Besieged

This post is in memory of the Halloween nights I’ve sat nervously eating the children’s give-away candy while waiting for the Priory door bell to ring. I felt besieged, I was besieged.

In Edmonton Canada the children came with pillow cases to collect the sweets. In Reading England in the early 1990’s just a few children came, neighbours children. In Eugene Oregon in 1988 I became transfixed by the carved pumpkins arrayed on the porches in our neighbourhood.

Happy_Halloween.jpg
You too can carve a pumpkin

This is for all those who are besieged in their homes and for the woman I spoke to this afternoon, now cooking for the oncoming hoards. Who are you going to call?

What, or who, are you going to call on when you become besieged?

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

7 thoughts on “Besieged”

  1. Living quite a ways out in the country we rarely see kids on Halloween–maybe it’s the long, dark driveway and howling coyotes that keep them away? One year a friend took pity on us and drove her little ones out to our house. Of course we had to scurry about looking for appropriate treats. Moral of this story: always have candy on hand!

  2. In the village where I live in rural Yorkshire Halloween has become a community event. It is one of the few things that seems to really work. The agreement is that children only call at houses which display either a real pumpkin with a light or a picture of one. When you get fed up or run out of treats you remove your pumpkin. Most of the children are small & come escorted by adults & this year it just happened between 6pm & 7.30pm, possibly because of early bedtimes. I am very lucky to live here where people do not have to feel afraid to open the door after dark & where neighbours watch out for one another.
    And I recognise the question – “who or what are you going to call on when you become besieged?” The answer has to be The Eternal.
    I also recognise Halloween’s links to All Souls or remembrance of the dead. The Segaki festivals for the dead which take place at Throssel twice a year are the most wonderful & cathartic ceremonies for me.

  3. I’m so happy that you’re back and that you had a retreat and took your camera and became a monk but mostly I’m happy that I got to carve a pumpkin over and over and over and hear the beasties in the night. It reminds me that one can have a good time meeting beasties in the night.

  4. one and all. Glad you all enjoyed the site. I should add that it was not me who found the link, I’m grateful to the one who did.

  5. I loved playing with the pumpkin but found it curious that you did eyebrows on yours. Personally I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pumpkin with carved eyebrows before…. (this comment has been slightly edited.)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.