the younger siblings have been invited to a halloween party, and never in my upbringing have i been involved in such, nor did my folks endose it. until now though, the folks are all for it... and the kids are excited. Dressing up and all to look like something from a Michael Jackson's thriller video....
Maybe i'm just a senile party pooper... but when a american holiday which originated in europe from the irish and Celtics to celebrate 'SUMMERS END' comes to the southern hemisphere... IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE! Particularly when its summer starting and we don't have white xmas's like the northern hemisphere.
Its another commericalised tradition like Christmas and Easter. The only reason everyone pictures Santa as a fat guy in red and white was because of the Coke ads. Before that he just a Saint in standard garb for the period handing out gifts. Another victory for the Advertising agentcies.😉
pod ·
its not a rant Chris, its fact... its just another excuse for shopkeepers to make money out of the gullible public,either that or for people to let their kids out to cadge for free lollies... Not at my house😂
donn ·
Count me in with the bah humbug brigade, we live in Australia, we don't need this Americanisation of our culture here, when the kids knock on my door I ask them what is the date for Australia Day or Anzac day or the like, if they answer correctly they get showered in gifts if not then its off ya go. Years ago and against my better judgement (outvoted by the other leaders) I took a bunch of Cub Scouts around on a halloween night door knock, we actualy managed to scare a couple of the older people who opened the door and were not aware of what was going on, so I bought the kids a heap of lollies to share and called it off, they were happie little blokes and the neighbourhood was left in piece. Ausie Ausie Ausie oie oie oie.😘
Camo ·
I agree with all the above. My 5 year old daughter wants to get dressed up and go trick or treating tonight. That should have read is getting dressed up etc. I have to go tell the neighbors to expect a visit and give them some chocolates so they have something to give.
With that said, we had a Halloween party 7 years ago for our son (then 12), but it was really just a fancy dress party and was a lot of fun. But no trick or treating was to be seen.
Kev
71-BEETLE-SEDAN ·
"when the kids knock on my door I ask them what is the date for Australia Day or Anzac day or the like, if they answer correctly they get showered in gifts if not then its off ya go"
Sounds like my dad, he reckons anyone with a sothern cross tat or sticker on their car should be able to name the stars in the crioss.
1303Steve ·
Hi
Its actually very big in the UK, so its not actually American.
Steve
DaveCarter ·
I don't see what the big fuss is about. Why don't we stop celebrating christmas while we are at it. It is just the church ripping off the pagan's celebration of the winter solstice to make converting them easier. It is more than likely that Jesus wasn't born on the 25th of December. Let's get rid of easter as well. It is just a celebration of the Anglo saxon goddess Eostre. If people want an excuse to celebrate and have fun lets let them do it....
HotRodMatt ·
We don't need imported this or that?
Funny to hear on a import forum.
Oh ok. I guess then we don't need German cars or Chinese computers.
And I certainly not expect to hear of Cal-lookers, or Scat components etc... Bloody americanisms.
Camo ·
I have to take back what I have said. If people want to have fun, they should and I agree with Dave. I am just a cranky old Grinch. There should be more laughter in life and I need to join in and stop being a shit head. Even my Daughter asks why am I cranky all the time.
Go Halloween 😂😂😂😂😂😂 and any other fun occasions.
Kev
djnee ·
I can take it or leave it really.
The kids went to a few good Halloween parties in the UK when we lived there, but i do agree that it makes more sense there....cold winters evening etc! Just doesn't sit right here!
Having said that, we are doing a pumpkin for the garden...but wont be doing the trick or treat thing
Bizarre ·
nah .....BRING IT ON!!
Gives me a chance to get rid of the hash cookies and coke sherberts
here kiddes, kiddes kiddes 😀
68AutoBug ·
1303Steve wrote:Hi
Its actually very big in the UK, so its not actually American.
Steve
I didn't know that... Steve..
I thought it may have had something to do with the witches in early USA history...
but then all the witches came from the UK to start with ..lol
except the wicked witch of the west...lol
OK... Valentines day is Fine... [although My Wife hates it]
something for the over 18 teenagers to celebrate...
but trick or treating is a very NEW thing in Australia....
so NOT many people would have lollies waiting... lol
and the kids really don't know what its all about...
the over 18 teenagers can get dressed up and go out on the town... they just need an excuse to get dressed up...
