Comments on: A Blue Range Halloween

By: Wendy Warnick

Wendy Warnick — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:20:34 +0000

This is a very amusing thread. Thanks for the Halloween reminiscing! Where I live Halloween is generally most associated with cold, snowy weather, which complicates the logistics quite a lot. But it sounds like much else is the same, including the costumes.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 17:34:46 +0000

We Vic Southerners have no beef with the Northerners. It’s just that sometimes we say Victoria Gardens to refer to Victoria Gardens South, forgetting that they also exist. And yes, Vic North was developed first, with Vic South coming along later on. But since Mr Laughlin only moved there in the (I think late) 1980s, and I was there from the mid-1970s, I think it’s fair to say he’s the arriviste, n’est ce pas?

By: Georgia

Georgia — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 23:32:53 +0000

Victoria Gdns North vs. Victoria Gdns South! Let’s start a flame war! Might do wonders for the traffic around here.

By: dread

dread — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 23:29:27 +0000

i lived well outside halloween central. but even if i lived next to Jack o’lantern, i my mother would have divorced me if i asked her to go trick or treating…

By: Nicholas Laughlin

Nicholas Laughlin — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 21:40:42 +0000

Victoria Gardens–or at least the north side–was actually developed in the late 1950s. My house was built in about 1958. But perhaps the arriviste south side didn’t happen till the 70s….

By: Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Trinidad & Tobago: Halloween Central

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:23:03 +0000

[...] Caribbean Free Radio writes about the experience of Halloween in what is very likely the first neighbourhood in Trinidad to adopt the tradition. Georgia Popplewell [...]

By: Georgia

Georgia — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:11:12 +0000

No idea how the custom got started. After writing this is recalled that we used to celebrate Halloween in school (Bishop Anstey Junior) as well.

And I don’t recall hearing chants until much later. We just used to go around saying “Trick or Treat! Trick or Treat!” in the shrillest voices possible. It was all pretty no-frills.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 16:29:02 +0000

It’s good to be reminded that I’m not as old as I feel.

Victoria Gardens wasn’t developed until around 1972 (the year my parents got married) so I guess Blue Range is the original Halloween neighbourhood. I wonder how the custom got started here. American expats? Copycat Trinis? And did you guys have a chant?

By: Georgia

Georgia — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 15:47:23 +0000

Jonty:

I experienced my first Blue Range Halloween in 1971 — before you were born! And Halloween was pretty well entrenched in Blue Range by the time I arrived. In fact, let me amend the post to say “early 1970s”.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 15:40:36 +0000

I always thought Victoria Gardens, where I grew up, was the original Halloween Central. Ever since I can remember (late 70s) Halloween has been celebrated there, and I did my fair share of tricking and treating–one year I remember going as a ghost, another year as Superman (although my outfit looked less like Superman’s costume and more like Superman’s pyjamas).

Back in the day, we never went out until it got dark, there was hardly a parent in sight, and, as we got older and left the treating behind, the most tricking we ever did was maybe throw an egg or two. I no longer live in Vic, but I know that things have changed: I imagine that just as in Blue Range, with the crime situation there are more parents and everyone goes out and comes back in earlier. I also heard that this year there were to be police patrols, the thuggery has gotten that bad.

One thing though that I assume hasn’t changed is the trick-or-treat chant: “Trick or treat/Money or sweet/Give us something good to eat/Not too big/not too small/Just the size of Montreal”. I have no idea how it got started, or what the Montreal reference is about (it could be nothing, of course–just someone in a hurry looking for a rhyme).