Not English

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Copyright Oggbashan October 2005

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

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Halloween is not an English tradition. It has been imported into England over the last twenty years as a transatlantic festival. It is not surprising that we get it wrong.

There was an English tradition on 31st October. On Beltane we lit Balefires to keep away evil spirits (and to clear up the debris left by harvest). Beltane was and is a much more sinister occasion than Halloween. It is still observed by some and outsiders are not welcome.

What we did and do have is Guy Fawkes Day, November 5th. We celebrate the failure of Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Some of us might regret his failure but we celebrate anyway. There are bonfire societies that have been in existence for hundreds of years to ensure that Guy Fawkes has an appropriately spectacular display.

By English standards Guy Fawkes is a modern invention. His plot failed in 1605. The celebration of his failure used to be anti-Catholic. Now most of those celebrating it have little idea of the reasons for the plot and why it failed. It is just an excuse to light bonfires, let off fireworks and have a good time. Halloween, five days earlier, is too close to November 5th.

Why is Halloween celebrated in England? The cynic's answer would be because it is a bonanza for retailers selling masks, costumes and Halloween paraphernalia. That is partly true. What has happened is that November 5th, which used to be a family event, has gradually become more organised and commercial as a community event.

When I was young, small boys used to make effigies of Guy Fawkes, trundle them around the streets on small carts while the makers pleaded for 'A penny for the Guy'. Passers-by were expected to reward their artistic efforts appropriately. Even then, a penny would have been miserly and a poor acknowledgement for the creation. The pennies were supposed to provide fireworks so that the Guy, perched on his own bonfire, would have a suitable feu-de-joie.

Of course some small and not so small boys treated Guy Fawkes as an excuse for shameless begging. Their Guys would be derisory. Their appeals for donations might be accompanied by a menacing tone – until the beat policeman arrived and sent them home. The policeman would not disturb those whose Guys were genuine attempts at portraiture, given the ages of the makers.

Fireworks were sold in most corner shops and each family that had a garden would make a bonfire. On the evening father would set off the family's own fireworks and small people might peer out of their bedroom windows to watch other people's rockets soar into the night sky. Unfortunately not all fathers were competent. Injuries to family members on Firework Night were frequent and sometimes life-threatening. Even the wonderful sparklers clutched in tiny mittened hands could inflict deep burns on the unwary. Jumping jacks and wayward rockets could be more serious.

The UK's government gradually responded with more and more restrictions on the sale and use of fireworks. Jumping Jacks were the first casualty. 'Bangers', that every teenage boy would fling about recklessly, lost their bang and their power. No longer could bangers demolish a mud dam in the local stream, or reduce a broken toy to shattered fragments. Their bang became a fatuous pop.

Organised displays were encouraged. There parents and children could watch bigger and better fireworks than individual families could afford and watch from a safe distance that was not possible in a small family garden. Injuries and accidents reduced except for those who bought the larger fireworks intended for public displays and lit them in too small a space.

The family element was gradually being eroded from Guy Fawkes. Children did not make Guy Fawkes' effigies. The friendly policeman was no longer around to sort the genuine from the opportunistic. Parents were reluctant to let their children roam the streets begging from strangers.

The cult of Halloween seemed to offer the family element that had been lost from Guy Fawkes night. Although Guy Fawkes celebrations are alive and well, they are now large fund-raising events with competitive displays in most towns.

Halloween offers the children something that Guy Fawkes now cannot. They have an opportunity to dress up and to make pumpkin lanterns, masks and cloaks. They can again roam the streets after dark threatening mayhem only averted by a 'trick or treat'.

Of course, being English, we couldn't do an American custom properly. When Halloween first began to appear as an event in England the menacing children who had demanded pennies for their miserably made guy now terrorised neighbourhoods demanding 'treats' and committing damage to property if they were not rewarded handsomely enough. Old people locked their doors on Halloween or visited their adult children because they would not be safe in their own homes.

The unreasoning fear of strangers that has grown in recent years has affected Halloween. No group of unaccompanied children would knock on a stranger's door for fear of what might happen. Halloween tricksters are usually accompanied by their parents and only visit selected neighbours who have been warned and have consented in advance. There is very little evidence of 'tricks'. Almost every child can expect to return home with a stomach-churning collection of sweets and chocolate.

The traders rejoice. They sell the costumes, the masks, the make-up and the sweets and chocolates suitable as 'treats' for the Halloween maskers.

The children, if they are young enough, enjoy the event for the sheer fun of being out after dark in costume. The older children either act as escorts or think the whole thing a bore. The adults, parents and the consenting neighbours indulge the children. The elderly still cower in their homes dreading a visit from a gang of teenage louts.

Everyone has only a few days to wait after Halloween is over for the properly English celebration of Guy Fawkes. That is much more satisfactory for the English. What could be better than burning an effigy of a traitor? It is very suitable, and of course politically correct, for our children to celebrate the painful death 400 years ago of a Catholic conspirator who wished to kill the members our then Protestant parliament...

Please to remember the Fifth of November,

Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.

We know no reason

Why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.