Diwali = good
Guy Fawkes' Night = good
Hallowe'en = shit
Or at least Hallowe'en in the UK. Back in the day it was an excuse for a few ghost stories while we all got excited ahead of Guy Fawkes' Night. Of course hardly anyone refers to Guy Fawkes' Night - it has become Bonfire Night or Fireworks Nights. Functional naming and I am all for it.
By the same token, Hallowe'en should become Dressing Up and Begging Night.
Pity the respectable right wing politicians who spend most of the year trying to legislate against street beggars, only to have most of the child population spend an evening in solidarity at the end of October.
In theory the one good thing about Hallowe'en is ogling the soccer-moms that accompany their spawn around the neighbourhood, but it doesn't seem to happen that way around here. I had one visit on Tuesday evening (an unexpected bonus from my long commute) and found two devils on the doorstep. At the end of my drive was a fat mother holding a fat baby. One of them will grow out of it in the next few years.
I gave the kids some out-of-date candy I found in the cupboard to mumbled, and far from profuse, words of thanks, and the younger one said "my bag is getting really heavy"
"Eat them and you will look like your mom," I said. After I had closed the door.