Reporter’s diary

Press, 2 November 1984, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Halloween... IT SEEMS, ODD that Halloween;. the last night in October, .. when ghosts, hobgoblins, witches and all manner of other nasties are supposed to be abroad, has never really caught on in New Zealand. Kiwis have

embraced a highly commercialised St Valentine’s Day with all the accompanying American hype; for the cost of a pumpkin, generations of American children have had a high old time roaming the neighbourhood at Halloween and scaring householders into “treating” them with sweets, cakes, and other items prized by the young. Halloween, shortened from All Hallows Eve, actually has Celtic origins, dating back to 1556 at least. In the Old Celtic calendar, the last night of October was “old year’s night,” the night of all the witches, which the Church later transformed into the Eve of All Saints.

... and Jack O’Lantern

HALLOWEEN IS STILL not celebrated in Britain as much as in the United States, where it is as much a part of American folklore as the Salem witch hunts and the hapless Ichabod Crane being chased by the horrifying headless horseman in Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Synonymous with Halloween in America is the “Jack O’Lantern.” This consists of ' a hollowed-out pumpkin with eyes, nose, and mouth cut in the shell, and a lighted candle glowing inside. A sheet can be draped over the pumpkin for added effect. A colleague remembers a Jack O’Lantern being made by a young friend many years ago on a small farm near Waimate. It was a dark night. The family, /Sated with food and drink* was

reclining in the sitting room listening to a Selwyn Toogood quiz programme on the radio, when a horrible apparition floated up to the darkened window, eyes glowing like fiery coals. The effect on the father, only one generation • removed from the misty glens of Tipperary, was electric. He gave a terrified howl that shook the old house, and bolted for the door. The family always suspected that for one 'dreadful moment, the father had thought that ‘“twas the divil himself.” The culprit, his son, thought it best to retire to the safety of the creek bed until the heat died down. Mark of respect FLAGS WILL be flown at half-mast throughout New Zealand today as a mark of respect for the assassinated Prime Minister of India, Mrs Indira Gandhi. Interestingly, radio news of Mrs Gandhi’s death was broadcast in New Zealand before it was in India. A Christchurch man was monitoring All India Radio on his shortwave set. Confirmation of Mrs Gandhi’s death was broadcast by a Christchurch radio station on the 10 p.m. news, and by Television New Zealand at 9.30 p.m. At 11 p.m., All India Radio still haa Mrs Gandhi as being in a critical condition.

Art and architects

MORE THAN 50 architects and artists will meet at the Arts Centre on November 13

and 14, with the idea of bringing art into public places. They will work together on design schemes with the main theme being the approaches and entrances to buildings. As an architect points out, this is where artists’ work is often on public display. “We want to combine our idea with those of the artists, potters, weavers, and so on,” he said. The artists will be led by the director of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Mr John Coley, and the architects by Mr Miles Warren. The public will be welcome to attend during the evenings.

Well disguised

HATS OFF to those who did such a fine job of landscaping Christchurch’s Bromley sewage ponds, complete with black swans and little islands covered with native flora. Yesterday afternoon a busload of admiring overseas tourists was busy photographing the beautiful “lakes” from the Dyers Road causeway. According to a New Brighton resident, it is not the first time this has happened. We wonder how many other cities in the world have sewage ponds so aesthetically pleasing that they actually attract tourists.

—Peter Comer