time...
ReplyDeleteSo I don't have the pleasure to automatically start my day with your parisian wisely picked pic anymore. I must find time during my working hours to come a pay you a visit. Be sure I will. Still. But please, get something more regardable ;-)
Just kidding, I hate Halloween which btw is not big Down Under...
He's complaining that the French don't take him seriously, like we do in the US. Happy Halloween, Eric, and don't take any rubber candy.
ReplyDeleteBV, aren't you ashamed? Taking some time off to visit PDP at your office!
ReplyDeleteNice skeleton! I guess Halloween could be seen as a "Hallmark Holiday" but we in America really get into it. Especially the kids.
ReplyDeleteHappy Holloween, though it's not Halloween for us yet! Seeing as how it's the celebration of death for many cultures either 31 Oct or 1 Nov, here's something scary: St. Louis (where I live) is THE MOST DANGEROUS city in the USA.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, since my son is starting to understand holidays and the significance behind them Im gonna start celebrating many many holidays from around the world. Mostly as a way to help him understand and appreciate different cultures, but also because I love an excuse to drink! (ok, not really, I just have a lot of fun with holidays!)
So anyways, since it's the start of the most wonderful time of the year, Happy olidays to everyone, for everything that you celebrate!!!
Halloween is fun for all, especially the kids, big and small. Adam Gopnik, an American who lived in Paris for several years with his family, wrote about it. In his book, Paris to the Moon, he has a chapter on Halloween as experienced in Paris. Seems to me that the pagan celebration is spreading throughout the globe. Not bad, it's harmless! But perhaps Marie would not agree with me!!
ReplyDeleteSo many fond memories of halloween! I don't celebrate it anymore but only stopped dressing up and going to parties about 5 years ago....I have friends that still love it and wait impatiently Oct 31 each year!
ReplyDeleteSoosha, I read that today! It's probably centered around one specific area though right?
Happy Halloween for all those that celebrate!
It won't let me type my name anymore for some reason....Susan
When I was a little girl in Wisconsin, my mom made me a fabulous witch's costume for Halloween. It scared me so that I had nightmares about it for years. I guess that's why grownups here love Halloween. It reminds them of scary times when you could go home and everything would be all right. And the candy was good, too. And the bigget grossing movie of this weekend was Saw III. Hollywood knows a good holiday when they see one!
ReplyDeleteBOO!
ReplyDeleteIn Chile Halloween is a commercial holiday, brought to our country by business people a few years ago to earn more money. Very few actually know what Halloween means, but kids really enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteThe spider in the picture looks creepy (I hate spiders)...
in Washington DC, all of the college kids get to go trick-or-treating on EMBASSY ROW which is the street (AKA Massachusetts Avenue) that is lined by embassies.
ReplyDeletethere's a rumor (not sure if it's true yet) that if you go to the Russian embassy, they hand out vodka because you're technically on Russian soil....
i love halloween...when i have the time to think of a costume!
I can't believe how big Haloween has gotten here in Canada. There are people in our neighbourhood who decorate as much for it as they do for Christmas. Lawn displays and pumpkin lights and big blow up thingys on their lawns from Walmart. People do their entire yards like graveyards and put fake cobwebs in their windows. They just go nuts around here! Because of the sbow this year I feel sorry for the little ones who will be out with their costumes on either under or over their snow jackets! The popularity of shopping malls holding safe Haloween for kids indoors (where they can trick or treat at the stores) is growing too. This is the first year my kids are officially too old too go out. I'm kinda melancholy about it! Mostly because it means less candy for me to mooch! Ha ha!
ReplyDeletep.s....cant wait for theme day!
ReplyDelete~~Happy Halloween!~~
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the novelty has worn off now here in France. A few years ago, it was becoming a big thing with stores being decorated, etc., but now I've hardly seen a single sign. Not even a pumpkin!
I remember being in Brittany with a friend with his nieces and nephews all dressing up as ghosts and goblins. No Mickey Mouse's, Disney characters or Spice Girls to be found. It was like stepping back in time to when Halloween was really home made costumes and scary!
soosha_q - I thought of you when I saw the article St. Louis named most dangerous U.S. city. What a shame, it's such a boooootiful city too.
Ohhhh, how could I let Halloween go by without a couple of these?
ReplyDeleteHow do witches keep their hair in place while flying? With scare spray...
Why don't skeletons ever go out on the town? Because they don't have any body to go out with...
What did one ghost say to the other ghost? "Do you believe in people?"
Michael: Ha ha :)...cute! Reminds me of when I was in elementary school and my mom made me a WICKED Princess Leah costume! I think I wore it around the house until Christmas.
ReplyDeleteBest costume you ever had? Anyone?
I am not sure if this will translate good but when I was in Houston once for Haloween my wife disguised as a brick and I was a brick layer. Our american friends helpped us with the disguise and everyone laughed.
ReplyDeleteHappy Helloween... and happy theme day tomorrow...
ReplyDelete>>Best costume you ever had? Anyone?>>
ReplyDeleteMy friends were in a large rectangular box on which
we had painted a wall; I was a solitary brick standing very close to them: another brick *and* the wall. ("All in all it's just another brick in the wall.") We did win the prize!