LEE
PS: there were never any witches in Scone AFAIK.. lol
beetleboyjeff ·
Of course the kids know what it is about - LOLLIES - what else.
I must say, I have met some females who I reckon would fall int the category of 'Witches". lol
68AutoBug ·
Camo wrote:I agree with all the above. My 5 year old daughter wants to get dressed up and go trick or treating tonight. That should have read is getting dressed up etc. I have to go tell the neighbors to expect a visit and give them some chocolates so they have something to give.
With that said, we had a Halloween party 7 years ago for our son (then 12), but it was really just a fancy dress party and was a lot of fun. But no trick or treating was to be seen.
Kev
KEV
its very interesting to know that You knew it was Halloween 7 years ago.. lol
then again I don't really notice Easter or christmas...
plus having Xmas day on usually the hottest day of the year
is quite stupid... XMAS in July would be much better..
You can't buy kids nice winter clothes as its too hot... plus you can't buy them in the summer... lol
XMAS in July for the southern Hemisphere.... VOTE 1... lol
If the queens birthday holiday can be in any month???
in different countries...
LEE
donn ·
Nope, I don't take my coments back, but give me a chance to turn the music up and dance (well I think it's dancing, the mises disagrees 🙅) the night away, then invite me over, Hey Bizarre, do you do mail order on the hash cookies and coke sherberts?
DaveCarter ·
Just to clear up it evolved from the Celtic festival of Samhain which was basically a celebration of the end of summer. The celts believed that at this time the border between the world of the living and the world of the dead was particularly thin. This allowed both good and evil spirits to enter the world. Out of superstition the dressed in scary outfits to scare off the evil spirits. For those of you more visual i quite like this guys take on it 😀
Pointless tradition to make kids smile and get them fat but even still we don't need it here in Australia! I admit i did trick or treat when i was younger but our suburb was very tight knit and everyone joined in but these days it is not so big. Tonight i have no lollies waiting to be handed out so when they come knocking they wont be receiving anything from me except a "sorry this is Australia not America, I dont support Americanism"
polak ·
personally i dont see the point and have never celebrated it either and i dont feel like having my house egged..... drinking sounds like a plan... lol im gonna sit in the window and throw water bombs at anyone that approaches 😂😂
bajachris88 ·
yea maybe i'm just jealous of everyones fun, i missed out when i was littler. I like your idea though Polak!
With all the kids walking the street though this evening, hopefully their folks are keepin a good eye on em'. Which i doubt seeing the people around my area.... Dennis Fergusen is probably going to have a ball...
Sick joke... but in all honesty, true. hes not to far from here either...
amazeer ·
68AutoBug wrote:
1303Steve wrote:but then all the witches came from the UK to start with ..lol
except the wicked witch of the west...lol
[/b]
I almost mentioned my wife but it might somehow get back to her one day, so I wont.
THe Wicked musical clearly hasnt made it to Scone. Turns out the Witch of the West is actually the good witch, and its just the propaganda that "Galinda" and the Wizard spread that makes her look bad.
I dont celebrate Australia day because it has turned into an alcohol fueled celebration of racism in so many ways. I dont celebrate ANZAC day because it shouldnt be celebrated, its a solemn reflection day. Not the excuse to get smashed and act the goat like 18-20 somethings treat it today.
Being an atheist I dont celebrate easter, I celebrate chocolate. I dont celebrate Christmas, I celebrate friends and family reaching the end of another year. And my celebration sint just on the 25th, it goes from 1st December to 1st January and attendance at cricket is compulsory.
Back to the point though, there hasnt been an observance of any 4th July, Thanksgiving, or Halloween holidays in this house.
Bookwus ·
Hiya All,
Just a perspective from Stateside............
Almost none of the holidays celebrated here are celebrated today with any real regard for the reasons for their creation. For most Americans it is simply a day off work, a day to overeat or overdrink, or a day to cut loose and have a great time. But, I'm thinking, that's not an entirely bad thing. We need a chance to blow off a little steam every once in a while. Ever notice how most holidays are pretty evenly scheduled throughout the year?
In any event, the holidays any culture celebrates should have some original meaning to those doing the celebrating. Here in Oregon we find ourselves celebrating Cinco de Mayo more and more each year as the Latino population in this state grows. If y'all down in Oz had a growing American population I could understand the Halloween business. Otherwise it doesn't seem to make much sense to me for the reasons given above in this thread.
