Jack O` Lantern.........................

[Dayvo]

Just get a load of exlax chocolates ready for the little darlings!

 

[gbb]

Had the grandkids round this evening and spent a very enjoyable hour or so with the carving pumpkin lanterns. Brilliant fun.
Seeds are drying now, hope i can get the process right and get to eat them.

As always, two sides to the story.
We have always encouraged our children and grandchildren to enjoy the fun of it all, but...only within a few family friends and family .
Absolutely no doorknocking on strangers houses.

Personally, i dont like strangers on my doorstep...wouldnt allow mine to do the same.

 

[Elmer Fudd]

For Hire on Halloween
Lurcher / Staff Xbreed, Sociable once he knows you, full of boundless energy, big bark, big mouth, big teeth. Does a very good Scooby doo impression.
Hates strangers who knock the door.
Hates postmen with a vengeance (even the one who doesn't come to our house).

 

[domtyler]

Just get a load of exlax chocolates ready for the little darlings!

I thought you were lacing them with LCD nowadays?

 

[buggi]

Did you know Jack O'lantern originally used a turpin, not a pumpkin, but when the irish settled in america there were no turpins, only pumpkins, and it kind of caught on.

 

[longers]

We always used turnips (i'd forgotten that ). You get such a lovely aroma from the burning lid once you light a candle in it.

 

[Elmer Fudd]

Did you know Jack O'lantern originally used a turpin, not a pumpkin, but when the irish settled in america there were no turpins, only pumpkins, and it kind of caught on.

Was it a (Dick) Turpin or a turnip ? Or was it really a swede?
Anyway, they only went to America to escape the potato famine, and that was only because they forgot where they'd planted them.

 

[Aperitif]

Was it a (Dick) Turpin or a turnip ? Or was it really a swede?
Anyway, they only went to America to escape the potato famine, and that was only because they forgot where they'd planted them.

Who - the Swedish?

 

[Peyote]

I thought you were lacing them with LCD nowadays?

LCD - Liquid Crystal Display?

or

LSD - Lysergic acid diethylamide (trips).

Personally I think the latter would be better!

Anyways, another voice for the Halloween dislikers here. On the plus side though, it does mean that Christmas gets put off 'til early November (well almost, Asda have got the Christmas stuff and Halloween stuff on the same aisle!).

 

[Arch]

Can you legally use a Jack O' Lantern on Halloween as a cycle headlight so you are joining in the "spirit" of things ?

Only if you aren't illuminating it with a candle. You're not allowed to have a flame for your sole illumination (Which is why LEDs were illegal for so long. The law stipulated a filament light, in order to ban flame-lit lights, like acetalene. Because LEDs didn't have filaments, they weren't legal, until the law caught up..) Or so I understand.


So, light your pumpkin with a bike light, or at least have another light so that the candle isn't your sole method of illumination...

 

[Cab]

Cos I'm a miserable bastard who dislikes kids banging on the doors of people they don't know for sweets. It's scary for a lot of old people. It's just more commercial tat to sell/buy. It's a cheap tacky US import. And I'm a miserable git.

Forget Halloween, celebrate something proper like Guy Fawkes or a proper Christmas.

This saddens me. Halloween isn't a US import, its just that many Brits have forgotten our own traditions at this time of year in favour of the American ones. We've carved lanterns (where I'm from out of turnips, which are confusingly called Swedes when you're not on Tyneside for some reason) for generations, we've played bobby apple and ducky animal, we've told ghost stories, dressed up... I see nothing wrong with any of that. If you don't like trick-or-treating thats fair enough, but don't get all het up about a traditional festival because of it.

 

[Fab Foodie]

This saddens me. Halloween isn't a US import, its just that many Brits have forgotten our own traditions at this time of year in favour of the American ones. We've carved lanterns (where I'm from out of turnips, which are confusingly called Swedes when you're not on Tyneside for some reason) for generations, we've played bobby apple and ducky animal, we've told ghost stories, dressed up... I see nothing wrong with any of that. If you don't like trick-or-treating thats fair enough, but don't get all het up about a traditional festival because of it.

Cab
I appreciate the origins, I did the apple-bobbing and stuff when I was a kid etc, but it was simple affair a small party at somebodies house. Now it's very different, have no problem with kids wanting to celebrate in the traditional manner, but I do object to all the commercialism, and especially the trick or treating. Fine if you do it to houses you know, (youngsters with parents) for a few sweets, but around here gangs of teenage kids come from all-over armed with buckets usually full of chocks they've blagged...if you don't play ball, then keys and cars are a nice combination....and we live in the nice part of town.
There's no avoiding trick or treating either whether I like it or not...unless I go out for the night which I am wont to do.