A Celtic celebration to mark the arrival of winter has passed largely unnoticed through Australia and other Southern Hemisphere countries.
“Oops,” said one primary school teacher after 31 May went unobserved. “We freaking missed that chance for a few cut and paste activities.”
Originally a means to scare away evil spirits that take lives in the cold and dark winter months, Halloween morphed a century ago as an excuse for Americans to door knock new arrivals and get food off them.
“Why didn’t Channel Ten put on those less funny Simpson’s episodes about Kang and Kodos,” explained a university student. “That’s a piss-up opportunity wasted!”
Australian supermarkets have often struggled to get a lot of movement on cardboard cut outs of witches and cobwebs, yet it is the farmers who feel the hardest hit by the June 1 eve oversight.
“Right now we want to sell faded pumpkins, yet come October suddenly there’s advertising and demand for something we don’t have,” complained a veggie grower.
Despite having missed the historical accuracy of Halloween, some don’t seem to mind celebrating the feast out of season and on the Christian absorbed October 31 date – prior to All Saints’ Day.
“There’s no better time to dress as a ghoul and wear dark clothing than at the start of spring,” stated one observer of Northern Hemisphere dates and practices. “It’s as traditional as cooking a roast turkey and stamping through fake snow on a 30+ degree Christmas day.”
Next on the Celtic calender will be the Winter Solstice on June 20, or for those Northern Hemisphere minded it will be on December 21.