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cabo3100
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Trick or Treat
Have not spent Halloween in Baja. Driving down to Lopez Mateos to hang and fish. Should I expect little mexican gremlins knocking at the door. 
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vandenberg
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Yes, definitely!!
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DENNIS
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The kids, and their parents say, "Tricky Tricky Halloween" instead of Trick Or Treat.
Some others invariably make it a point to protest that it's a Pagan ritual that undermines their culture.
They don't want to remember that their "culture" included filthy priests pulling still-beating hearts from peoples chests.
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woody with a view
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last year in Asuncion we were mobbed by a roving band of ghosts, gremlins, and other assorted bandititos. you could here them coming, like a tornado
minutes before they swarmed the campo. luckily, we brought candy or it might of been ugly......
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bajabound2005
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Halloween seems bigger and bigger every year here!
Friends don't let friends drink white zinfandel.
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Bajatripper
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Don't know anything about what they do in Lopez Mateos on Halloween, but might be able to provide clues from what happens here in La Paz.
Our first couple of years, a wealthy Mexican family invited me to take my costumed-clad daughter over to their place to celebrate. After a piniata, we
went to the homes of wealthy Mexicans that our host knew, where the kids were given candy. But it was like, walk one or two blocks, knock on a door,
another block or two, another house that participated. Those who participated seemed to be only wealthy people with connections to the US, so they'd
become aware of this tradition from there.
In more recent years, we have followed a developing tradition, which is to go downtown, mostly along the malecon, and hit up businesses for candy.
While not all businesses participate, the number of those that do seems to be growing with each passing year. But here, the chant isn't
"tricky-tricky, Halloween," but rather, "quiero Halloween, quiero Halloween," said in a monotoned voice. Sometimes they get to "dulces o truco, dulces
o truco." I do enjoy seeing the growing numbers of costumed children each year.
For adults, on the other hand, a few of the bars have begun hosting costumed affairs on Halloween night. We like to attend the one hosted at Las
Varitas, where they have a costumed competition with the winner being decided (after several rounds of competition) by who gets the most cheers from
the public.
Based on that assesment, I'd venture a (very) small wager that in Lopez Mateos (unless it has changed a lot since my last visit many years ago), won't
have much--if any--of a celebration on Halloween since the American presence was non-existent.
But this, too, could be something I'm wrong about. Just in case, take candy, and if nothing happens, start the tradition yourself. Who knows? If
you're successful, perhaps one day we'll see a monument erected to comemorate your contribution to the happiness of local kids.
Either way, please let us know what you find out. Tourism, and its effects on and interactions with local people is something I'm very interested in.
[Edited on 10-23-2010 by Bajatripper]
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Bajatripper
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
They don't want to remember that their "culture" included filthy priests pulling still-beating hearts from peoples chests. |
Now, that part of the culture could easily be incorporated into an amalgamation of traditional and contemporary celebrations. They could hold
competitions for cleanest cut, most beats outside of the body, etc. etc.
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cabo3100
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Yeah I could see a bronze statue in the city square of me. Either that or locked up in the city jail for letting off too many bottlerockets at the
local cops
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Pescador
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In San Lucas and San Bruno, which are just south of Santa Rosalia, the kids do this very creative dress up and the costumes are nothing short of
fantastic with no store bought junk from China. It is one of my favorite days in Baja and I get to see all the children come out with friends and
family and even some of the older "cool dudes" will even put on a costume for sugar. Here they shout Queremos Halloween and the literal
interpretation for that is We want Candy. If you have good treats, it is not unheard of for a group to hit your house multiple times and in rather
quick succesion. I did find out that it is important to dish out the portions and never will I make the mistake of using a big bowl and letting them
take the piece that they want. I almost got mobbed and then I remembered the behavior when the Pinata breaks and realized that this would be pretty
much the same deal.
