Halloween Belgian Style-- now this has been an eye opener! The holiday is not celebrated in Belgium, though many more stores are carrying Halloween type items than a few years ago. So some American moms who live in our neighborhood, which is the closet one to the school, decided it would be fun for the kids to be able to Trick or Treat. They have been successfully holding the event for about five years. It works like this...if you want your kids to participate you drop off three bags of candy at reception. The organizing moms gather it all up and distribute it to the houses who have agreed to take part, like ours. They give us an orange pumpkin sign to hang up so the kids know who is giving out candy. Schools in Belgium have a fall break--Saint Johns is next week, so the event was held tonight. From 6-8 or when candy is gone.
The girls and I were very excited to take part and even bought some extra candy "just in case"
We put up our two pathetic decorations and some played some spooky music on the iPad. At the stroke of 5:53 the crowds began to fill the streets of our neighborhood. It reminded me of Fairway Trails, moms and dads in costume, carrying large party beverages, strolling along and laughing and chatting while their kids gathered treats. And now, the differences...
1.hardly any of the kids knew to say Trick or Treat!
2. Most said Thank you in a different language(my favourite was the tiny two year old boy dressed as a pirate who said "tak" in his tiny Norwegian voice!)
3. Several of the kids were collecting their treats in doggie doo disposal bags! ??? I swear!
4.a large line of treaters had formed coming up my steps and two kids from Iran just dead stopped in front of me and said "WATER". "What?" I said..."Do you want water?" "YES!" "Ummm, OK." So I scuttle into the kitchen, fill two cups with water and return to the front door. They grab them, stand there and chug them, hand me the cups and then turn and leave!
5. A 10yr old Chinese boy races up the front steps, kicks off his shoes at the door and says, as he races into the foyer "PEE, I need PEE!!!" Charlotte, looking shocked, points towards the bathroom and he flys by. A minute later he comes out, puts on his shoes, picks up his candy bag, says "goodbye" and heads off...I had never seen him before in my life!
When I asked my friend Malia, a long time Belgian resident, if anything happens on the actual day of Halloween, she shared this with me "well Kerry, as you know they don't do Halloween in Belgium, but it is kind of growing in popularity. The problem is the Belgians don't really understand that it is 31October, so you may get people knocking on your day a few days before and even after, at any hour, looking for candy!" So stay tuned for more Halloween Adventures!
Ps. We ran out of candy by 7:15👹👻
