Trick or treat , smell my feet, give me something good to eat.
.
do you expect any little trick or treaters in your neighborhood tonight?

Have the gouls and goblins, ( or Americans ) invaded your town?

I like flats here, most of them have sufficient security to keep the little blighters out .

Having said that, I have no idea if they do it here or not.

Plenty of people dress up and go out for a night on the town though.

The neighbourhood kids have told me they won't go trick-or-treating tonight. The short fad has faded into the darkness of the night.

A local restaurant is serving Austrian dishes tonight and has advertised its theme as "Hallo Wien." Quite clever, I'd say.

you actually just reminded me I was egged last year by a group of ruffians!

those f****** better not come back this year, that was a b**** for me to clean

Some interesting background info about Halloween from the Writers Almanac...

"It's Halloween, one of the oldest holidays in the Western European tradition, invented by the Celts, who believed Halloween was the day of the year when spirits, ghosts, faeries, and goblins walked the earth. The tradition of dressing up and getting candy probably started with the Celts as well. Historians believe that they dressed up as ghost and goblins to scare away the spirits, and they would put food and wine on their doorstep for the spirits of family members who had come back to visit the home.

Pope Gregory III turned Halloween into a Christian holiday in the eighth century, and people were encouraged to dress up as saints and give food to the poor. But when Irish Catholics brought the Celtic traditions to the United States, Halloween became a holiday for them to let off steam by pulling pranks, hoisting wagons onto barn roofs, releasing cows from their pastures, and committing all kinds of mischief involving outhouses. Treats evolved as a way to bribe the vandals and protect homes.

It wasn't until the early 20th century that Halloween became a holiday for children. In 1920, the Ladies' Home Journal made the first known reference to children going door to door for candy, and by the 1950s it was a universal practice in this country. By the end of the 20th century, 92 percent of America's children were trick-or-treating. Tonight, about 70 percent of American households will open their doors and offer candy to children, and Halloween parties are becoming increasingly popular among adults. It's the one day a year that people can freely dress as the opposite gender, as criminals, superheroes, celebrities, animals, or even inanimate objects. But retailers report that the most popular costumes remain some variation on witches, ghosts, and devils. "

Thank God the days of hiding in darkness and turning the TV down when the door rings have gone - I used to hate the holligans that came knocking on the door in England.

...now it's just morphed into an excuse for thugs to terrorise people in their homes:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/g...re/6107538.stm

Oh, and it's a licence for shops to print money flogging tacky masks and witches hats. Bah humbug...

I hate this corporate US invasion into Europe, thank god not here in Switzerland ban the damn thing.

Guy Fawkes night and Rememberance day have more significance to me in November. (Specifically the 2nd one)

I thought this had something to do with "All hallows eve?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Hallows_Eve

Definately Celtic, but I see nothing about begging at peoples doors.

I'm resulting to landmines on my drive/lawn in England, should sort the little sods.

Failing that manure in the rose beds at the front of the house tends to work, some get past my cunning plans thou.

Just had ten of the little bleeders round to nick all my sweets. Mind you, it was pre-arranged and one of them was mine so I can't complain.

Well yes, but only the name which is derived from All Saints Day. Not for the first time the Christian Church has hijacked a Pagan festival for it's own (seeing as everybody is having a good time on that day "we" will also have a festival)

the other, of course, is Apollos birthday. Dec 25th

Salve!

Two years ago, we had about 10 little trick-or-treaters come to our house.

Last year we had 4.

This year: zero.

Well the families in our neighborhood basically just took them round to consenting households as most people aren't really prepared for it over here. All pre-arranged and ten happy kids full of suger bouncing off the walls. Marvellous

I think I have posted this last year already ,but since then there are many Newbies in here, so I am sure it won't do any harm to show the 'other' side.





Halloween and All Hallows Eve, a little insight on how the Swiss celebrate this days


What’s a long waited fun day, or shall I rather say night, in America, is a very serious event in Switzerland.
Its All Hallows Eve/ all Saints (Allerheiligen) and All Souls Day (Allerseelen).

November 1st sees in Allerheiligen, this is often a public holiday, especially in catholic cantons and cities in Switzerland.

On that day, the holy people are the main topic.
In the clerical year the 1st of November also marks the begin of the wintertime and end of the clerical festivities, the church is not based anymore on the Easter and the resurrection of Christ, but it is focussed on the dying of the Nature, which becomes visible through the everlasting kingdom of the Holy, of whom the people think on that day.

All Souls day on November 2nd

After old Christian folk beliefs, which are also widespread into the evangelic areas of Switzerland, on all saints day, the dammed souls get up from purgatory and come to the earth for a day’s rest from their suffering. Spiritual gifts such as prayers, holy water and light (in form of candles) mark that day. In some cities processions are held on the cemeteries.

On the afternoon on All Hallows Eve, it is customary in Switzerland to go and tend to the graves of the passed away family members to prepare them for the All Souls day. Beautiful wreaths of evergreen sprigs and chrysanthemums are laid on the graves as a giving from the life to the death as well as an everlasting light is lit. Basically this custom has the meaning to ease the passed away family members the way to heaven.

I hope this is not too much gibberish and you understand what I wanted to explain, it is difficult to write about something I just know by doing it myself :-) and it is more difficult to put these explanations in a foreign language.............

What I intend with this post, is to explain why some people in Switzerland cannot see the ‘Halloween side’ of it, though the customs are linked in far away past centuries.

Be prepared that it could happen that you are frowned upon when you are going on the street dressed up in a noisy party mood, especially in the countryside of Switzerland where these clerical customs are held high!

I'm happy to report the same hooligans have not returned to egg me!

Oh. We just had two little sweeties knocking at our door. Last year I actually bought candy and no one came... So this year I didn't buy any candy so the two little goblins went without.... I feel a bit sad for them.

It could be arranged .......

shame on you ... can I have my Mini Cooper cake back then ?

Oh, I ate that!
Another reason I didn't buy the candies this year is that if no one came round, I'd eat them all myself!

I had a group of 10 little ones ringing my doorbell trick-or-treating... poor uncle chipmaker didn't have any candies in his ref.



If I had known this was a practice here, I would have gladly stocked up on sweets...

Oh crap. It's 23.18 and two young thugs wearing "Scary Movie" masks were just hanging around the entrance to our house. I heard a noise, looked out the window and screamed when I saw them. They said, "Entschuldigung" and "Süsses oder Saueres". I told them Halloween ends at 22.00 for trick or treating and they're too big to go from house to house anyway. They apologized again and then went to the neighbours to try their luck. Our neighbours go to bed at 22.00.

Somebody has got to inform these kids on how trick-or-treating works.