Happy Hallowe’en!
Posted by I really couldn’t think of a reasonable excuse to write about Hallowe’en today, but I wanted to because I like the holiday. Not necessarily the excuse to dress up and get ridiculously drunk, but I’m sure that appeals to some people.
Yesterday I tried to work a Hallowe’en-themed warm up into an English lesson (although there was absolutely no link to the rest of the material I was teaching). My aim was to get the students to discuss the last time they’d dressed up as something, describe their costumes, etc. Unfortunately, people in China don’t do fancy dress. I had a sneaking suspicion that this was the case, but wanted to talk about October 31st anyway. My mistake. There aren’t any celebrations that involve dressing up as something/someone else (just yourself in your best new clothes), and I guess it’s related to the fact that people used to, and still do, spend a lot of their money on essentials like food and shelter rather than flimsy costumes and unnecessary amounts of confectionery. And thinking about that made me feel like a bit of a jerk. I’m glad I like All Hallow’s Eve more for its pagan roots than for its modern consumerist leanings.
Well, all those links were tentative at best. I’ll finish off by wishing you easily-removable face paint and the willpower not to eat all your candy at once. Happy Hallowe’en!