Halloween, Guy Fawkes As Exports in China
A lot of friends were surprised to learn that we celebrated Halloween in China. We actually marked the holiday twice, much to my kids' delight. On the Saturday night preceding Halloween, River Garden, a nearby compound which houses over 80 American Embassy families, hosts the area's most elaborate festivities, complete with a terrifying, zombie-filled haunted house manned by U.S. Marines. It is a desired destination and many non-residents, us included, angle for invites.
Our friend, Scott Kronick, just moved there after a decade-plus downtown. He was thrilled to see his two Beijing-bred kids partaking in their first real trick-or-treating expedition. Kids in these walled compounds actually have more freedom than they would in the U.S., running wild through the streets in a manner more similar to what I did 30 years ago than to what you see in most contemporary American neighborhoods.
A few days later, our own compound marked the event. Only about 20% of the residents are Americans but many others have picked up the tradition. The management distributes a flyer, which participating families are told to post. The front says "Happy Halloween." The rear gives instructions along the lines of, "Children dressed in costumes will ring the doorbell and say 'Trick or treat.' You can give them a piece of candy."
Anna and Eli Paul with their friend, Max Rosenblum
About three-quarters of the houses handed out goodies, with notably more Chinese and other Asian residents participating this year than last. One Chinese friend invited herself over, eager for her son to have a Halloween experience. The holiday is also gaining something of a foothold amongst young Chinese, though largely as an excuse for singles to mingle and booze it up. Though it remains largely an expat event, signs of the holiday's growth were easy to spot.
Longtime residents tell me last year was the first time large bags of individually wrapped candy and Halloween decorations were available, and both were much more readily available this year than last. In years past, people had to import most of the stuff from America, which obviously limited the holiday's popularity.
Halloween has spread through the international community via the kids, who got a whiff through American schoolmates and demanded in on the action. Predictably, the ever-social Aussies take particularly easily and enthusiastically to Halloween, but I also saw German kids dressed as pumpkins, Chinese youth done up as Snow White and Spider Man and Austrian knights, not to mention a near-complete partaking by the many Brits here.
"Last year, we didn't really participate because we had just arrived here," British friend Kate Purcell told me. "We had no tradition of it and I thought it was sort of creepy and inappropriate. But there was no stopping my boys this year."
Julia Swanston, another British friend, followed a similar arc toward the holiday, though she perhaps took the spirit a bit more literally than most. Rather than dressing her adorable three-year-old daughter Allegra as a princess or mermaid, she outfitted her as ghoulishly as possible and was surprised when other children ran away in terror.
"I thought the whole idea of this holiday was to be frightening," Julia said. "I didn't expect to see little girls dressed like ballerinas and boys kitted up as Batman."
Several other non-American friends expressed disgust with the holiday, essentially decrying it as just another bad American export, no different than Vin Diesel or Britney Spears. Someone suggested that the event promotes devil worship while others decried the sugary gluttony that it promotes.
The former accusation is as easy to laugh off as the latter is impossible to deny. Halloween is like setting aside a day for alcoholics to stagger around begging for shots of booze from their neighbors. But it's all relative. The person who found Halloween too macabre was British, which gave me a chuckle five days later when I attended my first Guy Fawkes Day celebration, held at my kids' English school.
The November 5 holiday, which is widely celebrated in Great Britain, marks the 1605 disruption of the Gunpowder Plot to overthrow King James I and blow up Parliament. Guy Fawkes was one of the plotters and the day is celebrated by parading an effigy of the dastardly villain, then tossing him onto a bonfire before fireworks erupt in the sky.
My eight-year-old son Jacob joined me, quickly finding his British buddy Edward stationed on the perimeter of the bonfire, where adults huddled against the year's first truly cold night while the kids just stared at the flames. I set out for a cup of hot wine, returning just in time to hear someone pick up a microphone and ask the crowd if we were ready for Guy. "Yes!" we yelled back.
"What should we do with him?"
"Burn him!"
"What?"
"Burn him!"
The life-size, though not lifelike Guy was then marched over and a countdown ensued before he was tossed onto the flames to cheers, Jacob's and mine included. The kids were wide-eyed but not frightened and I laughed when I heard later that some people complained about the school hosting such a morbid event. It was all good clean fun.
An American friend suggested that next year we should lead the group in campfire songs, but I don't believe in bastardizing such things. We have celebrated two Chinese Moon Festivals here by following local customs -- eating moon cakes and going to a large body of water to place lit candles on paper boats and set them free. I'm still not sure of the significance, but we all enjoyed participating with many locals. And that's how it should be.
In a few more weeks, we'll celebrate Thanksgiving the traditional way -- with turkey and too much food. A few other wayward Americans will join us to recreate the home front but we'll also make sure to include a couple of foreign outliers. They will take it all in like so many cultural anthropologists observing a strange civilization from within. It's a feeling we all understand.
