Hallowe'en 2024

 

Just some of the shots I took while crawling around the HongDae neighborhood on All Saints' Even.

And lastly...

Hey, whaddayagonnado, it was in myface...

Halloween in Seoul

Halloween has been making steady inroad into South Korean culture over the last couple of decades.  So far though, progress has been slow and it's still pretty much a niche phenomenon, with selective adoption.  For example, you won't see children dressing up in cute/scary costumes and going trick-or-treating, and I doubt that particular Hallowe'en custom will ever make landfall here;  at least in part because when half the country's population lives in impersonal, industrially-built giant apartment complexes with coded entrance, it's just not the same as going from door to door begging for candy from familiar neighbors.

While there still is plenty of dressing-up, it's mostly for young adults, with beer and street food instead of candy.  Think of it as a kind of open-air ballo in maschera.  And here are three of the best costumes I saw in the Hongdae neighborhood, which is a major young people's hangout in Seoul.

Medieval physician in plague mask, carrying a coffin at the ready:

Creepy ghost girl with a No face on the back of her head.  I wonder if she was wearing an identical mask in front...

And of course, the Great Equalizer:

Halloween-Themed Cloud

'GHOST RISING NEXT TO SKULL'

Posted a day late, but I think the image works, and that's the important thing.

Hallowe'en 2012

LOOKING THE PART

Dressing as the Frankenstein monster or a zombie or a sexy nurse or a Presidential candidate would have been too easy and obvious, so I decided to go for the overthinking eccentric nerd who stares at things.  Because, you know, normally I'm so not an overthinking eccentric nerd who stares at things.

Blood Comes Back For A Visit

This morning I dreamt of picking up a big, plump tabby cat and hugging him to my face. He responded with a long solemn kiss on my mouth.

Funny that I didn't think of it in the dream, but once I woke up I realized that cat looked a lot like Blood (Sept. 11th and 12th entries). Maybe his ghost really did come back to see me.

EDIT: OMG! I just realized it's Halloween! Now I KNOW it was the ghost of Blood, allowed for one day to walk the earth among the living -- and he chose to come to me.

Thank you, Blood -- I love you, too.