Halloween 2014 - A Growing tradition in France

Trick or Treat

Celebrating in France

Last Friday we celebrated Halloween in France.  To be honest, we started our Halloween celebration earlier in the week at a family party hosted my international women's club.  It was a perfect time to start us getting in the mood.

It was a potluck where everyone brought something to share and it was great to see fun- Fall/Halloween themed foods!  So festive!!

Mummy meatball sticks and witches fingers, just to name a few.

 We also carved pumpkins there.  Remember Halloween is not a French holiday.  France considers it an "Anglo-Saxon" holiday but it seems to be slowly catching on here. Having been here for 3 years now, I'm happily surprised that each year, the holiday has seemed to grow.  Traditional pumpkins were easier to find this year.  (Sorry no, pumpkin farms or farm stands in this country).  I saw them in the produce section of a couple of bigger grocery stores.  The traditional ones are called Jack-o-Lanterns, but as you can see from the table, other versions of squash were used too.  

One of the fun parts of this party was to go in costume...I brought along two cats and a zombie cheerleader. The girls had a blast doing their make-up and it was fun to see them excited to dress up!

It was a great turn out and a wonderful afternoon/evening.  Our hosts also provided 3 pinatas for the kids to knock down.  This was great fun for all and we divided the kids by young, middle and older groups.  As darkness fell, groups went trick or treating around the grounds - Several of the adults took jack-o-lanterns to indicate where there would be candy and the kids got to do a small version of trick or treating at the party.  What was also fun about this group, is that it's not just foreigners, there are also French people who have lived in English speaking countries, so enjoy celebrating this Anglo-saxon holiday.

Halloween fell at the end of the two week Fall school break, so it was also nice to enjoy the party earlier in the week and then look forward to trick or treating later on.

By Halloween night, the costumes had changed around a bit - One sugar skull, a cat and a vampire witch!  My oldest went off to a friend's house where a group of her friends got together for the evening  - went trick or treating and then had a sleep over.  Halloween parties are more common here than going "trick or treating".  This year the holiday seemed to catch on more and it was fun to see people (young and old) dressed up getting on the trams and buses - obviously off to a Halloween get together.  

I was also amazed on the 31st, when we stopped by the party store that sold Halloween costumes, it was packed!  We just needed some face make up, but I have never seen that store so full and everyone seemed to be buying costumes!  a definite change from previous years.

I worked earlier that day and was pleasantly surprised to see this "grumpy" pumpkin at the Marche du Capucins. It's very rare to see seasonal decorations for Halloween - so different than it is in the States.  Occasionally, a storefront or inside a store selling candy would have a Halloween display, but it's rare.

So I was happy to take its picture and share it with my instagram and facebook followers,  Halloween is slowly catching on here in Bordeaux!

If you want to see how we celebrated last year - Check out the link HERE

The Grumpy Pumpkin

 I, however, embraced my American heritage and we had our carved pumpkins outside for the week before Halloween and even lit them at night.  (My neighbor - understood and liked my Halloween display!)

Trick or Tricking is a new concept here.  Last year, we teamed up with some French friends who decided that they wanted to try going around our town and stick more with houses that they knew had kids.  This year a bigger group got together and walked around this same neighborhood but this year they rang bells at any houses where the lights were on.  There are pockets of trick or treating going on in Bordeaux.  Certain smaller towns around Bordeaux have embraced the holiday for years and in other areas nothing happens.  Even in the city itself, a bit here and there - but most people really don't know what to do when costumed children ring their bells.  We had some American expat friends of mine join us here in our town, as their children wanted to trick or treat.

When you are a part of a new tradition that is trying to catch on, it means sometimes there is no bounty to be had.  Some people did have candy ready to give out to the witches and goblins who rang their bells.  Other people were caught a bit off guard and scrambled to their cupboards and returned with packages of cookies or a big bag of candy to share. Occasionally, it was only a few packages given to a few kids because that's all they had. Some even offered money for the kids to buy their own candy (we graciously declined these kind offers).  Sometimes, there was just nothing but a person at the door who smiled at the kids costumes and sheepishly apologized for not having anything.  The kids had fun though and for my American children, it was just nice to go out dressed up like they use to do in the States and get some candy.  I think I am happy though, that it's not where near the amount that they would be coming home with in the States.

