Halloween...Tossa style

Another thing I miss...Halloween in the states. The people of Tossa have been celebrating Halloween for about 3 years now. I am not sure where this holiday came from but I suspect many years of seeing American movies as well as the influx of UK citizens who have relocated to this warmer part of Europe had something to do with the influence on this town. I cannot say much about neighboring towns, but tossa is starting to get the hang of it and it is up to me to push them over the edge.

I spent the whole month of October looking for pumpkins. It is safe to say that pumpkins are not a staple crop here in Spain. I could find small decorative ones but they did not nearly have the size to put an intricate carving despite only being able to put a tea light in the inside meaning no real light coming thru. Oh how I miss searching pumpkin patches for the biggest and roundest pumpkin so I could dream up a horrific or detailed carving into the face. I guess no pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving meal this year...sigh. It's ok, I prefer sweet potato.

In America, we look forward all week to either preparing our costume or buying one for our little ones. Half of the kick is fiding out which character is most popular with the kids. When I was a kid, there were many Luke Skywalkers and Chewbaccas roaming the south side of Richmond along with your safe bets of Superman or Spider-man. I don't know about you but the Hulk just never came off well since most wearing the costume were all of 6 years old and the body frame to go with their age. Not being stateside, am at a lost for which characters will venture down to my dark end of the street to venture in the darkness thru our cul-de-sac with owls hooting and who knows what kind of insect or snake lurked in the front easement.

I do miss the neighbors a street up and around the corner who always had a frightful display in the front yard. With garage open, there was a scene of some masked villain with a fake chainsaw and fake blood all over the concrete (I hope they sealed that driveway properly). all the while, outdoor speakers blared horrify moans and screams from hidden locations around the house. Coffins and tombstones decorated the front law. I, to this day, still feel odd about walking across a grave, out of respect for the dead, so it's a good way to keep the like minded off his grass.

Normally, when I was a child, we started trick or treating when the darkness fell. It added to the fear factor of All Hallow's eve. Carme and I traded off years where we would walk with our little terrified of the dark Alex while the other stayed home to pass out candy. Alex loves me, I am sure, but on this day, when it was my turn to take him out, he was not my friend as I pushed him to walk to each scary and dark house to retrieve the candy he knew I was going to limit him from eating come Nov. 1. He was tired as my role in slave driver wore on with each footstep, becoming more and more intense. I guess I was fulfilling my childhood.

Still I noticed Halloween was changing, not just because I was getting older and no long could fit in my Teenage Ninja Turtle outfit...well maybe a little...but I noticed that we were becoming a little smarter as adults than our parents before. With America waiting until the weekend after Halloween to roll back clocks an hour, children and parents could now come home from school and head out in costume before nightfall settled. This in effect could help prevent some of the accidents people were having driving their neighborhoods avoiding frantic trick or treaters. Well we hope. I remember how odd it was to see the movie E.T. and the Halloween scene where the sun had not even got close to setting and the residents went out for sweets and goodies.

If you had been paying attention to the culture here in Tossa, most parents work until 8pm at night and we have already rolled back our clocks a week ago. Side note, when we roll our clocks forward, the sun doesn't set until near 9:30 at the height of the summer. I love that! but nightfall comes early for us in the winter months and I am turning on the lights to my store sign near 6pm. It had been raining all week and torrential downpours threatened my first full year leading up to Halloween. We suffer form some pretty harsh wind storms usually during the night bu for the past two days, we had been experiencing the wind and the rain. I was bummed but not to be destroyed.

Still I had begun my Halloween atmosphere in my store by picking up the few decorations Carme could find on a shopping day a few town down where they have more items and selection for sale. What is missing are the boxes and boxes of display of different costumes set up where most seasonal things are displayed in the local retail shops. I dusted off my collection of Halloween sounds and music and set them to play on 3 computers simultaneously. The layered effect of random screams and echoes filled my shop. Passer byers turned their head noticing the eerie sounds oozing from my door. As night fell, the rain ceased and I added a bit more of atmosphere to the shop by cutting off the lights and lighting candles. The local kids that I do know all poked their heads in and enjoyed the limited atmosphere I was working with. I did not anticipate customers but one guy stopped by right before closing at 8pm with a 2 second fix for him computer. I laughed as he wondered if I was still open as he clearly did not get the spooky effect I was going for. who could blame him.

So at 8:08pm I closed my shop for the night. Having a few kids in home made costumes to visit me in my shop and enjoy my limited selection of candy and the horrifying sounds coming from 3 different directions with an echo effect added to them. One child, dressed as a witch, was not sure where the sounds were coming from and asked if I had a monster in my bathroom hiding out. I walked home, only to encounter one small child in costume with her mother. Seems like witches are popular if not for lack of retail costumes of cartoon characters and the universal understanding what a witch is. I dreamed of how to make my mark on this town and bring a little of me and my culture. I talked to Andrea, who runs a local murder dinner theater for the tourists and we spoke of renting out a house and making it a haunted feature in the month of October and maybe year round. I think it would go nicely with her mystery theater since she emplys many actors and models for her other businesses. maybe we can incorporate maybe some ghostly pirates who visited the area with our ruined castle do draw more tourists. Still it is in the thought stage. If I have anything I have my imagination.