How Do You Say Trick or Treat in French?

Few Tricks, Many Treats, for Small Devils and Goblins

Well, since your reporter is inside neither of these two heads, I offer no insights - but I do know that Max thought he was going to a 'Power Rangers' convention, and, as soon as the door opened, he went into his highly acrobatic 'kung-fu fighter' stance; which, if he was at the right doorstep, was interpreted as a 'trick.'

The 'right doorstep' here has been marked by an orange cut-out paper pumpkin, so local residents not having these cryptic signals will be largely unaware of the little devils scooting about outside their very doors - unless - they are on their way home from shopping or work and happen to notice this crowd of midget pirates, goblins, spacemen, Count Draculas, devils, witches, pixies and assorted cowboys and swordfighters zipping erratically from marked door to marked door; busily collecting treats and perhaps pulling off a prank or two.

So what is this Halloween or Hallowe'en, on the eve of All Saints' Day?

This is not to be confused with Guy Fawkes Day, on 5. November, which is a celebration of the foiling of the of the dimly obscure 'Gunpowder Plot' to blow up parliament, allegedly by Roman Catholics. This 'plot' is now thought to be, in some quarters - a 'sting' operation by the royal secret service to discredit the older religious group. I suppose this was the original prank.

At any rate, the English term for it is 'All Souls Day' and in French it is 'Le Jour des Morts' and the following day is 'Toussaint.' In North America, north of the Rio Grande, 'Souls' and 'Saints' are dropped in favor of 'Halloween' and there is no holiday. South of the Rio Grande, and throughout the Catholic world, it is altogether more interesting, but not common in France.

Less than one metre, Max 'the Devil,' highly trained by 2000 hours of Kung-Fu cartoons, is a dangerous character.

Now, since I have taken the trouble to set the record straight with this collection of rumor and innuendo, let me add that none of this has anything to do with the German 'Walpurgisnacht' because it is on 30. April and has something to do with the 'Blocksbergfest der Hexen' which is related somehow to the Blocksberg in the Harz mountains. If you go there you will see a lot of references to witches or 'Hexen,' so that is where the confusion comes from. The Brits think, if they have witches, it must be Halloween! Even though 'Halloween' is an english word, the Brits don't do it. They do 'Guy Fawkes' instead. And some people think the French are hard to understand.

In short, it doesn't matter all that much if Max is confused. He is dressed up, he is outside, he is collecting swag, and his devil mask is hot as hell inside. Besides being dark, the mask is the wrong size and he can't see anything. As the 'treat' bag gets heavier he drops it, losing some goodies, and finally he confides it to his 'minder' - who, not being able to keep up with the general horde, misses a great many pumpkin-designated houses.

Finally, the horde is coming towards us - from the last house. Max is easily convinced that they have already cleaned it out, and we return to the red-devil wagon for the ride home; so ending 90 infernal minutes.

Return to Richard Erickson's Paris Journal

Updated 11/95