Halloween

For some reason I was surprised to learn that Halloween is celebrated here on Pohnpei. For me, Halloween was always about getting candy and being amazed at the the transformation of whole houses - inside and out. Families transform the night and whole neighborhoods into a magical realm of mystique. Styles range from autumn-themed scarecrow-topped haystacks togiant spiders crawling over a haunted house with a creeping fog that covers the porch. The Halloween costume has developed into a show and symbol of one's self. You can be anything you want on Halloween. What do you want to be for a night of pretend?

On Halloween, kids here recognize the "costume" as a means to an end, the end being candy. Most kids I saw were not dressed up, but instead were sporting marker or make-up on their faces. Not pictures or the sort of face-painting that results in looking like somethings else, but a few lines or half the face painted as an extreme sports fan might display. The question of, "What are you for Halloween" resulted in some confusion on the parts of the kids and teenagers I asked. Maybe they did not see themselves transformed for the experience as the second most popular response to "I don't know" was "We put the paint because you have to do paint to get candy." "Happy Halloween" is the chosen phrase over "Trick-or-treat" (and the optional "smell my feet, give me something good to eat").

We received a head's up from our neighbor that many truck loads of kids would come to the house for candy. We stocked up on a enough candy to fill a great big bowl. Due to the prevalence of major tooth decay in children, I wanted to throw in some tooth brushes as well, but was told these would not be used let alone appreciated. I do care about their teeth, but I don't want to tick off the neighborhood kids especially since I do not know if the practice of Halloween tricks has been adopted here as well.

On the night ofthe holiday we ate dinner early (sesame seared yellow fin tuna steaks and ginger noodles) and went to a fun Halloween party before venturing out to a couple of houses for the big night. No one was coming to our house and I did not want to be left with a mound of candy, so I took the bowl to the street and handed it out in person. Most of the "costumes" maintained a peculiar similarity to one another. I just hope that wasn't permanent marker on their faces.

Over the years, some of my own costumes have included: tooth fairy, mother nature, queen bee and when I was a hobo at age three. Zach was once Edward Safety-Scissors Hands. Now I concentrate more on the kids costumes than on my own. In an effort to allow my children to be anything they want to be for the occasion, I ask them for their requests. Alexander's was the simpler of the two as he wanted to be Superboy Alexander. Not Superman, not Superboy, but Superboy Alexander which I guess is a version of himself with a cape. It is nice to think that even at age two, he is self-assured enough to want to be himself, more or less.

Chloe first said she wanted to be a waterfall. A waterfall? How on earth would I manage that?Thankfully, after a trip to the fabric store, she was inspired by a particular fabric and decided instead on being a mermaid. Fabric is inexpensive here, between $1-3/yd. The creation of the template involved her laying down on top of the fabric allowing me to measure and mark it where necessary. My sewing machine is in storage in the U.S., so I took the cut fabric pieces to a seamstress (MJ Tailors) who did a much better job of sewing that I did of designing. $5 for fabric and $6 for sewing, the costume ended up being less expensive and of a much better quality than a store bought option (and roughly the same price as a pack of permanent markers).