Halloween,originally the Celtic New Years, is a strange mix of a feast, a hybrid among festivals, a 'heathen' custom of honoring the dead, lasting three days, appropriated by the Christian church for much the same purpose, minus the spookiness of this originally Druid invention. There are similar days in many cultures, days for dressing in fantastic costumes,days for trying to come to grips with the sinister and the occult

aspects of life, days for children to collect sweets by going sining from house to house, days for parades with lit candles shelterd in paper lampions or hollowed out parsnips or pumpkins. (Jack, the Jack o'lantern, tricked the devil and was severely punished, his only solace being a glowing ember in a hollowed out parsnip). The mysterious spectacle of lit candles floating down the river at the time of the o-bon festival in Japan comes to mind. History, customs and folklore are explained in detail on many a web site, just punch in 'Halloween'.

Via America the custom has entered Japan, the Japanese being ever eager to adopt a holiday or a foreign custom for fun and commercial purposes, sometimes changing and even perverting their original meanings. A feast, in West and in East, the twain are very comfortable together here in Japan. Christmas, for instance, has become the feast of love in Japan,

especially for young lovers who celebrate the event, secluded in a hotel room. Anyone passing judgment? Of course it also is the feast of giving, ringing up big sales besides jingle bells. Easter Bunny gaining ground. Halloween is still a bit uncomfortable in Japan, not fish-not meat, so to say. Difficult to exploit commercially. The pumpkin is rising, though, the big, the monster pumpkin, quite foreign to Japanese farming and still only used for pig feed here. Yet, it's sheer size is a 'wow', kids and adults love it for it's adorable outlandishness. Kyoto's Kitayama Street, where we live, has adopted Halloween as one of their events. We introduced it three years ago with one big pumpkin, grown in our country place. It had a fierce face, a candle lit inside, and its picture taken for showing it to friends.

The next year we were able to have a big family of carved pumpkins sitting on the wide, outside stairs of the 'The B.locks' building, right behind our house, (Designed by the famous Japanese architect, Mr. Ando). The kids of the neighborhood loved it, lots of passersby had their pictures taken with the lit pumpkins, the Kitayama association of member stores decided to make it an aunual event. The Kitayama associantion ordered pumpkins for the following year from us, no less than 300 (three hundred!) giant pumpkins. A daunting task, it was quite a feat to actually grow that number, made possible with the help of lots of friends and some professional farmers. It was quite difficult to save a sufficient number until October 30th from rotting away in the soggy rice field in the extremely wet Japanese weather.

Difficult to get them to town, on 27 mini trucks, driven by the seniors of our village. Difficult, but fun. So, there were 300 pumkins waiting in front of the botanical garden in Kyoto, waiting to be carved for Halloween by anyone wanting to have fun. The most eye catching carving receives a prize of 100,000 Yen. (There were fantastic entries!) Add a costume parade, the most inventive costume to receive 50,000 Yen. (Lots of Draculas) Posters printed, schools getting involved. Finally a carved and lit pumpkin in front of every store, hundreds of them in front of the Botanical Garden, smiles on all faces. Everybody smiling! Never have there been so many smiles on Kitayama road. Worth all the trouble and toil. For this year again we accepted an order for 300 giant pumpkins, The event has been a big success and hopefully will be growing each year in fun and meaning. We hope to get the restaurants and the bakeries on Kitayama road involved, perhaps to have a contest of the most original pumpkin recipie. We wish that the true value of the big pumpkin might be recognized some day, it is good for soups, pies, pickles, soaps, oil from the seeds, it is a symbol for a bountiful harvest, of nature giving with both hands, a giant symbol of thankfulness. Witches and wizards and spider webs and all. This years 'Halloween at Kitayama' will be a bit earlier, making Halloween a movable feast. For people to enjoy the event it must be on a weekend, so it will be held on. Oct.20, 21, 22 in Kitayama road. Come and have fun. Get details, call..... Kitayama gai Kyodo kumiai TEL 81-(0)-75-781-7447