I hadn't realised it before, but Halloween is big business in the Middle East, which is strange given that it is a mix of Celtic practices, Catholic and Roman religious rituals with a few European folk traditions thrown in. Yet the Bahrainis love it.
Our compound takes Halloween very seriously. The owners, a wealthy Bahraini family, even go so far as to deck out an entire section of their home as a haunted house. The "Ghost Gazette" was delivered to the door last week, with instructions for Halloween proceedings and for the first time ever, I felt obliged to invest in some cobwebs and spiders, costumes for the girls and bucketfuls of sweets and lollies. And our black cat, Enid, was an authentic live accessory on the night.
The shop where I went to purchase these Halloween goodies was packed with Bahrainis clutching everything from flashing ghoul lights to vampire fangs. They were queuing out of the door and two women in abayas were having a heated exchange about who had seen a witch's hat first.
At just before six this evening, the first Trick or Treaters arrived and it was a steady stream for the next couple of hours - at least 150 people, I reckon, including quite a lot of dodgy looking teenagers (why are they still interested?) and a fair few domestic staff clearly after the free choccies like everybody else.
Isabelle dressed as a dwarf and Olivia was a witch. She managed to chip her front tooth over the weekend, so could also sport a crooked smile. The tooth now has an infection and she may need an expensive dental procedure. The false teeth I bought her for her costume would have been a far cheaper witch's grin.
Happy Halloween! What did you get up to?
Your two look fantastic!
ReplyDeleteWe live at the top of a farm track so I think kids are scared to come up the drive in the dark so we never get many visitors on Halloween. Rory, now 14, didn't fancy joining his mates - they popped in, took some sweets and left again -Rory stayed with me!
That sounds so cool. Aussies are a mixed bag when it comes to Halloween it seems-- some resent that it's an "American holiday", and some want in on it. We trick or treated last night-- about 8 houses in our neighborhood were "participating".
ReplyDeleteI missed the party! I can relate by the way. I was in Germany a few years back and Halloween was just getting popular. Now they are taking it to another level!
ReplyDeleteYou have Halloween dinner??
I remember going trick or treating as a child in Kuwait (I will only have been around 4 years old - so that's 30 years ago!) and also many times when we had moved to Dubai. And when I visited my parents in Dubai last year over Halloween we had loads of trick or treaters calling. Big business indeed!
ReplyDeleteI've never had any since living in London.
Halloween in Bahrain appears much more American than here in Holland. Amazing to see what other cultures do with this old holiday! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteTrish - thanks! They certainly enjoyed themselves.
ReplyDeleteFlorida Girl - I guess Brits are the same as the Aussies, but the Bahrainis love it!
Natural Selection - didn't have Halloween dinner. was too busy handing out goodies! What did you have?
Solveig - not surprised you haven't experienced trick or treat in London. But Guy Fawkes night is a different matter!
Philly Girl - thanks for the comment and for reading. Will check out where you are in Holland...
Love the outfits. I hadn't expected Hallowe'en to be so big in Bahrain. Sounds like it was a lot of fun. As usual, my son and I dressed up as zombies and handed out sweets at our front door. We scared a lot of kids with our blood and bandages and fake pus. One little girl saw me the other day and you could visibly see her relief that I was not a zombie anymore. Haha.
ReplyDeleteSelma- fake pus - yuk! I tried to be Dracula's bride but the cape was too hot and the fangs hurt, so gave up just stuck to drinking blood red wine instead.
ReplyDelete