No Halloween in Brazil

The holiday update.

There is no Halloween in Brazil. No Thanksgiving either. I don’t eat turkey, but I do enjoy vegetarian stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. I think I could enjoy them on any given day with out the celebrating of decimating a native culture. So I will not miss that holiday much, but Halloween is another story.

I love an excuse to wear a costume, especially a creepy one. The macabre suits my tastes. And on this, my son Rio and I agree. Since he was a very tiny person he has has a love bordering on obsession with skulls and skeletons. As he grows he continues to be drawn to all things ghostly and ghoulish. So Halloween with the dark esthetic, costume fun, and candy to boot, is our favorite holiday. Especially after years of living near Nevada City California, with it’s old victorian houses and historic pioneer mining downtown, where people decorate their houses epically and create haunted walks through the neighborhood we have high expectations.

Although no one really celebrates Halloween here, you can find some creepy decorations in the dollar type stores for the holiday. There are costumes in the hot topic type stores down town, where there is a shopping district that reminds my of the one in down town Los Angeles. You can find all kinds of crafting, sewing, and house hold stuff in the maze of alley’s. It's the perfect spot for costume shopping or creating. Brazilians love a costume party and Carnival in February as best as I can tell is a giant Halloween party in the streets set to Samba music. 

So we took a journey down town and Rio was ecstatic to find a zombie mummy costume. I found some clown white, the simplest ingredient to turn me into the Joker with out buying any other costume elements as I already have green hair… Meanwhile Ingo went to the bulk candy store and went crazy. And also some where along the way purchased a big of very realistic plastic cockroaches.

Our buddy Giovanni was inspired by our love of Halloween to organize the very first Trick or Treating in our neighborhood. Having lived here for so long he and Ingo know a great many of the neighbors that live on a long stair case that cuts through the neighborhood and is the entrance to many homes. They divvied up the candy (with some cockroach surprises) and brought it to the neighbors that agreed to pass it out. Each house that participated received a little plastic pumpkin to hang on their door. 

They spread the word to all their friends with kids and Ingo designed a very satanic looking flyer to pass out with Gio’s number for contact. He did indeed get a call from a confused  and concerned parent whose kid had gotten the flyer at school. The flyer was perhaps a bit too punk rock for elementary school, but I believe after some reassurance that the family did indeed came.

We spent the morning helping  to decorate the steps. It was a hot day. Then got on our costumes. And went to the rendezvous point at the top of the stairs. Tons of kids in costume were there! Total success. Maybe too successful… Once the go ahead was given a mob of children descended, hitting each house at the same time, grabbing handfuls of candy from the overwhelmed volunteers and the whole stairs was picked clean in a matter of 15 minutes… Nothing left for late comers.

So we have some notes for next year. Kids should just start as they arrive so the whole affair is spaced out and doesn’t turn into a competing mob. And to give the candy passers strict orders to pass out one candy at a time… Then there is our neighborhood bar man at the bottom of the hill. The infamous Bar do Ze proprieter Ze, who needed to be warned that a mob of  terrifying children and sweaty parents would arrive as soon as he opened demanding candy and in need of beer. He generously gives kids a free candy generally, which is an excellent way to get the kiddo excited about letting mom and dad stop to enjoy a cold beverage… But next year we will decorate the bar and include it is the celebration.

None the less, everyone ended up there. The kids immediately gobbled handfuls of candy, trading for their favorites. Sweets melt fairly fast here… Then burned through their sugar highs playing tag in the street with parents, beverages in hand, stationed at either end calling “Carro!” To pause the game each time a car came to pass. 

Overall I think the grandeur of our Californian Halloweens was outshone by the endearing gesture of the neighborhood embracing Halloween. It is certainly one I will never forget. 

Just a few days later, Dia de los Muertos- the day of the dead is much more commonly observed here. Candles and incense were burning in front of churches all through the city. The old capitol that was originally in Rio de Janeiro is now a museum with a grand and gorgeous garden around it that is open to the public, hosted an amazing Day of the Dead celebration. With mariachi music, tacos, and horchatas we felt a pang of homesickness for California. Funny, but makes sense I guess.

Next up on the holiday roster-  Christmas in the middle of summer. I think it sounds great. I have seen some decorations up already and I must admit that they look incongruous somehow though. We brought our stockings and some of our ornaments so we will have to buy a tiny little frosted tree or maybe something more tropical in a pot to switch it up?

Either way, I will keep you posted:)