One thing I'd really like to see is how everybody in Oz celebrates Christmas, a traditional winter holiday in the dead of summer.
amazeer ·
Bookwus wrote:One thing I'd really like to see is how everybody in Oz celebrates Christmas, a traditional winter holiday in the dead of summer.
as a throw back to british heritage my family (and plenty of others) celebrate with hot roast dinners in 30 degree heat and high humidity with fans on high. Pretty silly really. 🤪 more sensible families do seafood, prawns n stuff.
as a kid, every present under our tree came from santa and everything was wrapped individually. there were no stockings. But in my wifes family all the good things came from mum n dad, and santa brought cheap plastic and lollies junk which went in the stocking. Santa used to bring me bikes n stuff, but gave my wife a bag of lollies. I dont know whats "normal". My kid gets the latter, despite my protests during the early years.
My sister and I used to turn our house upside down looking for presents before christmas and we never found any, To this day my mum wont tell me how she did it. She still insists santa is real. He's stopped bringing me presents though.
I dont think an average aussie christmas would be too different to an american christmas. Only difference is that we sweat more.
DaveCarter ·
We usually do both. Seafood from about ten in the morning on with a huge roast of every type of meat you can think of for a really late lunch and then dinner. Kind of an all day graze. Good fun i reckon 😂
colonel mustard ·
DaveCarter wrote:It is more than likely that Jesus wasn't born on the 25th of December. Let's get rid of easter as well. It is just a celebration of the Anglo saxon goddess Eostre.
don't want to say you're right or wrong, but to my knowledge, you're right, He wasn't.
&, Easter is a celebration of Christ's resurection..
Where they occur yearly at the date/day that it happened years ago.... thats an interesting issue...
beetleboyjeff ·
Christmas time when I was a kid consisted of a hot roast turkey dinner in the middle of the day, but in more recent years, we have had a picnic or BBQ at the river, or sometimes at the beach. We even had it on the top of a mountain one year. It certainly is a lot more fun getting out of the house on these lazy summer days.
We get to have a 2nd bite at Christmast dinner (pun intended) with a 'Christmas in July" dinner with one or several orgainisations (with no fixed date, you can have several goes at it lol). OUr VW Club used to have a weekend away every year to somewhere cold (often Dorrigo, but later on, Uralla) for a Christams in July dinner.
Works great I reckon.
DaveCarter ·
Easter was christianised by the church to ease the the transition of in to the christian religion. The old holidays and celebrations became new ones. I'm not saying it is a bad thing. It is just what happened and if people want to celebrate these days, for whatever reason, then good for them 😀
squizy ·
Let he who has never worn his baseball cap backwards cast the first stone.
pete wood ·
squizy wrote:Let he who has never worn his baseball cap backwards cast the first stone.
The US has been exporting product and culture here since at least the gold rush in the late 1800s. Probably before that. We all lap most of it up. As for the rest... well I guess you can take it or leave it.
BTW, the biggest influence on the VW culture world wide doesn't come from germany. So if you are sick of US culture, you can burn your BRMs and stoker cranks along with your personal computers, beach boys records and fast food restaurants, coz all of that stuff comes from the US.
Me, I just got out from under my king size quilt, ate thick pancakes with maple syrup, looked on the interweb and later today I'll drive my dunebuggy and play some rock'n'roll on my fender guitars. The US isn't all bad. 😎
p.s. yes I know BRM was an English company but they were contracted by Americans to make the wheels.
p.s.s. but I won't be listening to that awful rap they pass off for music. Not that there isn't good rap.
vwjon ·
from a personal point of veiw, aussies embrace yanky stuff far more than any other culture, even down to spelling of words (us=color uk=colour) the way tv shows are shown is an american way, with commercial breaks very frequent, sometimes its difficult to follow the programme
its also true that while "trick or treat" is fully americal, and halloween is british, the ozzy's totally embrace the commercial crassness without understanding the reasons behind tradition.
Are there ANY ozzy traditions? xmas dinner on the beach? drinking and a bbq on australia day? smoking tyres on a friday arvo??
donn ·
squizy wrote:Let he who has never worn his baseball cap backwards cast the first stone.