Since the distribution of candy was uneven or several houses gave large packages of candy to split up - in the end, all candy was pooled together and evenly distributed to all the kids.  Now, if you are American and you are reading this...it probably looks like a very different way to trick or treat, but when you are dealing with a "new" holiday here and also a culture trying to make it work for them - there are bound to be differences.  One thing I can say about the French culture is that they like things to be fair for everyone.  Maybe it's a part of their socialist society, maybe it's just how they think - but it's nice to see them teach the younger generation to think about others.

The candy re-distribution after trick or treating

A fun evening was had by all...

We returned back to the house around 8 pm with friends and we all enjoyed a pizza dinner.  Interestingly enough my doorbell rang about 6 times, each time with masked/costumed trick or treaters.  Most of these goblins were older teenagers - all polite and all very appreciate of the fact that I had packaged candy ready to give out when they said the French version of  Trick or Treat - "Des bonbons ou un Sort".  We were guessing that some of them were texting their friends to let them know which houses were ready!!  I suppose I could have had younger children too, but no one was home earlier to answer the door.  Will be fun to see how much this holiday grows in the coming years.

Hope everyone who celebrated it had a lovely Halloween!!

Now it's back to school for the girls and time to start thinking about our next American holiday - Thanksgiving!!

Halloween 2013 - French Style

Happy Halloween!

How We Celebrate in France

There's a saying, when in Rome do what the Roman's do....and for the most part we love embracing the French way of life.  But there are certain American traditions that I will always find a way to celebrate - Halloween is one of them! This is technically our 3rd Halloween in this country (If you want to read about last year's fete - click Here ) and I have to say each year has gotten better.  Last year we attended a family Halloween party with our expat group and went to another one at an American friend's house on Halloween day. 

This year we ramped it up a bit more with my eldest daughter hosting a soiree for friends of hers a few days before Halloween.  This gave us a great excuse to really decorate and get into the mood!  It was definitely fun having about 20 boys & girls over for a costume party.  For the French, Halloween is new - they are well aware that the Americans really celebrate this holiday but they are unclear exactly what is done.  It was great fun to introduce them to a little American culture!

I have come to learn that over the years, the French have tried to embrace the concept of Halloween - kids dressing up and trick or treating but it's been an up and down effort. This year, I noticed that the grocery stores were trying to sell more candy and encouraging kids who to go knock on doors.  On Halloween day, I was running last minute errands, and all the employees in one of the grocery stores were all dressed up.  They were also handing out treat bags in the candy aisle when you bought a certain kind of candy.  

Love this bag - tells  people to dress up, knock on doors to find your favorite candies!

Additionally, when I went into our local party/costume store to pick up parts of the girl's costumes, I was astonished with how crowded the costume section was.  It seemed to me that people in France were celebrating this holiday a bit more than before.  

Additionally, to my astonishment, all of my girls were invited to go trick or treating.  Yes, you did read that right - Trick or Treating in France.  My girls were beyond excited....it was going to be closer to the American tradition than they had experienced in previous years. My oldest daughter teamed up with a group of friends and went around their area.  Meanwhile, my younger girls and myself were invited to scurry about in our local town. 

Now, I had asked my French friend, how is worked here - did people really have candy ready?  Were they prepared for this?  She explained that - yes, not everyone will have candy.  One does have to pick and choose houses...but often families with younger kids are more aware of this "newer" concept.  She also explained that sometimes people just give cookies, sometimes a few coins to go buy some candy or even apologize for not having anything. It's a training, each year might get better as people know what to expect.  So I explained to my girls what might happen, that the trick or treating concept is truly new here.