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Osprey
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Somewhere on this board is an old post of mine about "Ten Second Embassadors". I got the idea at Holloween because it seemed to me that many of the
kids at our gate each year don't interact with gringos -- and we gringos don't interact much with them all during the year. It's a flash chance to
make a lasting impression. Our smiles and holas are all they will know us by and their costumes, manners and demeanor are all we'll take away. It is a
very small, very important opportunity for both of us. Viva Mexico!.
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mulegemichael
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we bring around 100 lbs of miniature chocolate bars down each year for halloween and christmas...yeah, crowds of kids and their folks show up at our
gates for handouts....beachgirl and i really get into it; this year we're peter pan and tinkerbell..fun stuff!
dyslexia is never having to say you\'re yrros.
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bajaguy
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mulegemichael
we bring around 100 lbs of miniature chocolate bars down each year for halloween and christmas...yeah, crowds of kids and their folks show up at our
gates for handouts....beachgirl and i really get into it; this year we're peter pan and tinkerbell..fun stuff! |
I could have some real fun with this post, but in the spirit of Halloween, I'll pass...........
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajatripper
Don't know anything about what they do in Lopez Mateos on Halloween, but might be able to provide clues from what happens here in La Paz.
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Quite possibly nothing on an official basis. Like I mentioned, there really is a strong contingent of dissenters, who are seemingly nothing more than
anti-US, that actively resent the idea of Halloween for it's connection to anti-Christian Witchcraft. They feel it detracts from the focus of their
Day Of The Dead.
Jeeeezo, gente....it's a day for the kids. Let them have some freakin' fun. There are plenty of other events taking place in Mexico to relate to The
Day Of The Dead.
Another personal observation on the new tradition of Halloween in Mexico....it seems to be most actively celebrated by the lower strata of the middle
class. People who don't have a lot. The Tricky-Tricky Halloween ordeal is just as much an event for the chaperones as the kids. In fact, not too many
years back, adults would hit the circuit, bag in hand, on their own....day after day. You had to tell them on the third or fourth day that Halloween
was over.
Interesting topic.
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mulegemichael
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bajaguy...you could have a lot more fun with my post if you could see my 255 lbs squeezed into a peter pan costume.
dyslexia is never having to say you\'re yrros.
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Diver
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mulegemichael
bajaguy...you could have a lot more fun with my post if you could see my 255 lbs squeezed into a peter pan costume. |
And here I was thinking you'd be Tinkerbell !! 
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toneart
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Did someone say "grumpy"?
![466-boiling-lrg [DVD (NTSC)].jpg - 28kB](https://forums.bajanomad.com/files.php?pid=560200&aid=27022 "466-boiling-lrg [DVD (NTSC)].jpg - 28kB")
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cabo3100
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You guys are a tuff crowd, almost like when mom said don't eat any apples till I check for razor blades
[Edited on 10-25-2010 by cabo3100]
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sanquintinsince73
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I remember a few years ago in TJ it was illegal for adults to wear masks on halloween. Too many trick or treaters were actually crooks robbing stores.
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BajaBruno
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I can't testify to Baja customs, but in Mexico City, for at least the last 20 years (and no doubt much longer) the custom has been to hit up the local
houses for treats on the three nights between Halloween and Dia de Muertos. The call is "Me da mi calaverita?", or "Would you give me a little
jack-o-lantern?" Lots of cute kids.
Christopher Bruno, Elk Grove, CA.
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Woooosh
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We get 500-600 kids at our door every year. It's a security nightmare, but we find someone to stand at the door in to hand out the candy after the
local kids pass through. The first hundred are the local kids who walk around early (just barely dark) with their parents. They are the ones that
count and we've met more families at Halloween than any other time. The next couple hundred are from TJ and pop out of packed vans and pick-ups like
clowns at a circus. It is good to see the kids be kids though and we go out of our way to make it happen for them. Some costumes are cute, others
non-existent and they really don't get the whole trick or treat thing. No matter- it's their smiles that count and parents are always happy when a
stranger is kind to their child. We save the good chocolate for the parents- who appreciate it even more that their kids!
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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