Halloween in Spain
September 26th, 2009 by John Wolfe
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it’s great to see Halloween becoming so widely celebrated in Europe these days. While living in Germany during the mid 80′s, you just didn’t see Halloween all that much. Fall and winter were far too heavily dominated by Christmas preparations. This prop hails from Valencia, Spain. It reminds me of a cross between a jester and a clown.
Personally, I never got the whole clown/Halloween association (they just don’t seem to go together — same thing with pirates), but I really like this guy. Maybe it’s because of the skull-like face. Combine that face with the skinny, elongated limbs and frilly collar, and you’ve got a bit of Jack Skellington cropping out.
Image source: Flickr user padesig
September 26th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Reminds me of Dia de los martos (sp?) “Day of the Dead” in Spanish culture. It also reminds me of a Tim Burton creation. That’s cool. I know people in Europe who really really want them to get more into Halloween like we do. They’re kind of jealous. I mean, what day of the year does everyone become someone else and knock at stranger’s doors? Pretty cool.
September 26th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Woah, I love the size of him! LoL……your plenty sane my friend, trust me! Yeah I noticed that, regarding your energy difference, there was an odd change at a certain point, of which I choose not to share publicly on here but I’m certain you know of the one I’m thinking of. Granted you were pounding your ears/mind/senses with all sort of entities, who at times, were not the kindest of vibrations. There is no way I could put in the 12-16 hour sessions like you did. I’ll tape for about 30 minutes and then listen back……..see if I hear anything. If I do and it’s fairly consistent then I’ll tape again for 20 minutes. Rarely do I find myself ever listening to EVP’s for more than a couple of hours so I think your train of thought regarding this matter is a good idea babe.
As for clowns >:-( Me no like! Long story but it all happened at the circus when I was 4. The event was so traumatic, and it pissed Mom off badly, that I do NOT support the circus in any way and for 2 reasons: unrelenting severe abuse to precious animals. No animal ever should be captured and enslaved in prison. What they go through sickens me enough but the fact that humans PAY MONEY to see them perform……….ARG!
The second reason is the clowns. I think over time people have associated clowns with something terrifying and thus, “why not add it to Halloween.” Halloween, like Christmas and Thanksgiving, have been lost in translation along the decades and are not TRULY celebrated for the reasons they should be. Everything is much to commercialized my friend. Woops, long comment, darn it………..sorry. Great webcaming last night, it was interesting to watch you contemplate just what to do next, “hmmmm, is it time for painting yet…………no not yet, well maybe, no not yet…….” LoL I only wish the webcam didn’t have to turn off at 10:15pm!!!
September 27th, 2009 at 2:21 am
It looks like Tim Burtons style has been a major influence on the decorations. I am always glad to hear that Halloween is developing in other parts of the world.
September 27th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
autumnforest,
You’re right, it does have a Day of the Dead feel to it as well. Very observant.
Goldie,
I agree with you about the circus. I’m happy it provides people with jobs, but when it comes to what they do to the animals – it needs to be revamped BIG TIME! Not to mention what happens to many of those animals after they are “retired” from performing.
That’s very true about how people have lumped anything and everything that scares them into the mix with Halloween. Some haunted houses even have a dentist’s office as part of their haunt! I’m fairly open-minded Halloween wise, but when it comes to decor, I love to stick to traditional things: graveyards, corpses, ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, skeletons etc.
Boy, I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying the webcam that much! The next couple of nights there will be a lot of contemplating. As I get closer to finishing, much of my time is spent assessing a prop and determining where I need to place my final touches. I should be ready to paint by Tuesday or Wednesday. Depending on whether or not I get down to the wire on this next project, the webcam may be running well into the early morning hours.
Last year, I painted my corpse in one day/night on the 29th of October. It worked out to be about 14 hours and I was in the shop until 4 AM. Because of my mache style, there are a lot of nooks and crannies within the stretching of the “tissue.” So painting is often done with a q-tip because a brush can’t get into all the crevices.
Ethan,
Great to hear from you. I’m with you on expanding Halloween!