I think the other thing that helped a bit here was that Halloween fell during the kid's 2-week Toussaint school break.  This made it easier for parties and even trick or treating. It also meant we essentially celebrated Halloween for a week!!  Nothing like really celebrating an American Holiday!!

First up was my oldest daugther's party - not too many photos here - but I loved this party as most all the kids came in costumes!  It's always tricky to host a party for 12 year old - a little old for games, but at the same time needed some kind of entertainment.  Music & food is what worked best here and the fact that they could run around outside too.  In France also, I find more kids are comfortable dancing unlike this age in the States. Basically, they all hung out dancing, talking and playing a bit of tag and soccer in the yard!

The Spooky house...

Loved the creativity!

I have to admit it was fun getting the house ready for the party - we haven't done that in years!!  Lots of spider webs - all over!  We also hung spider webs out by our gate.  Most of the parents I talked to were touched that we hosted a Halloween party and shared our tradition with their children.

On the day of Halloween, the girls all dressed up - do note a change of costume for my oldest...ladybug to zombie cheerleader. (Teenage girls...you can never wear the same thing twice - ha, ha!). 

The Zombie Cheerleader, Devil and Angel

My oldest went off with her friends to go trick or treating and then ending up at another friends house for the later evening.  I took my younger girls out with our friends.  This was an adventure!!  My friend had hand picked some houses and it was fun to see different reactions.    The kids even got into the ringing the bells - and even went to a few houses that we were not sure what would happen - but it made it fun anyhow!  Interesting enough, we were not the only group meandering the streets.  We saw at least 3 other small groups of kids & parents ringing bells.  

One of the big differences for trick or treating in France is that French houses are located behind locked gates.  One has to ring the bell and wait a while before people come out.  Most people were pleasantly surprised and brought candy out as they came to greet the kids - others came out and had to go back into the house to find something and of course there were a few who apologized for not having anything. (Maybe next year....)

Trick or Treat!

Everyone had a great time.

My little angel - loved to snack on her candy!!

Some people were also dressed in the holiday spirit - The witch below is handing out the candy.  

Festive

All the kids really got into the spirit!  So how does "Trick or Treat" translate in French - Well - our kids were saying - "Des bonbons ou un sort" - This means - Candy or a spell - I'd say that was pretty close.  The teenagers apparently according to my older daughter varied the saying with "Des bonbons ou la mort" - Candy or death....well, they are teenagers of course!  (Another note here according to my 12 year old - her friends really associate Halloween with spooky - scary, ghoulish costumes)

More bonbons!

The goodbye at the end of the night!

Not bad loot - for France

The day after Halloween here is All Saint's Day - it is a National Holiday.  A day, according to Catholicism, to remember & honor all the relatives who have passed away. Since everything is closed on that day, it seemed like the perfect afternoon & evening for an expat family Halloween party.  So off we headed for some pumpkin carving, playing and even more trick or treating!!

My middle daughter and my husband carving a pumpkin - She designed - he carved!

More Pumpkin carving! Note the different varieties of pumpkins!

Hard at work!

Lots of great festive food! A little short on fruits and vegetables - but hey, it's a party!

My Oldest daughter did this herself - created and carved!

I loved that most of the adults got dressed up too!!

After all the pumpkins were carved, the guys headed off to set up trick or treating.  It was wonderful as the party was held at the Bordeaux Observatory and the kids got to do a little trick or treating next to each dome and building.  Very cool and fun for all!  

I'm so glad that other kids that didn't get to go trick or treating -
got to participate in this way!!

All and all, I think this Halloween was one to remember!!  Maybe, because we are expats we take advantage of any opportunity we can to celebrate and enjoy the holiday - a holiday that is so much a part of our American Culture - but it was also fun to see this area start to embrace the Halloween festivities a little. It's also nice that families and friends here appreciate learning about different cultures.  It will be interesting to what happens next year.  Happy Halloween to all - and for those of you who celebrated - I hope it was super fun!