Guardians of Obscure Bits of Cultural History
Another successful Halloween gone by. The child was quite pleased with his costume, and happy as well with the reception he got up and down the street, which was complete bemusement.
Sam and I expected the bemusement, though it turned out to be worse than we foresaw. We figured that people would recognize Medusa, but be unclear about Perseus. But even Medusa went right by them. "Oh, you're carrying your head around!" the neighbors said to the child, who was dressed in Classical armor (Roman; I couldn't find Greek and didn't feel like making it), and carrying around a head covered with snakes. (Hint for those of you who'd like to try this next year: the hot glue will stick very well to the wig, but the rubber snakes are going to fall right off. You're going to have to pin them into the styrofoam.)
But the child wasn't disappointed by this at all. He spent the evening explaining, "No, I'm Perseus carrying the head of Medusa," and apparently was as pleased by the opportunity to Explain Obscure Points of Cultural History as he was by the opportunity to Fill Up the Candy Bowl. Can't imagine how he comes by this.
He dragged his giant illustrated book of Myths of the World into bed with us this morning, cheerfully planning next Halloween. "I think I'll be Thor next year," he told us. "Or better yet, Loki!" Great. He can spend all next Halloween explaining "I'm the Norse trickster god!" to the neighbors, who at some point are going to get tired of this. Yeah, yeah, whatever. Have some Skittles.
Sam and I had our moment, though. We Impressed Some Teenagers.
A group came by and stood around looking at Sam's annual elaborate jack o'lantern before they knocked on the door. "Did you carve this yourself?" they asked. "My husband did," I said. "It took two days." (This was not really a lie, or even an exaggeration -- he really did take two days over it. But to be Completely Honest, he could have done it in one. He just didn't.) "Well, this is really great!" they told me. Thank you. Then, I commented on the costumes they'd put together, especially the long black thing one of the girls was wearing. "I'm a VAMP-yre," she told me. "Yep, I got that," I said. "Nicely done." They looked at me suspiciously. "Did you get that?" they asked. "Really? VAMP-yre?" "Yeah, I'm clear on puns," I said, "and the fishnet-stockings are a give-away." "Nobody else got it!" they said. "All up and down the street. They looked at us like we were nuts!"
Well, it was a very nice VAMP-yre costume, and I'm glad that the Guardians of Obscure Bits of Cultural History could help out there. Watch out for Perseus.
Sam and I expected the bemusement, though it turned out to be worse than we foresaw. We figured that people would recognize Medusa, but be unclear about Perseus. But even Medusa went right by them. "Oh, you're carrying your head around!" the neighbors said to the child, who was dressed in Classical armor (Roman; I couldn't find Greek and didn't feel like making it), and carrying around a head covered with snakes. (Hint for those of you who'd like to try this next year: the hot glue will stick very well to the wig, but the rubber snakes are going to fall right off. You're going to have to pin them into the styrofoam.)
But the child wasn't disappointed by this at all. He spent the evening explaining, "No, I'm Perseus carrying the head of Medusa," and apparently was as pleased by the opportunity to Explain Obscure Points of Cultural History as he was by the opportunity to Fill Up the Candy Bowl. Can't imagine how he comes by this.
He dragged his giant illustrated book of Myths of the World into bed with us this morning, cheerfully planning next Halloween. "I think I'll be Thor next year," he told us. "Or better yet, Loki!" Great. He can spend all next Halloween explaining "I'm the Norse trickster god!" to the neighbors, who at some point are going to get tired of this. Yeah, yeah, whatever. Have some Skittles.
Sam and I had our moment, though. We Impressed Some Teenagers.
A group came by and stood around looking at Sam's annual elaborate jack o'lantern before they knocked on the door. "Did you carve this yourself?" they asked. "My husband did," I said. "It took two days." (This was not really a lie, or even an exaggeration -- he really did take two days over it. But to be Completely Honest, he could have done it in one. He just didn't.) "Well, this is really great!" they told me. Thank you. Then, I commented on the costumes they'd put together, especially the long black thing one of the girls was wearing. "I'm a VAMP-yre," she told me. "Yep, I got that," I said. "Nicely done." They looked at me suspiciously. "Did you get that?" they asked. "Really? VAMP-yre?" "Yeah, I'm clear on puns," I said, "and the fishnet-stockings are a give-away." "Nobody else got it!" they said. "All up and down the street. They looked at us like we were nuts!"
Well, it was a very nice VAMP-yre costume, and I'm glad that the Guardians of Obscure Bits of Cultural History could help out there. Watch out for Perseus.
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