Yes, Halloween is celebrated (big style, actually) in Holland, complete with trick-or-treating (well, treating anyway). Although, as it turns out, one needs to be on "the map" distributed to the kids of houses that participate. Having not known this, we had only one group of the little buggers, so we've been eating mini Kit Kats since...
Some of you may know the story of me and my fear of Halloween, which was, only in recent years, cured. But when I was six, I went out trick-or-treating with a group of kids on our street. I was dressed as a ghost that year (sheet over my head, difficult to see out of the eye holes, and tripping on the sheet...) I was having a difficult time with the costume, so I separated from the group and headed home.
Little did I know that my parents and uncles had turned our apartment into a haunted house. You need to know that Uncle Phil was a thespian, with access to professional theatre costumes and make-up, which they all used. My Uncle Denis was Quasimoto - and an excellent one at that. As I descended the hill on Patridge Street, Quasimoto appeared, hunched over and moving sideways, dragging one foot behind. I tell you, this was REALLY SCARY (especially for a six year old who didn't know that this was a costume). I cried and was absolutely terrified.
Well, Denis (those of you who know the mischevious bugger won't be surprised at all this)
was young (21 at the time) and continued with his 'act' - which caused me to get hysterical. And at that point, even though I'm sure he identified himself as Uncle Denis, I didn't recognize him. Nor did I recognize my mother, who appeared on the scene - dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West - complete with green face, long fingernails and pointy hat. Well, I got so scared that I passed out. No kidding.
He later frightened the big kids - quite a bit - so it is no surprise that a six-year-old girl would have been a bit traumatized.
So for many, many years I avoided Halloween. Until one year in my Vernon Street apartment in Norwood, my landlord (who lived upstairs) and I decided to deck the house out for Halloween, scary music pumped out the windows, dark lighting, cobwebs, headstones in the yeard, and of course, scary costumes. I got one of those black draped grim reaper things with the white ghostly scary face, and I had skeleton gloves. I sat in the front hallway with the candy bowl in my lap, hands crossed over the treats, completely still. When kids entered the house, they'd talk about this thing they saw - "Is it just a fake? A real person? It isn't moving. Should we just take some candy?" ... and when they decided "yes", I'd grab the hand in the bowl and scare the sh*t out of them! With younger kids I was less harsh - but the whole thing was very therepeutic - and Halloween no longer frightens me. I will tell you that I got a huge amount of satisfaction from scaring the teenagers!
Anyway....I digress :)
We attended a fabulous Halloween party held by Cindy and Mike Smith. Many of the expats here are in the oil business, and this party had quite a few. Parties like this are fun, in large part because one meets other expats and it is very interesting to hear where people have lived and travelled, and their expat experiences. This makes us all feel a bond to one another.
We cycled over to the Smith's, who also live in Wassenaar, Alex dressed as a construction worker and I had borrowed my friend Judy's derndel so was dressed as a little German girl.
I've included just a couple of pictures. The woman you see in the pink is not a woman at all, but my friend Dorsey. Honestly, when I arrived at the party he/she was looking at me, and I thought, "Who is that odd woman and why is she staring at me....er, why is he...??? It's Dorsey!!"
Great party. Great fun.