Look out squizy, here comes my rock, I'm starting to sound like a real old fart even to me. I'm not against everything American, there's heaps of stuff from there that I just love, but I rekon we need to keep our own culture going even if it is tainted and changed by imports from all other parts of the globe, after all they arn't forcing us to put up the golden arches and the like, thats our own choice and fault but please don't forget that our culture has evolved over many many years and will keep on evolving into the future, just don't forget where we came from and how we got to where we are.
Rant over yoawl
donn ·
[
Are there ANY ozzy traditions? xmas dinner on the beach? drinking and a bbq on australia day? smoking tyres on a friday arvo?? [/quote]
You seem to have forgoten box trailers without working tail lights, to have a box trailer with working tail lights is the extreme of unAustralianism.😂
Baja Wes ·
It never ceazes to amaze me how close minded some people are. Halloween is a reason to have some fun. As others have pointed out it's not solely an American thing, so stop using that excuse. And what's with all this "it's not Aussie" crap. We aren't Aussie, we're all from somewhere else (unless your an aboriginal forum member). For that reason Australia is multicultural. We have groups here that celebrate chinese new year, halloween, honika (spelling?) and heaps of other traditions from other countries.
I went trick or treating as a kid (late 80's, early 90's), sure most people didn't know what it was, but it was fun. Anything that is fun for the kids is a good thing. The last few years I've been to adult fancy dress Halloween parties and they are great fun. It is the only night of the year that adults have an excuse to have fun fancy dress style.
ryana89 ·
Halloween is a good excuse to use the ol tennis ball launcher for 'disarming' egg/toilet paper throwing kids 🥷
helbus ·
Aussie traditions?
ANZAC day
Australia day
Be a convict, migrant, asylum seeker, resident, whatever. Just respect, reflect, learn and celebrate. Just be cool and warm and have some community spirit at the same time.
The important thing is to not always just be a part of the celebration, but to understand the reason why it would be significant to others and respect that.
Joel ·
i have to admit i dont feel halloween is a part of aussie culture and was shocked when i got some kids come to the door trick or treating the other day
i reckon its just cos our kids are so exposed to american life via TV they start to think and act like what they're seeing
incidently, i had to laugh at this
where else bit the US would this happen 😂
grumble ·
beetleboyjeff wrote:Of course the kids know what it is about - LOLLIES - what else.
I must say, I have met some females who I reckon would fall int the category of 'Witches". lol
I agree with some of the above and I can remember my Mum saying "never take lollies off someone that you don't know" The pedophiles must love it.
Perhaps this makes me a Grinch also but I don't care as most of our kids are too precious to expose to this crap.
h ·
the night of all hallows.. an old traditional Celtic festivity marking season change from summer to autumn from memory
I'm sure someone has mentioned this n yeah not from the us..
Mountains Greg ·
It's Melbourne Cup Day today as most of us would be well aware... It should be a National Public Holiday. That way we can celebrate the start of the hot summer weather. We don't need Halloween in Australia.
1303Steve ·
Hi
BRMs are a British wheels, I wear my peaked cap backwards in the appropriate manner i.e. when taking photos.
Steve
amazeer ·
stuff that. Thousands of hungry and homeless people, thousands on surgery waiting lists (etc etc) in this country, yet we will spend hundreds of millions of dollars watching 20 odd horses run around in a circle??? I think we should export the Melbourne Cup to the US. They can call it the Melborn Cup
1303Steve ·
Who's playing in the cup? Good day to listen to the Ipod i reckon
1303Steve ·
Hi
I should explain my lack of excitement for dogs, trots, gee gees etc When I was lad my uncle used to drag me around to all the tracks with him, I saw 1st hand that most people who gamble loose and saw what this loosing did to them.
My uncle was a great bloke and thank him for this lesson. But I'm a hypocrite, I'm a member of the dish licker club in Sydney, that where my car club has its meetings, so I joined to avoid signing in every club meeting, and I buy lottery and lotto tickets sometimes.
Steve
amazeer ·
If Natalie Bassingthwaite is half time entertainment I might watch 😎
Horses in Halloween costumes, now that would be a good show.
MickH ·
Baja Wes wrote:.....edited........ It is the only night of the year that adults have an excuse to have fun fancy dress style.
Depends how kinky you are Wes....😂😘😊
squizy ·
Bugger Halloween anyhow - I'm into Day of the Dead.
Baja Wes ·
until they have an officially recognised date for naughty nurses or bondage party night anyway Mick 🙂