{"id":4699,"date":"2017-10-31T16:59:23","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T15:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lisasdolceitalia.wordpress.com\/?p=4699"},"modified":"2020-09-12T11:02:22","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T09:02:22","slug":"happy-halloween-no-translation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisasdolceitalia.com\/?p=4699","title":{"rendered":"Happy Halloween…No Translation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"010FFE96-306F-4D00-B501-05805ED19989\"Today\u00a0is Halloween…a day that reminds me of my childhood.\u00a0 The fun of planning a costume and roving the neighborhood with my friends on what was often a blustery evening as it grew dark.\u00a0 As a rule we were home by 8 pm since we had school the next day.\u00a0 A week or so before Halloween we would either find a pumpkin patch or make a pilgrimage to the enormous pile of pumpkins outside the supermarket and pick something we could carry on our own.\u00a0 We would draw very basic jack o’lanterns and cut them out with a paring knife after have cleaned out all the seeds and pulp.\u00a0 My mom would roast the pumpkin seeds for something healthy to snack on between candy.\u00a0 There were no special carving kits (which I think are fabulous) or fancy stencils (also great fun). If we were really lucky we might have visited one of the haunted houses put together by one of the local radio stations a few days before Halloween.\u00a0 It was fun, not too commercial, just fun. Being raised by a sugar nazi, I was in it for the candy and savored all the goodies I got from my two hours of running around.
\nHalloween is not a tradition here in Italy but thanks to commercialization, globalization or whatever you want to call it, Halloween has come to Italy too.\u00a0 After moving from the states and before having children, I didn’t really how Halloween was creeping into Italy.\u00a0 The Italians have been watching our TV for years and any excuse for a party is good.\u00a0 For the last twenty years, the occasion has been celebrated in some form.\u00a0 In English class, the teachers always use the tradition to teach new vocabulary…black cat<\/em>, witch<\/em> and pumpkin<\/em> are some of the words on the list…scary\u00a0<\/i>too!
\nEvery year I also find Italians who protest because this is not national tradition.\u00a0 One year the local florist rudely sent a group of kids from her shop when they stopped by for a treat.\u00a0 This is her choice although she could have been a bit nicer.\u00a0 This year, my oldest son said his religion teacher lectured them about Satanism and Halloween and how Hitler and Winston Churchill were both Satanists with mind control powers.\u00a0 I really wish I could have listened to that lecture and might opt him out of religion next year.
\nLet’s not overthink this…More often than not, Italians have decided to adopt the less philosophical aspects of Halloween, right or wrong, and even better, done it in their own style.\u00a0 Since much of the trick-or-treating is done in shops here, a stop at the butcher’ s yields a mini salami, the gelateria, a small cup of gelato, the baker’s, a piece of focaccia or pizza, I love it!\u00a0 Just like in the states though, in most shops, candy is king, it is also easy.
\nSo what do I do for Halloween since this is a day that I can still claim and want to share with my kids?\u00a0 Pretty much what I did as a kid.\u00a0 Every year I carve a pumpkin or two and roast the seeds to snack on.\u00a0 This year Emanuele did the carving.\u00a0 Finding the perfect pumpkin has always been a challenge here and until this year, I never managed to grow them.\u00a0 This year I am very happy to be a pumpkin mother and I have already tucked some seeds away for next year.
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Fun!<\/p><\/div>
\nThe candy section of the supermarket here does not magically expand as it does in the states.\u00a0 This year I managed to get my hands on mini Mars and Snickers.\u00a0 I know this doesn’t sound like much but it’s actually quite a change. Now I hope to get some kids trick-or-treating!\u00a0 You would think that being the only American in town I would be on the list of friendly places to go but since we are on the edge of town this is not the case. If nothing else my kids friends know and will be happy to help empty the candy bowl.
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You have no idea how happy these make me.<\/p><\/div>
\nThe Italians seem to think that Halloween costumes have to be scary since that’s what the marketing tells them.\u00a0 How disappointed they would have been about the pink and white bunny costume my mom made me when I was eight.\u00a0 I think I dressed as a gypsy a few years running and as a wood sprite.\u00a0 I don’t think I have ever dressed as something scary in my entire life…not even a witch, but my kids might argue that I am a witch every day….cackle cackle!
\nOur costumes are whatever the kids want.\u00a0 We have a costume bag of hand-me-downs from Mauro’s nephew and costumes that his mother, Maria, made for carnival, a nice reminder of her.\u00a0 Emanuele got himself a rat mask at the fabulous Archie McPhees on a trip to Seattle one year and is happy to keep wearing it.
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I Smell a Rat!<\/p><\/div>
\nWe have the added bonus after Halloween of November 1st being an official holiday, Tutti Santi,\u00a0<\/em>All Saints Day.\u00a0 Our tomorrow will include a trip to the cemetery, actually multiple cemeteries in remembrance of our dead and we get to sleep in.. ahhh!
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Wherever you are and however you decide to celebrate, there is no need to translate…Happy Halloween!<\/p><\/div>
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Today\u00a0is Halloween…a day that reminds me of my childhood.\u00a0 The fun of planning a costume and roving the neighborhood with my friends on what was often a blustery evening as it grew dark.\u00a0 As a rule we were home by 8 pm since we had school the next day.\u00a0 A week or so before Halloween … Continue reading Happy Halloween…No Translation<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisasdolceitalia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisasdolceitalia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisasdolceitalia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisasdolceitalia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisasdolceitalia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lisasdolceitalia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5482,"href":"https:\/\/lisasdolceitalia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4699\/revisions\/5482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisasdolceitalia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisasdolceitalia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisasdolceitalia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}