The Simpsons Halloween Special

 You can watch the firts Simpsons' Halloween special episode on this site.

 

This is the first episode of the Simpsons completely dedicated to Halloween and it starts with Marge telling us that it is a strange celebration which she doesn’t really understand and we can’t help thinking that more often than not, the members of a society are not aware of their own culture. Fortunately, this is a trend we are willing to bring to an end.

The episode starts with Homer looking into his candy bag after he has been given some treats by his neighbours. Here it is posible to see that on Halloween people knock doors and when they are opened they yell 'Trick or treat' and expect to receive candies while holding out their bags. However, it the homeowner refuses to give candies, tricks can be played on them. Some popular tricks are throwing eggs at the house, covering it in toilet paper.

Some of the most popular candies in the United States are "chocolate, lollipops, candy corn, cotton Candy, hard candies, sugar sticks, toffee, nougats, bubble gum, gummy candy, cupcakes, doughnuts, pumpkin pie, apples, nuts, popcorn balls and apple cider (http://www.tartanplace.com/hcustom/trickortreat.html).

Immediately after this scene, we can see Lisa telling Bart a scary story, which is another typical Halloween custom along with pranks. What about reading some stories before next Halloween to scare your friends? Some of them can be found on

http://www.scaryforkids.com/scary-stories/ 

http://www.americanfolklore.net/spooky-stories.HTML

 

At some point in the episode, Homer appears preparing a barbecue grill to cook on it, however, as it is only one of the scenes in the horror stories being told, we don't see the actual connection of barbecuing and grilling with Halloween. In fact, some people in the United States prefer to feed their children before they go to ask for candies in order to avoid them overindulge and to do so grilled foods are a favourite.

Hamburgers are typical as well as pizzas, sometimes decorated as pumpkin faces, not to mention small treats such as buffalo wings. Besides, cooking outdoors allows parents to keep an eye on their children while they are on the street (http://bbq.about.com/od/seasonal/a/aa1022chil05a.htm).

These were the most important aspect of this episode, it is just the first, so we will see many others soon.