This week’s questions at thefridayfive. Picture from Pixabay.
1) What was the best part of your Halloween this year?
I’m Finnish and live in Finland. We don’t do Halloween in my family. Traditionally I think “Pyhäinpäivä” which I guess is the corresponding thing here, has been more of serious thing, like visiting graves of one’s family and attending church? But we’re not religious (we “don’t belong in the church”, as we say it here when one is non-religious and not affiliated with any religious organization) and we’ve never observed it. And my birthday is always the next day, so that’s what we always planned for and did. Personally for me, I’ve never observed Pyhäinpäivä in anyway – to the point that I never remember it’s coming up until the day before, usually, and that was because shops used to be closed on Pyhäinpäivä so I had to plan accordingly for my birthday. I’m not actually sure whether my parent did when they were young – my Dad never “belonged in the church” nor have I, and my Mom left the church before they adopted me. So we never observed anything religious in our family, and what religious things I learned I was taught in school and that was informational, not practising.
Halloween, as it’s in the US, has only become a thing in Finland in recent years, and I guess most people maybe buy some candy or other sweets, and some kids beg for candy door to door, but this year it didn’t happen in my appartment building. Whatever, it’s a commercial holiday imported from the USA and I don’t support it. I don’t open my door for the kids begging for candy if they going around.
2) What is your best Halloween memory of all time?
Since we don’t do Halloween I can’t have a best memory of it 🙂3) What are the three things that you enjoy the most about the fall season? (If you are in the southern hemisphere, you can substitute “spring season” if you like.)
Fall season is my favorite time of the year. I enjoy pretty much everything about – although there sometimes can be too much rain! But I love the darkness, and the crisp yellow and red colors of leafs on the trees, and the cool air. Fall feels like I can breathe after the cloyingly hot, garishly bright summer.
4) What is your favorite autumn memory?
A few years ago the summer was long and hottest in memory, with nary a cloudy rainy day at all for three months. All summer I felt like I was wrapped tightly in a hot, suffocating blanket. Then when the first evening with actual dark and cool, crips air came I felt like I could breathe for the first time in three months, and the dark felt safe and like I was coming home. I still remember that feeling of being freed from pressure when I stepped out that night 😀
5) If you could travel anywhere to experience autumn, where would you go and why?
Out autumns are pretty good even here in very southern Finland, so I think maybe I’d just go to up higher north – to Rovaniemi or Finnish Lapland? Autumns should be pretty great up there, and there should even be snow in the winter!