在北京过洋节
许多朋友得知我们在中国庆祝万圣节都感到十分惊讶。我们实际上过了两次万圣节，这让孩子们很开心。万圣节前的周六晚上，在我家附近的裕京花园(River Garden)小区举办了精心安排的庆祝活动，还布置了一座恐怖的鬼屋，由美国海军陆战队队员值守。裕京花园居住着80多个来自美国大使馆的外交官家庭。这是理想的庆祝地点，许多外国人，包括我们，都费尽心思希望得到邀请。
我们的朋友斯科特?克罗尼克(Scott Kronick)在市区住了十多年后，最近刚刚搬到这里。他很高兴看到自己的两个在北京长大的孩子第一次真正体验“不请客就捣乱”(trick-or-treating)的快乐。居住在这些高 大院里的孩子们实际上比生活在美国要自由得多了，他们在街道上疯玩疯跑的情形和我30年前的样子有点儿像，而这在如今的美国居住区可是不多见了。
几天之后，我们的小区也举办了万圣节活动。尽管只有约五分之一的居民是美国人，但其他许多人也欣然接受了这个美国人的传统节日。活动组织者分发了宣传单，愿意参加活动的家庭要把它贴在门口。宣传单正面写着“万圣节快乐”。后面则是活动介绍：“乔装打扮的孩子会按响门铃，并说‘不请客就捣乱。’然后你可以发给他们一些糖果。”
大约四分之三的家庭送了糖果，今年参与活动的中国家庭和其他亚洲家庭比去年要多得多。一个中国朋友对此很热衷，希望她的儿子能有机会体验一把万圣节。这个节日在中国年轻人那里也有了市场，尽管多数情况只是单身男女结交朋友、纵酒狂欢的借口。万圣节在很大程度上仍是外国人的节日，不过它在中国日渐流行的趋势还是显而易见的。
长期在北京居住的朋友告诉我，独立包装的大袋糖果和万圣节装饰品在去年刚刚出现，而今年这些东西已经很容易买到了。而在过去几年，这些东西大部分需要从美国进口，这当然限制了万圣节的流行。
万圣节通过居住在国际性社区的孩子们传播开来，美国同学对此推波助澜。可以预见的是，热爱社交的澳大利亚人很容易就对万圣节燃起热情，不过我也看到过德国孩子们穿上南瓜衣，中国年轻人打扮成白雪公主、蜘蛛人和奥地利骑士的模样，更不用说，在北京的许多英国人都被动员起来了。
英国朋友凯特?珀塞尔(Kate Purcell)告诉我，“去年我们没有参加万圣节活动，因为那时我们刚刚来到北京。英国人没有过万圣节的传统，而且这个节想起来有点让人毛骨悚然、不太舒服。不过今年我不再拦着孩子们了。”
另一位英国朋友茱丽娅?斯万森(Julia Swanston)对万圣节的态度也类似，不过，与大多数人相比，她更忠实于这个节日最根本的精神。茱丽娅有个三岁的可爱女儿阿莱格拉(Allegra)，万圣节时她没把阿莱格拉打扮成公主或是美人鱼的模样，而是给她弄了一身要多吓人、有多吓人的鬼怪行头。其他孩子见了阿莱格拉都被吓得转身就跑，这让茱丽娅很没想到。
她说：我觉得这个节就是让大家装神弄鬼的。她认为，孩子们不该被弄得女孩都装成芭蕾舞演员、男孩各个一身蝙蝠侠装扮。
有几位从别的国家来的朋友对万圣节很不“感冒”，认为它是美国向外国“输出”的又一种坏东西，跟冯?迪瑟(Vin Diesel)或“小甜甜”布兰妮(Britney Spears)没什么不同。有些人认为过万圣节增强了人们对鬼怪的崇拜，其他人则谴责这个节日造成了不正常的糖果消费。
前一种指责大可一笑了之，后一种意见却不可否认。万圣节就像专门安排了一天时间让酒鬼们到处晃悠从邻居那里讨酒喝似的。不过这也是相对的。那位觉得万圣节太恐怖的是位英国人──5天后，当我第一次在我孩子的学校参加“盖伊?福克斯节”(Guy Fawkes Day)活动的时候，这一点让我觉得很有意思。
每年11月5日的“盖伊?福克斯节”在英国很流行。这个节是为纪念1605年在英国发生的一起流产的武装阴谋，发动者想推翻国王詹姆斯一世、炸掉议会。盖伊?福克斯就是这次阴谋的策划者之一。过节的时候，人们先是举着用稻草、旧衣服等材料扎的象征这个“暴乱分子”的模拟人像游行，然后将他扔进篝火堆烧掉，最后是燃放焰火。
八岁的雅各布和我一起参加活动。他很快发现，他的英国小伙伴艾德华已经站到篝火旁了。这是今年以来第一个真正称得上寒冷的夜晚，大人们在篝火旁蜷缩着取暖，孩子们则直盯着篝火。中间我离开了一会儿去弄了 热饮料，返回来时正赶上有人举着麦克风问大伙：准备好了吗？大家齐声回答：准备好了。
“我们要怎么处置他？” 他问。
“烧掉他！”大家一起喊道。
“什么？”
“烧掉他！”
随后，我们抬着真人大小（但模样说不上逼真）的“盖伊”模拟像开始游行，过了一会，人们开始倒数数，接着把“盖伊”投向火里。这时，人群里爆发出一阵欢呼声，雅各布和我也跟着大喊。孩子们都把眼睛睁得大大的，但他们并不觉得害怕。后来我忍不住想笑，因为有人抱怨学校怎么搞这样一个吓人的活动。真是太好玩了。
一位美国朋友提议，明年我们应该组织孩子们唱篝火歌曲，但我实在对掺和这样的活动没把握。我们在中国已经按当地风俗过了两个中秋节──我们吃月饼、到水上放花灯（让它们顺流而下）。直到现在我对这些仪式的意义也不甚了了，但我们都喜欢和许多当地人一起参加活动。过节嘛，就该是这样的。
再过几周，我们又要迎来感恩节了，到时候我们会用传统方式庆祝──一顿火鸡大餐。有几个美国人将跟我们一起度过这个家庭化的节日，不过，我们也会设法请到几个其他国家的朋友。那时他们将有机会了解感恩节，而这样一个节日就像有许多文化人类学家在从内部观察一种奇怪的文明。这种感觉我们都能理解。
Alan Paul
