Saturday 1 November 2008

Goths, Satan, and Crazy Devil Worshippers: Halloween in Italy

For me, All Hallows Eve was a time usually spent at home, taking shifts with my parents at the door while waiting for that impending ring at the doorbell, and hoping that the next visitors wouldn't be a boorish group of sixteen year old boys with only fake moustaches for costumes. Either that, or we would make a trip to Swiss Chalet to escape the stress of the night.

Last night, however, I ditched my stay-at-home routine in favour of a local Halloween festa at a famous pub in Torino called Hiroshima Mon Amour, a name taken from the famous black and white film. Marco, once again, was my companion as he had volunteered to help with the filming of the performance his friend was to put on for the evening, and two au pair friends of mine, Allie and Aida, also came along for the ride.

To say that last night was a strange experience would be a huge understatement. The most unusual thing was that everyone was dressed up as a witch or some variant of that theme. I was expecting to see a number of pikachus, fairies, and perhaps even a Homer Simpson or two, but no -- we were four normal people in the midst of most gothic of company I have been in since high school!

And not only were they gothic - many of them at least appeared to be dedicated satanic worshippers. To understand this, I have to explain the performance of Marco's friend, who is a professional make-up artist. The show basically went as follows:
  • Five or six witches dance around a calderon behind a misty screen.
  • The witches appear to faint and slowly, Satan himself (well, actually, Marco's friend dressed up as Satan) rises out of the cauldron.
  • Satin cuts down the misty screen and takes his place on the stage along with a vampire and a few other servants.
  • Satin starts to summon people out of the audience to sign themselves over as his eternal slaves.
What I had to stifle a laugh at was how serious the chosen participants seemed to be about signing over their souls! For instance, there was a blond lady, probably in her early-fourties dressed up in a tight leather suit, and when she was chosen, she threw herself right into the part of the dedicated devil worshipper, running her hands all over the actors and tossing her head this way and that. It was like a cosplay show gone terribly wrong!

This being said, it was an amusing evening overall. There was lots of dancing, delicious drinks to be shared, and good company. We even managed to amuse ourselves by taking loads of pictures -- mostly of this particularly scary red witch with a green face, and of the various couples making out. Though it perhaps wasn't the best Halloween I've ever had (the best ones were when I was a child!), it was certainly the funniest!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It sounds wild. All we had were 4 kids dressed as witches or variations on the theme who came on the wrong night! We did go out on Hallowe'en afternoon and didn't get back until 9:30 so we may have missed a few of the ghosts and goblins. However, it was a good thing we did go out because we had eaten all the chocolates bought for the occasion.
Love Mamma Mia

Anonymous said...

How bizarre!

For the last few years my Halloweens have consisted of watching a good movie with a few friends and loads of chocolate and popcorn. Oddly, our preparation for the night involves taping our front windows up with newspaper, disabling the door bell, turning off all the lights and tip-toeing around the house pretending we're not home. We only bump into each other in the dark occasionally, lol.

Did the kids go out trick or treating?

heather-in-italia said...

Nah, Halloween is still a relatively new holiday here, and since most of the residences here are apartments, it is almost impossible for the kids to trick or treat, unless they stay within their own building. Instead, they have a festival called Carnivale in March which is much akin to Halloween. Lucky bucks, they get to dress up twice a year!!

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