Halloween & Bon Fire Leeds 2012

On the 31 October Wednesday..The University of Leeds made an invitation to all University residents with family to join their Halloween celebration in uni union's hall. There are several activities held in the hall. Pumpkin carving, face painting and few more. It is a school holiday so I decided to bring the kids to expose and let them know what are Halloween celebration is all about although we do not celebrate it. Since Helmi ada class, just to buy time.

Actually in the hall we met lots of foreigners student parents from Arabs, Malaysia, Indonesia and other places.

A little bit about Halloween :

Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening"),also known as All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows (or All Saints).

Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also known as "guising"), attending costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

Wikipedia

Excited nk gi jumpa friends

With the witch..but got no broom

Pumpkin carving competition

Abis muka kena face painting...

Most of the locals dress up with their party costume

Skull jumper

Parents spending time with their kids in the hall with varieties on going activites

More face painting

Dh semua face painting..Nak jugak painting..Free..buat la

Pastu pilih plak yang colour hijau macam incredible hulk ni..

Hah kan dh hijau semacam

Dah kakak nak..of course adik pun la

Yang ni pilih macam batman plak

With the painter

Main pulak with friends

Dengan school mates

OK dh penat main jom balik

Nasib baik uni dekat ngan rumah..dah lapar la ummi

Berlakon la..trick or treat..

Sekejap je ni lepas tu rimas gi toilet basuh

On the 5th November 2012, we attended another celebration. Bon Fire nite..They lit fire works in few places in Leeds..Round Hay Park (biggest event), and few more parks. We attended the Hyde Park just behind our place walking distance. Mostly who attended here in Hyde park are students since University of Leeds is just nearby.

Information on Bon Fire..

In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries, bonfires are lit on Guy Fawkes Night a yearly celebration held on the evening of 5 November to mark the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605, in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to destroy the House of Lords in London.

In the ancient druid religions,bonfires were held between 31 October and 5 November^{[citation needed]} to celebrate Samhain, a harvest festival where they used bonfires to burn the bones of the slaughtered livestock they had stored for the winter months. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.Some modern day Druids and Paganssee bonfire night as a significant celebration to end the harvest festival.

In Northern Ireland, bonfires are lit on Halloween, October 31.and each 11 July, bonfires are lit by many Protestant communities to celebrate the victory of Williamite forces at the Battle of the Boyne,which took place on 12 July 1690. This is often called the "Eleventh night". Bonfires have also been lit by Catholic communities on August 9th since 1972 to protest and commemorate Internment

Wikipedia

We walk from our house at about 7:15pm. That night we have to bundle up since it is very cold and we wear wellies because the park will be muddy after rain. That nite we can see like military, students walks to the park pass by our house.

When we arrived we saw a bon fire middle of the park. Everybody gather around waiting for the fire works to be lit up..Later at about 7:30pm the fire works started..It was beautiful and the kids enjoys the fire works..Lucky for us that we wear our wellies..the park was muddy and lucky for us that our house is just behind the park. As soon as the fire works show finishes we walk back..it was cold night with beautiful lit sky...Enjoyable experience.