Today, October 31, marks the day when Halloween is celebrated here and many countries worldwide in some way. Some in the Western world, the US, Canada, Ireland and the UK, have extensive celebrations with costume parties, trick-or-treating, pranks and games.  |
| Maxine, resident Hudson Senior Center member, is dressed for Halloween |
Halloween is celebrated in downtown Nashua, NH, with lamp pole scarecrows along Main Street. I took photos on a downtown walk this week, some of which are shown below.Other countries have traditions similar to Halloween that focus on remembering the dead, but with unique cultural spins, like Mexico's Día de los Muertos. Most countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, don’t celebrate Halloween because of religious or cultural reasons, also Iran and Russia which have restricted/banned celebrations.
Many residents of Clocktower Place apartments, our residence building, also display Halloween decorations which ranger from shelf size to larger-than-life size displays.
Some decorations include friendly-looking ghosts, akin to Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Other decorations have a more ominous theme, including the carnivorous pumpkin below. On Halloween, it’s traditional to commemorate the dead in some Christian traditions. On
our Portugal trip, we saw early Halloween decos notably at a hotel. On November 1, All Saints' Day, Portuguese
children go door-to-door with carved pumpkin lanterns asking for a soulmass cake. This small round cake, which resembles a shortbread biscuit, has spices like
allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon or ginger as well as raisins or currants. B
efore baking, it's topped with the mark of a cross. Unfortunately, we left too early to sample one.
This year, Clocktower Place featured a pumpkin decorating competition with some unique entries. Residents will vote on the entries and the winning pumpkin will earn the resident a month of free garage parking.
There are 28 scarecrows placed along Main Street. While many are very original and creative, there are those that lack such features, which is why not all were shown in this post.My particulate favorite for originality is this above scarecrow by the Nashua Transit System. It consists totally of transit system signage.
Full disclosure we don't decorate for Halloween only for Autumn with recycled annual decos. These will be changed only after Thanksgiving (a tradition from our childhood).
Your turn — Do you decorate for Halloween in any way?
Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone
Hope you all receive only 🎃 treats not tricks👻
We'll be setting back time ⏰ on Sunday, Nov 2
15 comments:
All the lamppost scarecrows are scary. But the haunted house looks friendly. We do not decorate for Halloween either. Except for a little corner for the grandchildren, which I will be posting.
There are a few houses around here with “over the top” outdoor displays, but in general one sees little. Halloween seems to be less celebrated each year. The Chinese manufacturers of all the crap people buy must be very sad!
...Dorothy, I wish you a Spooktacular Halloween.
Our town did scarecrows on Main Street one year but didn’t repeat. They also had a parade for one year only. I was disappointed with downtown’s endeavour this year, but the community has done well enough as a whole.
That’s nice that your building sponsors the contest with the parking prize. I have a few Halloween items about that I’ve had for years. Tomorrow, my Thanksgiving decor will replace it.
I like the Fall decorations you have out. No scary stuff for me, thank you!
I enjoyed this, Dorothy. I do not decorate for Halloween nor autumn.
Pumpkins on the porch. Very traditional and easy. I am in awe of the artistry and work involved in some of the decor you show.
I am not a decorator for holidays. The only one I ever did a little for has been Christmas. Mainly had a real tree and made some decorations when Dagan was little. He'd bring things home from school for other holidays that we put in the window or on the frig. I had a table tree but the legs broke on it. I guess I need a new one now that the boys are around regularly. ;)
I'm not a big decorator. Easter stuff fits on a tray. Christmas in a small box. Fall plus Halloween is my year round wooden stripy cat and currently a small real pumpkin to become soup soon.
Sally and Jack. Two of my faves. Happy Halloween and boogie boogie.
Don't you just love this time of year? I look forward to your scarecrow contest every year.
We decorated for Hallowe’en when our grandkids were young. Not anymore. Love the pumpkins!
You have some fun Halloween photos today. Those pumpkins are great. Happy Halloween to you, or if you see this tomorrow, hope it was a good one. And Happy November to you.
Halloween decorations are among the most fun -- no expectations but a good time!
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