dookin an guisin

last week my mum opened the door, as ever, to local guisers and we made our best effort to frighten the local children. I cut a hole in a table and had a covered bird cage put over my head. When the children came in, the witch (convincingly played by my mother) brought the children over to the table, explained about her new pet and lifted the cage to reveal my head. I opened my eyes and screamed. Casualties included a 7 year old cheerleader, a 6 year old vampire and a 33 year old nuclear engineer. We insisted on hearing a turn before anyone got anything sweet - a recited verse from Tam o'shanter was the clear winner. Best joke went to "how do you know which cow is going on its holidays? - It's the one with the week 'aff." The often forgot about history of Hallowe'en reminds me how my pagan roots have been overtaken by Christianity, and more recently, Capitalism. How striking the similarities to Obon in Japan with it's bonfires and lanterns and returning of the dead.

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