Courtney McGrailDear Editor, Each year we see Hallowe’en decorations and merchandise in shops and even restaurants and hotels something similar to the garlands and lighting for Christmas, usually in orange and black and looking as ghoulish as possible. “Hallowe’en” means “hallowed (or holy) evening” (even = e’en) as it preceded All Saints Day on November 1, but there is very little hallowed about it these days as manufacturers make items to look as scary as possible.
I remember when I worked as a chef in a residential home for the elderly where many suffered from dementia and in October the place would be extensively and garishly decorated for Hallowe’en. I saw one elderly lady approach a closed fire door with a huge cardboard skeleton hung on it and the poor lady nearly jumped out of her skin.
Just recently a supermarket was taken to task for stocking a zombie’s head with a half-eaten rat hanging out of its mouth, which mothers complained was upsetting their young children. Is such horror really good for our infants?
As a chef, I also think it is a great waste for a decadent society to grow huge crops of pumpkins just for devilish decorations, when so many other poor countries can hardly raise enough crops to feed their people. Most of these pumpkins are not even used for food.
Yours etc.,
Colin Nevin,
Bangor, Co Down.