[Okay folks, you've read the truncated version in this Sunday's Times of India, Patna Edition. Now here's the full version with the original title...]
"There was a belief that it was a day when spirits of
the dead would cross over into the other world," Santino says. Halloween provides a safe way to play with
the concept of death. People dress up as the living dead, and so on. "All Hallow's Eve" then evolved
into "All Hallow's Even," and by the 18th century it was commonly
referred to as "Hallowe'en."
Author: Frank Krishner
The last
day of October was the day that Patna reluctantly limped back to work after the
days of Chhat Puja that followed the Diwali festival. Last Friday night, a few unsuspecting folk who meandered
down New Patliputra Colony almost jumped
out of their skins when they encountered a two flesh eating zombies, a vampire,
two witches and assorted monsters
hanging around outside a couple
of houses. An elderly man walking his dog was so fascinated at the sight that
he stood transfixed and took in the
scene for a full five minutes before walking on. Halloween has finally come to town!
A couple of
years ago, a voluntary organization hosted a small Halloween themed fund raiser
in aid of kids from dysfunctional families. This year, a few spots around
Patna, mainly private homes, did thrown a Halloween party or two. Scary
costumes, food and games, candy and fun is the local version of the festival.
‘Trick-or-treating’ of course is not possible. Yet. “Trick or treating is when you
go up to houses, ring the bell, and ask for candy,” explained Mithun, one of
the vampires haunting the street, “obviously we can’t do that in Patna, many
Bihari bhais don’t have a sense of humour, so you will see the sight of a poor
vampire being chased down the streets by a frenzied mob of irate flat-owners.
“Haunting
the street for a few minutes was fun, though. The stunned, curious, surprised,
and even scared looks on the faces of passers-by were priceless,” said a lady
bank officer in a party mask. “It was my very first Halloween party, and I
enjoyed it!”
Apart from
Halloween being the second most commercial holiday in the US raking in some $ 2 billion
during Halloween, so it’s likely that we’ll see more of this thing happening
once the commercial establishments catch on. Sweet and chocolate are consumed
in large amounts, so confectioners and dentists will be very happy, quipped a
reveller.
But how do
you manage to have a Halloween party in Patna? “Internet shopping comes to your
rescue, and there’s enough of things locally available if you keep a sharp
lookout, “says a local party organizer. “Local confectioners are quite capable
of baking innovative Halloween cakes if you show them a sample picture. Only
this time the chat celebration meant that all the bakeries were closed for
almost four days, so we had to forgo a sinfully rich chocolate cake. Otherwise,
pranks and gags, scary masks, and simple dressing up aids can be bought over
ebay or amazon.”
Collect interesting
stuff wherever you get it: gothic tattoos with skulls and dragons, pirate
badges that come at 10 rupees each, those very realistic collections of plastic
creepy crawlies… they all serve to make your party memorable, and you an source
them from any small store. My own favourite is a tiny place in Kurji called ‘Prabhat
Tara’, the shopkeeper there has oodles of stuff that kids love: strange
flavoured candies and other cool stuff that can go well with your scary night.
Some
history: “Hallowmas” was a three-day Catholic festival where saints were
honoured and people pray for the recently deceased. In the 11th century, the Pope decreed that it would last from Oct. 31 (All Hallow's
Eve) until Nov. 2 (All souls Day), most likely because in that era the Pope
wanted to counter the influence of the ‘Samhain festival’ which was celebrated around that
time. According to folklorist John Santino, the exact nature of Samhain is not
fully understood, but it was an annual community event at the end of the
harvest, a time to gather resources for the winter months and bring animals
back from the pastures. Samhain is also thought to have been a time of
communing with the dead.
"There was a belief that it was a day when spirits of
the dead would cross over into the other world," Santino says. Halloween provides a safe way to play with
the concept of death. People dress up as the living dead, and so on. "All Hallow's Eve" then evolved
into "All Hallow's Even," and by the 18th century it was commonly
referred to as "Hallowe'en."Author: Frank Krishner
