I have a confession to make: I have never in all my 56 years living in multiple countries celebrated Halloween. Nor had the remotest desire to. Honestly, Halloween as we now know it is an American festival. And yes, like other strange cutural ideas like pineapple on pizza and starbucks "coffee" (I use that word loosely as a devotee of the real thing) it has spread globally.
So - here we are, in Chiang Mai Northern Thailand, where I have lived for 18ish years. And for the first time ever my absolute favourite Thai lunar festival, Loy Krathong, falls on the night of Friday 30th October. I was so sure that the Thai business club would want to celebrate their own THAI festival (which is just soooo beautiful and significant after the ending of the monsoon!) but, as luck and the general 2020 vibe would have it, it's to be a Halloween Party.
Crap.
All Thai festivals start the evening before, so Halloween here is basically celebrated on the night of Friday 30th October.
I appointed Miss 16, my half-Thai daughter, in charge of general costuming, having honestly NO idea and NO feeling what on earth to wear, and it being rather important to make a decent impresssion at a business event. We discussed it on the way home this evening in the car.
Miss 16: "Mama - you know, you just have to look like a ghost. You know, scary."
Me: "But ghosts aren't actually scary at all."
Miss 16: silence
Miss 16: "OK - I know the ghost YOU and I see aren't scary, but just pretend. Other people aren't like us. What's a ghost movie you remember?"
Me: "I've never watched a ghost movie in my life. The idea bores me stupid."
Miss 16: entended silence while pondering.
Miss 16: "OK. I'm thinking just some Tim Burton look. I'll do your makeup."
Me: "Errr - OK - but what do I WEAR?"
Miss 16: "Anything. But the idea is not to look TOO ghostly and horrid. You still have to look sexy and pretty too, cos it's a party and you might meet a new boyfriend and all that."
🤣Ever the pragmatist - good to see the Dutch genes run strong. 🤣
So here I am, 9pm on a busy working Monday in the midst of Covid business recovery and restructure, democratic uprisings, solo mama life etc and yes, I AM that mom who instead of proof reading my new bilingual label printing has to instead spend time to plug into the search engines, "Who is Tim Burton?" 🤣
The good news is I DO have a white evening dress that looks pretty good on, and it won't be hard to buy 1 meter of fake nylon lace at the market for $1. Becasue the overwhelming images that were delievered in response to my Tim Burton search engine query were Corspe Bride.
I honestly find it mind-numbing that Thai people would choose Halloween over this:
But, pondering the WHY?, I am seeing the great desire to be international. To be seen as embracing their idea of western culture, and being progressive. In light of the current nationwide democracy protests, the Halloween Party may well be safer in terms of large crowds and the potential for civic unrest in big pubic places in a climate of pop up demonstrations. As it happens, it SEEMS that the venue is likely to be a riverside hotel, so that we can ALSO pay our traditional Thai respects to the River Goddess and be sure to get all our luck and merit making done too, albeit whilst looking somewhat pale and short of oxygen. Let's hope the River Goddess has a sense of humour!
I'm trying to relax into the idea of my first Thai Halloween and allow myself to be swept along by the "Next Gen" of Thai business people who will lead this country forward and be the bridge builders between nations, traditions and cultures. Because, after all, it is our resistance to change and our clinging to outdated ideas which ages us much faster than the accumulated candles on any cake.
Apart from buying white face paint, the white lace and some cheap deep blue eye colour, I'm putting myself firmly in the hands of Miss 16 as dressing consultant. All I need to worry about is what shoes to wear that look suitably bridal that will cope with the makeshift bamboo riverside platform. Oh, and making sure my veil is fixed firmly enough so as not to catch fire when I lean forward to launch my flaming krathong.
Never a Dull Day In The Kingdom.
Culture never ceases to fascinate.
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