October 31st is a most awaited date among North Americans , specially for kids. It is Halloween Night , a scary night . Stores start stocking up on scary stuffs a month before the event . Kids start deciding what to wear , the scarier the better it seems . But very young ones ( or their parents ) prefer the hero -type costumes . Pumpkins abound for carving and for adding to the sombre atmosphere.
This year's Halloween Night was a cloudless night . By five o'clock p.m. parents were rushing home so they could accompany their young ones in trick or treating . Traffic was quite heavy as I joined the rush hour traffic , not towards home but to East Vancouver where I intended to capture the Halloween atmosphere in some Mangaldanian households.. First stop was at Deo and Letty Tan's house . Their three kids were getting ready to join the "exodus " to the mall for their treats . Deo would be behind them , of course . Joshua was dressed as Mr . Spiderman , Michelle was white cat and Merly was a pretty Geisha girl ( minus the make-up ) . Next stop was at Ray and Madonna Tan's residence . Unfortunately , their kids and their cousins were already out in their quest for more treats . Luckily , Marina came back with some friends so I was able to take her picture in a " bepop "girl attire.
Earlier I had the chance to take some pictures of kids inside St. Francis Sales church hall where there was a Halloween Costume contest . The first prize went to Matthew C. Perez , Gina and Mike's son who was in a "mummy costume " created by Mike .Other kids in the group were Mark Perez as Jack , the Ripper( ugh! !) , Clarissa C. Cox as a "ballerina " and baby Lelina A. Cox as a "Dalmatian puppy" . I captured some pictures of more kids in the neighborhood in very interesting and colorful costumes . After a few minutes of hanging out with the kids , I decided to head back to West Vancouver . I stopped by Nora and Franz place for see what Gabriel ( grandson of Remo and me ) was wearing for the night . It would be interesting to see him because it was his first time for him to go out trick or treating with his Mom . Well , he was dressed as a fireman ( complete with a rolled fire hose ). He looked cute as firemen usually are ( remember the firemen calendars ? ).Click, click , click for photos for more kids . Lots and lots of them on the streets , like a parade . But tired and hungry I finally head for home . By then , Remo would be handing out the usual treats to the "goblins" dropping by our place . Our neighbour's house was decked with dozen's of pumpkins and has 'ghost-like atmosphere" complete with "chilling and grave-like" music , very inviting to the " goblins" . Remo carved a pumpkin which he set up on our front entrance . Not many costumed kids came , so Remo and I spent the rest of the night filling ourselves with the treat of the night , left over chocolate bars . I probably won't like to see any "Oh, Henry " bars for months .
However , as I was watching kids and adults go excited about Halloween , my thoughts were in Mangaldan . People there would be celebrating " Pistay Inatey ". I could just smell the "dermen" made into inlove , the ginataan , the patopat and other kakanen and my heart ached for those times . I wish I could call somebody and talk about the good old days but it was quite late so I just closed my eyes and prayed for the souls of my father, my mother and my brother Tony and the souls of all my departed relatives and friends and another " spooky " night is over.





Marie,
This is a wonderful article about traditions here in our adopted country. You did a wonderful job capturing images of children in their halloween get-up. Our kabaleyan would enjoy the pictures you took as well as appreciate your light story-telling writing.
Kudos!!!
Posted by: Djoma | November 03, 2006 at 02:33 PM