Theo has had pretty strange experiences with Halloween. Last year, we lived in an extremely small conservative town in southern Manitoba. When Halloween rolled around, I took Theo out trick-or-treating, just to find that there was not one child in sight and almost every house had its lights completely off. We finally did spy a house that had its porch lights blazing, so Theo, who was proudly wearing his ladybug outfit, and I went up and knocked. An elderly gentleman opened the door and stood there confusedly looking back and forth between Theo and me for a few seconds and finally asked what we wanted. I couldn't believe it. Theo blurted out "trick or treat!" and held out his completely empty treat bag to the man. The man declared that they didn't celebrate Halloween and shut his door in our faces.
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| How could you resist the boy lady bug? |
I am sorry to say that I cried a few angry tears at this point and tried my best to convince Theo that Halloween was usually a lot more fun than wandering deserted streets and having doors slammed in your face. I finally decided to take him to a neighbouring French town where their lack of morals allows them to actually be neighbourly, friendly to children, and give out candy.
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| Theo as one of his favourite toys: a Rubik's cube |
Once again Halloween has come and this time we live in a country that does not celebrate Halloween. It seems like Japan wants to adopt the holiday, if all of the Halloween related stickers, candy, and knickknacks in stores means anything, but it certainly has not gone mainstream enough for trick or treating. I certainly wouldn't feel any animosity towards my neighbours this time for looking at me blankly if I showed up on their doorstep with a child in costume. Instead, we organized with the English teachers in our area for Theo to come by in the evening to trick or treat. He got to knock on a few doors, proudly show off his costume, collect a treasure trove of candy, and head home. He had a great time. Thanks to all that made it a great evening!
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| William the teddy bear and Theo the Rubik's cube |
3 comments:
Aw! That's such a sad experience in MB.. Glad you had a good experience last year and hopefully this year will be even better! :) What are you going to dress the boys up as?
I have a book with 20 or so children's costumes that you can make at home and I let Theo look through them and pick. He finally decided on a robot costume with a box body that is covered in buttons and knobs made out of various bits of recycling. The whole thing is then spray painted silver. I am so glad the he doesn't even know that it is possible to buy a costume. I think that is the way it should be!
William? I don't really know yet...he doesn't care either way so I probably wont spend a ton of time on his. I've got 2 weeks to come up with something so we'll see.
Absolutely! The homemade costumes are much better anyway! Why buy a costume used once, then tossed? Sily waste.
Do the kids in Japan do trick or treating or will you circulate around your prewarned friends?
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