Sunday, October 17, 2010

Tell me about your Bonfire Night. I miss it...

Canadians seem to go crazy for hallowe'en.

I mean, there is a house on the next street that, not kidding, has a twenty foot spider scaling the wall. I have seldom seen anything quite so barking, apart from those loons who put a strain on the national grid by covering their 3-bedroom semi in fairy lights every year, complete with Santa, a sleigh and his reindeers 'en rampant.'

But I kind of like hallowe'en. Gory witches, spooky skeletons, trick or treating...it's loopily nice.

Why are the holidays we celebrate so violent and bloody though?
Guy Fawkes night - hurrah! Lets burn a catholic on a pyre. And make dad nail a rubbish catherine wheel to the fence.

Easter - hurrah! Lets stuff our faces with Cadbury Creme Eggs because some chap got nails through his hands.

Hallowe'en - hurrah! Ghoolies and ghosties abound. Some of the masks you can buy here are beyond terrifying. I can't wait to see my daughter's reaction to being offered candy by a sinister straw man with a sewn up slit for a mouth. My bowels are turning to water just thinking of it. Will she need counselling in later life? Have a corn field phobia?

Christmas is a little bit jollier, birth and all that. Diwali with the festival of lights also sounds like a pretty happy event.

But I do miss Bonfire Night a little bit. The 'oohs' and the 'aaahs' as a roman candle farts light into the air. The drizzle. The numb hands holding sparklers. The fact that our old neighbourhood seemed to think that firework night started two weeks before and two weeks after the actual date, condemning our pitifully bad toddler to a months worth of broken sleep.

Ah. Perhaps I don't miss bonfire night after all.

4 comments:

  1. I hate the few weeks leading up to halloween because of the crackers, they drive my middle child wild, therefore us! Jen

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  2. Tell me about it. There is an aisle in our local supermarket dedicated to just Halloween and some of the masks are so scary I avoid that aisle now haha

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  3. Jen - I am with you on the crackers.
    Twinkle - you know what I am talking about then!

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  4. Oh yeah, can't wait for bonfire night - not! Wouldn't mind if it was just the one night but we're getting fireworks already. Scares poor Nipper to death (he's autistic and doesn't like random loud noises), Tiddler won't get any sleep and the cat's having a nervous breakdown. Don't get me started on Hallowe'en!!

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