Spooks and sluts

I was pretty skeptical about Halloween; for a start pumpkin is one of those foods that I hated as a child and really really really hate as an adult. Then I expected, in terms of costumes, that the odd person would dress up as a ghost (sheet) or devil (garden pitch fork), or at best, a blood-dripping vampire (sad waste of tomato sauce). And then a bunch of sprogs would terrorize the streets, whinge about sweets and pelt doorways with eggs and rotten vegetables....

That ain't Halloween. That's the rest of the world's interpretation of Halloween. Halloween is HUGE! It's bigger than Christmas! And Halloween is slutty! Super slutty! Super fabulous slutty!

These are Halloween costumes...and seriously, I did not go out of my way to visit a porn store just to liven this up:

On Tuesday (31st - Halloween night) at work, people started leaving early, which was weird. Then the bosses daughter came in as a pumpkin - nothing too unusual - and gave everyone a cookie. But it was a beautiful, elaborate gingerbread 'pumpkin' cookie, inscribed with her name and wrapped in pumpkin cellophane.

And although I was ambivalent at first, the excitement - the whole town seems caffeinated - is infectious. Shops everywhere are decorated in spider webs, pumpkins and plastic bugs (and American flags, which seem to be an appropriate accompaniment to any celebration) including my local supermarket.

There are pumpkins in the oddest places, like in the subway. On my way in to work I started noticing little things, like a woman in a full business suit, business face and business suitcase ...and little red horns sticking out of her perfect business hair. A man who was definitely a banker - somber suit, striped shirt - sipped his coffee and exposed little, red-tipped fangs.

So instead of going to yoga, I met with a couple of Kiwis, stuck on my black wig left over from Burning Man and went down the road to 6th Avenue. Roads everywhere were blocked off. We were on our way to the parade...and yet the parade seemed to be all around us. Colored wigs and wings, blood spatterings in odd places, cloaks and ghosts and men in high heels, and so much more.....imagine a huge, bustling city - like any warm city night when people are out in the streets - but everyone dressed up in costume. Friends I met at the parade had berets and sweaters slung over their shoulders; they'd come as 'French people.' Afros and doctors, slutty nurses, French Maids, Statues of Liberty, fairies, World Wrestling champions...I can't describe it - so much imagination and inventiveness - a night of fun! Here are some pics of the parade itself:

Thousands line the streets and anyone in costume can enter.

Can you make out the French Maid on the dog float? There were quite a few George Bushes, one with a toilet seat around his head. People on stilts, marching bands in full costumes, drummers and acrobats, floats for causes as diverse as saving lost kittys to promoting gay awareness - the parade goes for hours - they expected 50,000 people to take part.