Halloween, stampedes on us
Nov 04, 2010
LAST Sunday was Halloween, did you know? Not like we should care, really. For starters, this day, which dates as far back as 2000 years ago, is so outlandish and was a pagan custom. <br>
By Nigel Nassar
and Angela Ndagano
LAST Sunday was Halloween, did you know? Not like we should care, really. For starters, this day, which dates as far back as 2000 years ago, is so outlandish and was a pagan custom.
But even though we do not care about it, trust Ugandans to throw it into our faces by celebrating the weird day. You should have been there to see the celebrations your self.
People around the world are adopting this day, whose origins are from Ireland, in the UK, and have actually pegged a glamorous touch to it – the reason you will walk into an immaculately dressed beauty spotting what she would like to be called a Halloween mask.
With movies like Saw, Let Me In, Hereafter, Vampire Diaries, My Soul to Take, Paranormal Activity and the like, it is inevitable that Halloween should stampede itself onto our list of days to celebrate.
We mean, if Ugandans can turn a funeral into a drinking spree, how about another day that just might turn out an opportunity to party?
Friday, October 29 in Kampala, kicked off with an office Halloween party organised by, Moringa, a public relations, advertising and marketing company. We did not see much Halloween touch there really, save for people drinking away the evening.
Which reminds us of some guy, a gate-crasher, who came and asked, “So what does this company called Halloween do?†We ‘died’ (read laughter). Well, now he knows ‘who’ Halloween actually is.
The Maisha dancers, who reenacted Michael Jackson’s Thriller, needed better costumes to pull off the real MJ Halloween look in that video.
Club Rouge’s Halloween on October 31, we think had the best touch in Kampala, with entertainment by ‘spook-tacular’ looking performers. Whoever said people born on Halloween look scary?
We saw a cute lady with a golden painted face – she was hot. Celebrating her birthday, she jumped onto stage and danced to Beyonce’s Single Ladies to everyone’s thrill.
Casablanca and Cayenne each organised something Halloween, but whatever Kampala did, you could tell we were trying too hard to plant an outlandish concept.
In Jinja town, Halloween night came alive at the Nile River Explorer’s Camp near Bujagali Falls, where the day’s enthusiasts pulled off different stunts to look like none other than the devil. These ones too got the concept.
This dwanzie (well, dwanzie in character, not real life) with a rope strangling the girlfriend was the freakiest of all. It got the then intoxicated people marvelling at the concept.
In masquerading as devils, imps, ogres, and other demonic creatures, the fun ended with many wishing it could be a more frequent event. Well, they will have to wait until the next October 31.
With our impressionable Ugandans, we would not be surprised waking up one Halloween night some three decades down the road, and a number of goons are donning their masks at 5:00am, little lamp in hand, a procession leading to the graveyard or cemetery – all in the name of celebration.
and Angela Ndagano
LAST Sunday was Halloween, did you know? Not like we should care, really. For starters, this day, which dates as far back as 2000 years ago, is so outlandish and was a pagan custom.
But even though we do not care about it, trust Ugandans to throw it into our faces by celebrating the weird day. You should have been there to see the celebrations your self.
People around the world are adopting this day, whose origins are from Ireland, in the UK, and have actually pegged a glamorous touch to it – the reason you will walk into an immaculately dressed beauty spotting what she would like to be called a Halloween mask.
With movies like Saw, Let Me In, Hereafter, Vampire Diaries, My Soul to Take, Paranormal Activity and the like, it is inevitable that Halloween should stampede itself onto our list of days to celebrate.
We mean, if Ugandans can turn a funeral into a drinking spree, how about another day that just might turn out an opportunity to party?
Friday, October 29 in Kampala, kicked off with an office Halloween party organised by, Moringa, a public relations, advertising and marketing company. We did not see much Halloween touch there really, save for people drinking away the evening.
Which reminds us of some guy, a gate-crasher, who came and asked, “So what does this company called Halloween do?†We ‘died’ (read laughter). Well, now he knows ‘who’ Halloween actually is.
The Maisha dancers, who reenacted Michael Jackson’s Thriller, needed better costumes to pull off the real MJ Halloween look in that video.
Club Rouge’s Halloween on October 31, we think had the best touch in Kampala, with entertainment by ‘spook-tacular’ looking performers. Whoever said people born on Halloween look scary?
We saw a cute lady with a golden painted face – she was hot. Celebrating her birthday, she jumped onto stage and danced to Beyonce’s Single Ladies to everyone’s thrill.
Casablanca and Cayenne each organised something Halloween, but whatever Kampala did, you could tell we were trying too hard to plant an outlandish concept.
In Jinja town, Halloween night came alive at the Nile River Explorer’s Camp near Bujagali Falls, where the day’s enthusiasts pulled off different stunts to look like none other than the devil. These ones too got the concept.
This dwanzie (well, dwanzie in character, not real life) with a rope strangling the girlfriend was the freakiest of all. It got the then intoxicated people marvelling at the concept.
In masquerading as devils, imps, ogres, and other demonic creatures, the fun ended with many wishing it could be a more frequent event. Well, they will have to wait until the next October 31.
With our impressionable Ugandans, we would not be surprised waking up one Halloween night some three decades down the road, and a number of goons are donning their masks at 5:00am, little lamp in hand, a procession leading to the graveyard or cemetery – all in the name of celebration.