When I was a kid, I had a cardboard YOGI BEAR Hallowe'en mask. It wasn't a flat mask, but a shaped mask of the front half of Yogi's head and collar. I bought another one a couple of years (and a couple of houses) later, from WOOLWORTH'S, the same shop I'd bought the first one, and it goes without saying that I'd love to own one again*. (Bought a plastic Yogi mask a year or so back, but it's one from the '90s.)
*Update: Now got one.
That's not me in the above photo (got it from eBay), but if I'd had such a costume when I was a lad, you can bet your boots that I'd have been out on October 31st wearing it proudly. (I didn't seem to have an 'embarrassment factor' when I was a youngster.) Anyway, have a great Hallowe'en if you're attending any costume parties later. Who knows, if you're single and meet someone nice, you may end up a little bear (as in 'bare' - geddit?) at the end of the night.
(Groan! Well, I had to tie it in with the photo somehow.)
It was raining last night so no trick-or-treaters came to my house I'm glad to say - the rain kept the little horrors off the streets.
ReplyDeleteNow I can look forward to watching the fireworks on Guy Fawkes Night - yay!!
It was raining at my bit too, but it didn't keep the kids in. Happily, no one came to my door, though it meant the cauldron of boiling oil on my upstairs window-ledge went to waste. Never mind, there's always next year.
ReplyDeleteAs a Yank I love Halloween. I’m glad to see it’s making a comeback from the land where it came from ( though I admit I just like the treat bit. We lived in an apartment building as a kid so the trick bit about toilet paper and soaping windows escaped me. Not much you can do to an apartment door).
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's ever been away, PS. I was celebrating Hallowe'en back in the early '60s. The name 'Trick or Treat' has made its way over here though, which was never part of the UK tradition. Still isn't as far as I know, but British kids hear 'Trick or Treat' on US TV shows and repeat it parrot-fashion.
ReplyDeleteKid, my late father was born in 1927 and he told me they had Trick Or Treat in Glasgow in the 1930s. He also said Halloween was invented in Scotland and was taken to America by Scottish immigrants (and I've read that the Ku Klux Klan was also invented by Scottish immigrants!!)
ReplyDeleteWhen your father said that they had 'Trick or Treat' in Glasgow in the 1930s, did he mean that Hallowe'en was called that back then, or simply that they had Hallowe'en which the Americans had at some point renamed 'Trick or Treat'? I suspect the latter, CJ. In other words, he heard someone mention 'Trick or Treat' and said "We had that in Glasgow in the 1930s", meaning that we had Hallowe'en which later became known as 'Trick or Treat'. In short, he was aware that the same celebration had two names, and letting you know where the tradition had originated. That sound likely?
ReplyDeleteNo, Kid - he told me they went door to door at Halloween saying "Trick or Treat". The householder could either give some sweets or money (the treat) or ask the kids to come in and perform a little song or dance (the trick). He was annoyed by the modern Trick Or Treat where kids just go around expecting stuff as if by right.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that your father must've been misremembering, CJ, because getting fruit, nuts, sweets or money (treats) in exchange for singing a little song or reciting a rhyme, would be called 'Trick AND Treat', not 'Trick OR Treat', as that name suggests one or the other (retaliation). In my day (why does that make me feel old?), kids DID recite a poem or song in exchange for a handful of goodies, but it was always just called Hallowe'en. In fact, the favourite rhyme was 'Hallowe'en, Hallowe'en, three wee witches on the green. One was yellow, one was white, one leaped right o'er the dyke. The sky is blue, the grass is green, please may we have our Hallowe'en?'
ReplyDeleteI never once heard it called 'Trick or Treat' in the '60s and '70s.
UPDATE: Just checked the Internet for when the phrase first started being used in the UK, CJ. It wasn't until the 1980s.
ReplyDeleteKid, you didn't read my comment properly - I didn't say the sweets/money were in exchange for a song or dance. The householder could give sweets to the kids on the doorstep OR ask them to come in and perform a song or whatever. In other words Trick Or Treat was no guarantee of getting sweets - you might get offered nothing and be required to put on a performance instead. Apparently the uncertainty was the fun of it. I wish I could ask my father more details but alas it's too late now.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid we definitely had no Trick or Treat. My only Halloween memory is attending a party in the village hall when I was 12 - we bobbed for apples and ate toffee apples. As far as we were concerned Halloween was a minor event compared to Guy Fawkes Night.
Kid, until I know different I'm sticking with what my father said - the phrase Trick or Treat existed in 1930s Glasgow.
ReplyDeleteActually, CJ, you didn't read MY comment correctly. I wasn't saying that YOU said householders gave sweets in exchange for a song, etc. - that's what I was saying. I was explaining the tradition as I experienced it back in the '60s. However, I don't ever recall anyone not giving something to kids after reciting a rhyme - if they weren't interested, when they opened the door and in answer to the kids asking "Any Hallowe'en?, they'd simply say "No thanks!" or "Sorry, don't have anything to give you!" and close it again.
ReplyDeleteAnd now you DO know different, 'cos I've just told you. "Trick or Treat" started to be used in the UK in the '80s and became more popular in the '90s. Look it up if you don't believe me. I suspect you're simply misremembering precisely what your father told you.