From the Magic Box!

Scenes from Halloween

A Halloween party

A tiny teeny Buzz

A row of Halooweeners!

A little monkey

Halloween decor

A puppet show about to commence

Halloween at school

Pretty Princesses

Horror Shopping!

Medellin shops started storing horror goodies as soon as September started. But the coolest of all those goodies were seen in Cachivaches in Oviedo. Not only was this shop opened specially for Halloween, every item it sold was about Halloween. Needless to say, it was a delight to window shop here.

Its hard to remember what this shop didn’t have. Everything related to Halloween starting from little fake pumpkins, clown noses, hairbands that transform innocent kids into devils, witches, bunnies and Minnie mouse. To get more hair raising, they had fake elf ears, beaver snouts with teeth, pirate eye patches, pirate hooks, fake spiders, and scorpions. There were so many choices for trick or treat bags too. There was an entire wall of little fake vampire hangings and skeleton themed crockery complete with goblets, mugs and bowls. I myself bought six tumblers with Jack-O-lanterns smiling on them.

In addition, there were some pretty mean looking masks to choose from, including the killer’s mask in ‘Scream,’ a man with a mole and a scar and a werewolf. Wigs of every colour; curly, straight, permed. Hats of every shape, witch, Mexican, pirate. 

And the costumes! For children as well as adults it was a bonanza! You want superheroes, they got Spiderman, Superman, Captain America, Tron, Thor, Mr. Incredible, Ben 10 and the aliens he becomes. You want toon characters, they got Fred Flintstone, the Smurfs, Buzz Lightyear and Woody, Pooh and his gang. For the wannabe musclemen there were Ninjas, sailors and soldiers. And for the girls all the Disney princesses and then some like Tinker Bell and Little Red Riding Hood. 

And for the older girls who wanna get naughty could be a policewoman, a witch, a waitress or a nurse. Apart from the dresses, the girls could go nuts on a row of accessories starting from fake eye lashes, witchy nails, stockings, black lipsticks and dramatic fluffy scarves.

The decoration for this shop was another treat. Creepy and festive at the same time. The ceiling was covered in fake cobwebs. While one corner had a mummy with a half exposed skeletal frame, another had a zombie baring his teeth at us. There was even a blown up vampire who would creep out of his coffin from time to time. Outside the shop itself you could see an old scary man shaking his head constantly while he held a lantern in one hand and a head in the other. And the entrance was a big black cat! 

The sales people were really helpful every time we went there. And it helped that they were dressed up as some weird character or the other.

Scary Fair!

It’s the last day of October. As evening settles, the wind gets feverishly chilly. After you finish readying everything, you sit down to relax in front of the TV. The doorbell rings and you wonder who it could be at such an hour. You creep up to the door reluctantly. You can hear noises from the other side. There is more than one. As you open the door, they burst upon you chanting their mantra, “Trick or treat!!!”

Your heart goes all gooey as you check out the miniature Vampire, a fake muscled Batman, a little princess and a cute witch. You dole out the candies to them greeting “Happy Halloween!” They thank you in a hurry and run off to the next door. 

 

This is the first time that I experienced Halloween, and it was fun. The shops started putting up Halloween goodies from mid-September. By the time October started, the malls were choked with Jack-o-lanterns, giant spiders, scorpions, witches and ghouls and lots of other creepier decorations. They even set up a fire station, where kids could go and put on a fireman hat and jacket and then ride the fire engine around the mall. Of course, we parents just paid up for the fun.

 

My son’s birthday too falls in October, so he got to be Captain America on his birthday party. He also had a Halloween party in his school, where he dressed up as Eeyore the donkey from Winnie the Pooh. I didn’t get to attend that party but he told me they had dancing and good food. We attended another party where I was invited too. They had clowns, a puppet show, candy, ice cream and free gifts. And it was quite an experience to enter a room full of little costume clad people. I remember a Donald Duck, a nun, a monkey, quite a few Minnie Mouses and an infant shark too who spent most of the time sleeping in his father’s lap. 

I admired this celebration of the dead, but I missed India so much. October 2^nd came and I was wondering which Gandhi movie they were playing on Zee TV and B4U. Then the countdown for Durga Puja began – shashthi, saptami, ashtami and navami. In India, this would have meant four sarees for me. We did have a Durga Puja celebration here and we tried our best to make it authentic but I missed the pandal, the larger than life idols, the dhunuchi naach, and the people. 

Then Dushehra came. I missed the burning of a fire-works packed Raavan and the racquet that ensued. And then I missed the pitha on Kati bihu. And then came Diwali. I had no diyas to light, no crackers to burst and no mithai to eat! Boy, what a month! One should never be out of India in October. 

 

But you know what? I see the colours change in the mall here in Medellin already. Gone are orange and black. Welcome green, red and white. Christmas is coming! And I can’t wait to see how Medellin does it. Happy Halloween then!

Vampires, witches and corpse bride

And all other people from the other side

Celebrating creatures that have never been

Wish you a Happy Halloween!