My sister thanks you for the greeting, Eric. She loves visiting Paris as do I.
Happy Halloween Eric. A part les boutiques, moins de folie a evry, c'est une fete qui disparait petit a petit
ReplyDeleteYep Eric, fais le malin... but the funny part is my work day is over now when yours is just starting ;-)
ReplyDelete"trick or treat" est l'expression de la situation non?
ReplyDeleteWrong. We Catholics don't celebrate our Dead people on Nov. 1st. That's All Saints day. The Day of the Dead is Nov. 2nd. I know most people make that mistake...
ReplyDeleteHalloween in Japan definitely comes up short. so sad... it's my favorite holiday. it will have to be celebrated at home in front of a bad horror movie.
ReplyDeleteA brick layer (hee hee), Another brick and the wall....I think I sense another theme here :).
ReplyDeleteEric, did you know that Toussaint is on November 1st BECAUSE OF Halloween?
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic Church under the Roman Empire decided to establish Toussaint to coopt the pagan celebration that people would not stop observing, the Celtic day of the dead at the end of October(Halloween means "la veille de toussaint"). The only country where Halloween continued to be celebrated was Ireland, which was never under the Romans. The Irish brought it to America a hundred years ago and because it is a wonderful holiday, the Americans took it up. But it is still a big holiday in Ireland, too.
Asterix and Obelix would have celebrated Halloween too-- the Gauls were Celts.
I tried to comment hours ago but my server died after a long script. I was bemoaning the over commercialization of Halloween which now almost equals that of Christmas and surpasses Easter, here in the U.S. Yesterday I noticed several of the big stores were dismantling H. displays. Christmas stuff was out at the beginning of Oct.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteDid not receive your email. Please try again: Jwp3937@yahoo.com You may have been one of my students. I taught in Hollywood areas for many years. Eric and Fellow Commenters, sorry, I don't have Michael's email address.
Hallowe'en didn't use to be important in Québec, but the influence from English-speaking North America has rubbed off and it is celebrated more. However, not too many kids go around begging where I live in the middle of a large city.
ReplyDeleteI'm listening to "Une sorcière comme les autres" by Anne Sylvestre - singing it with her Québécoise friend Pauline Julien. Very big among people of my vintage, back in the 1970s...
I fondly remember Halloween in my youth and as a young adult being trick or treated by the kids. However, with all the dangers children face today Halloween has become more of an adult celebration in the US. We have had very few children knock on our door over the last ten+ years. Now Churches, shopping malls, and even civic organizations create safe spaces for the kids to trick or treat. We have however been invited to a lot more custom parties on Halloween.
ReplyDeleteI think this thing about "safe places" needs explained for those people who do not know about the "dangers" of trick-or-treating.
ReplyDeleteI found this link that is pretty good: The History Of Halloween!
ReplyDeleteOf course, don't forget all of the ghosts and goblins who'll be Dancing in the Dark (compliments of the humor of my husband Mike)
I think this is funny and wanted to share! I hope this link works (I copied this from an email I received). It's a halloween e card.
ReplyDeleteHappy Halloween!
Hi Eric, great post for Halloween! Micheal, I think Denton means "dangers" such as poison or razor blades in candy or pedophiles. "Safe places" are carnivals or special events put on by churches, shopping malls, schools, etc. Hope that helps! I love Halloween and hope that it doesn't someday get to a point where people feel it is too "dangerous" to participate.
ReplyDeleteOh! And don't forget to click on the "bloopers"....that's funny too!
ReplyDeletesedulia - thanks for your explanation. I'm all for anything pagan ;-) but don't like the way it is co-opted by retailers. Here in Australia, we tend to eat pumpkins rather than carve them!
ReplyDeleteAustralia had lots of Irish sent here; wonder why Halloween didn't transfer - unless it was suppressed by the English who were the ruling class?
Your thoughts are obviously very similar to mine Eric (see my 1st. November post.)
ReplyDeleteCurly's Photoshop
A great big "boo" to all! Michael, those jokes...the only one I remember is - why don't witches have babies? Because their husbands have halloweeners.
ReplyDeleteLike the good witch said, "Come sit for a spell." Happy Halloween!
Michael, I ust loooooove it when people think of me in connection with danger! :p anyways guys, St. Louis mayor Francis Slay is calling the report a crock of s**t because it came out the day after we won the World Series and the #2 most dangerous city was named as Detroit. I tend to agree, the company that put out that survey is just trying to cash in on the World Series. Like any big city we have our share of danger, but I doubt we're the worst.
ReplyDeleteI think I read earlier in the comments that Halloween in not as followed anymore in France. Personally I think it's a good thing, but of course, it's just my opinion. (I'm just not a big fan of the color orange and excess of candies, that's why ;-) )
ReplyDeleteI love the joke "anonymous" and Tomate, it's good to have you back. I don't really like the colour orange too much either. ;-)
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the blog - holiday movie soundtrack. A new site has been launched with plenty of bargain holidays to choose from. Bookmark http://www.bargainplace.co.uk not just for bargain holidays but for flights and transport to and from airports plus travel insurance deals and holiday clothes.
ReplyDeletecard e free greeting
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ReplyDelete