Halloween may have passed, but that does not mean that we cannot reminisce about that spooky time of year known as Halloween! Halloween is now celebrated here in Australia too, as a fun holiday. It is a relatively recent celebration that came to Australia in the early 2000’s.
What’s it like to celebrate this event in the Southern Hemisphere
It is assumed that Halloween is always celebrated in Autumn, however Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere where it is Spring during this event. In the Northern Hemisphere the season is adorned in hues of reds, oranges and yellows along with pumpkins and crisp cold air, along with leaves falling from the trees.
In the Southern Hemisphere, Halloween appears when the flowers are blooming, the gardens are green, and the daylight hours are much longer.
Things celebrated on this spooky event
Halloween is often celebrated by both kids and adults alike. The event used to be celebrated with dark magic and had a much darker origin which we will not delve into, as it is beyond the scope of this blog post.
Trick-or-treating
When kids knock on doors asking for candy and other sweets, this is known as trick-or-treating. Kids will usually wear scary outfits like skeletons, ghosts, and others that match the theme of Halloween, and this special type of outfit is known as a costume and this is often seen at children’s parties, and many events. The “trick” part of trick-or-treating refers to a mischievous prank that the kids will pull on you if you do not give them candy (handing over the candy is known as treating).
Halloween’s other names
This event also had other names like All Hallows Eve, Hallowmas and more.
Halloween and my autism
As a young child, I never cared much about participating in the event, but oftentimes the neighbours children would come trick-or-treating, which sometimes made me curious. But if the neighbour was a very young child, this would cause a lot of anxiety from the anticipation of a child screaming.
I also hated lollies due to the sticky texture, but I loved eating chocolates due to the texture and sweetness – particularly milk and plain/white chocolates. Seeing people dressed in costumes was also quite enjoyable. My autism also made me miss out a lot on this event. I was content just to observe this particular event, eat chocolates and drink Coke.
“Magicians set” animation
Enjoy this video clip (formerly a GiF) of a pumpkin in a toy magicians set. This was created with the 3D modelling software Blender 3.3 LTS, and made by me.
Princess Lilli Lilac
Although Lilli doesn’t really care much about Halloween or any holiday in that matter, she has been inseparable from me from pretty much day one, and serves as a beautiful therapy cat, and is very photogenic.
References
Wikipedia contributors. (2024, July 14). Halloween. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 05:32, July 22, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Halloween&oldid=1234434092
Conclusion
And so concludes this post about Halloween and what it’s like in Australia. Hope you have learned something about my experience with autism today. See you again on the next blog post.