I can’t believe how fast this year is going by, only another couple of months and soon it will be Halloween again. Halloween is originally derived from the Celtic festival of Samhain, a time that marks the end of the Summer and the beginning of the Winter. Nowadays we associate it with people dressing up in Halloween costumes and going trick or treating. One of my personal favourite ways to spend Halloween is to go on a ghost walk where a guide takes a group of people on a walk around supposedly haunted parts of a town or city and tells spooky tales about it. It’s fun and great exercise too! One of my favourite Halloweens was spent at a place called Pendle Hill, home of the Lancashire witch trials. I took this spooky picture with my own fair hand. This witch is a permanent fixture and popular tourist attraction at the Barley Mow restaurant there.
When I was growing up, we never celebrated Halloween over here in England, even though it has always been a popular holiday in the States. It’s only in recent years that Halloween has become more popular in this country. Halloween has now become a million pound industry in Britain and we are fast catching up with our American neighbours. Halloween is now the most profitable time for British retailers after Christmas and Easter. The scariest thing is how much we now spend on Halloween in this country with a staggering £25million being spent on pumpkins alone. Wow! Most of the pumpkins sold in the U.K. are used for lantern carving. However pumpkin is delicious in recipes too. I tried pumpkin pie many years ago on a visit to the States. It was delicious. I have also had pumpkin soup which is nice too. However we are still a long way behind our American neighbours where the Halloween industry is worth a staggering £4.7billion!
Whole supermarket aisles are now dedicated to Halloween novelties as people shop for Halloween themed food and drink and decorations for their houses. Some people even want Halloween themed outfits for their pets! It’s a shame that teenagers in some areas of the country have chosen to spoil the holiday by knocking on people’s doors and demanding money with menace! Aside from that Halloween is a fun holiday and a great chance for children and adults alike to dress up in their Halloween outfits and go trick or treating.
5 comments:
Halloween is my favorite holiday, Naomi. Just a feast for the imagination.
USA is very good a marketing. It knows how to popularize its products. HALLOWEEN being one of them.
I've always been a huge fan of Halloween. I lke going to the sweet shops and buying chocolate witches, jack-o-lanterns and such. It's good fun.
Very strange, yesterday I left a comment on Halloween and a note about an award I had nominated for you (LOL our Awards to each other must have crossed around the same time).
Well here it is again. Halloween is not celebrated here in South Africa..not safe for kids to walk around at night anyway. The Pagans though will be celebrating Spring Solstice which sounds rather nice.
And on my Herbs 'n Oils blog I nominated you for the Brillante Weblog Premio 2008 Award as one of my longtime favorite blogs to visit. You may acknowledge it or ignore it as you feel fit seeing you have just received the BFF one.
Yes it is becoming a popular holiday over here too Sandy.
Rajesh I think unfortunately Halloween is like a lot of other holidays. It is getting more commercialised every year. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed your visit here.
I agree Halloween is a fun holiday Rick. I enjoy seeing all the shops decorated.
Hi Jackie,
Yes our posts did cross. Many thanks for the award. I will being doing a post about it soon. Halloween wasn't widely celebrated over here until recent years. Nice to see you over here again.
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