Skip to main content

Halloween In Canada - Festival Of The Very Stupid


The folks over at Humor Bloggers Dot Com are celebrating all things ghoulish and gobliny - with the odd zombie thrown in - all week during their Halloween Humor Carnival. In keeping with that theme, today I've decided to take a look at something that scares the bejeezus out of most Canadians...


Few people know of the Canadian connection to Halloween. Were you aware of the secret society in the Haunted House of Commons that worships at the feet of the electorate? Oh yes. According to that well-known and respected source of information - dufuspedia - Halloween has it's origins in the ancient political festival known as election which is derived from Lower Canada and means "sanity's end".


The celebration has some elements of a "festival of the very stupid". The ancient Lower Canadians believed the border between bad government, this world, and good government, or Otherworld, became thin at election, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The nation's ancestors were honoured and invited to form a government whilst harmful, sitting politicians were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the signing of cardboard ballots with Xs. Today this is known as "craps".


In Canada's last Halloween the following ghosts and goblins "crossed over".

Stephen "Kiss Me Quick" Harper - masquerading as a Prime Minister




Michael Enigmatieff - leader of the Official Nanny, Nanny, Boo-boos



Gilles "Boo" Duceppe - leader of the Bloc Heads



Jack O'Lantern Layton - NDP (National Demon Party) Leader



Of course the scariest aspect of this festival is the day after Halloween known as Save All Our Souls Day, otherwise known as the day after the election.

Labels:

Comments

Me-Me King said…
I'm sorry, after seeing Gene Simmons' tongue, I didn't hear a word you said.
26 October 2009 at 09:18
nonamedufus said…
Me-Me: That's okay. That's bound to happen if he sticks his tongue in your ear.
26 October 2009 at 10:11
http://howtobecomeacatladywithoutthecats.blogspot.com said…
Talk about some scary costumes! No way am I trick or treating in Canada this year!
26 October 2009 at 14:02
nonamedufus said…
CatLady: I thought they might get you running. Scary stuff, eh?
26 October 2009 at 14:26
Chelle Blögger said…
Ha! My birthday is on ALL SOULS DAY, or as I like to call it All Saints Day.

Fitting, no? :)
26 October 2009 at 15:07
nonamedufus said…
Chelle: I left the church a long time ago and it shows. Turns out All Saints Day is November 1 and All Souls Day is November 2.

Fitting you were born on All Saints Day? Absolulely, boss *bows three times and crosses himself*
26 October 2009 at 15:27
Donnie said…
One thing for sure is here in the states when Halloween is over the politicians masks comes off and he shows his true colors. Assholes!
26 October 2009 at 17:47
nonamedufus said…
Don: Only after Halloween? What have they been doing up to now?
26 October 2009 at 18:30
nonamedufus said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
26 October 2009 at 18:31
Leeuna said…
Ooooo. Scary stuff, this thing you call politics. Actually the only thing more scary than a sitting politician is one who is talking...out loud.
26 October 2009 at 18:49
John J Savo said…
I freakin' hate Halloween. I'd hate it even more if I was in Canada.
26 October 2009 at 18:51
nonamedufus said…
Leeuna: Oh, good point. You are absolutely right.
26 October 2009 at 18:58
nonamedufus said…
John: Ha ha, well you're about to get more of it. I'm writing about it all week. Hope that doesn't scare you off.
26 October 2009 at 19:00
ReformingGeek said…
I'm just glad the tongue isn't as red as that tie! Man, scary post today. Where's my Teddy Bear?
26 October 2009 at 23:09
Anonymous said…
Hey nona - I know I've been absentee... but I saw this pic today and thought of you and your caption game. :-)

http://regretfulmorning.com/2009/10/whats-going-on-in-this-pic/

Ms. Thirty Something
26 October 2009 at 23:21
nonamedufus said…
RG: Ha, yeah, or as long!
27 October 2009 at 03:21
nonamedufus said…
Ms 30?: Hey, good to see you. I typed that address into my browser but I couldn't access the pic. Sorry.
27 October 2009 at 03:24
realtor in Vancouver said…
What an awesome pic of the Kiss, Harper fits in right away...haha!

Take care, Jay
27 October 2009 at 08:04
nonamedufus said…
Jay: Would you believe that's an official PMO photo. Yeah, for real!
27 October 2009 at 11:22
Chris said…
KISS! You wanted the best, you got the best . . .

Hmm. That inspires a Halloween post of my own!
27 October 2009 at 11:54
nonamedufus said…
DK: KISS my post!
27 October 2009 at 14:50
Unfinished Rambler said…
I agree with you with your comment to Don. I think it's Halloween for politicians here in the states year-round. They all have their masks, hiding something -- sometimes illegal activity, mostly big paychecks at taxpayer expense. :(
31 October 2009 at 09:42
nonamedufus said…
UR: It's a pretty sad commentary about politicians that the majority of people feel that way isn't it?
31 October 2009 at 12:53
Anonymous said…
Hey nona - I know I've been absentee... but I saw this pic today and thought of you and your caption game. :-)

http://regretfulmorning.com/2009/10/whats-going-on-in-this-pic/

Ms. Thirty Something
12 May 2011 at 14:55
Knucklehead said…
KISS! You wanted the best, you got the best . . .

Hmm. That inspires a Halloween post of my own!
12 May 2011 at 14:55
realtor in Vancouver said…
What an awesome pic of the Kiss, Harper fits in right away...haha!

Take care, Jay
12 May 2011 at 14:55
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Polka Dot Door

A long time ago, when I was 22, my first child was born.  That kid grew up on a little Canadian kid's show called Polka Dot Door, produced by the TV Ontario network.  And Dad, more often than not, sat through those shows with his little one. Nine or so years later when a brother, and a year after that when a sister came along number one son was moving on to Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard.  But there was a nice overlap where his siblings picked up where he had left off with Polka Dot Door.  And Dad was right there to welcome them. So you're looking at a Polka Dot Door veteran.  The show began in 1971 and ran to 1993.  I didn't watch the full run but I did get in my fair share.  The formula was pretty simple.  A young male and female host, which seemed to change every week, sang songs, told stories, made crafts and generally did their best stimulate little brains.  The show opened as follows... Imagination Day!  Oh boy! ...
41 comments
Read more

Hello Goodbye

Today a bit of a reflective piece. Rather than being funny, this is  about the funny. It's a day of mixed emotion at nonamedufus . You see, after several months of inactivity I've dropped a couple of former blogger buddies off my blog roll. I kept hanging on and hanging on hoping they'd return to active blogging but, alas, after waiting in one case five months I've decided to let them go. I'm going to miss - going to? I have been missing - Margo at the Screaming Me-Me . She was one funny lady. From time to time she and I would engage in a feud or two for several days at a time but it was all in fun both for us and, I think, for our readers. And we'd leave each other funny comments, poking fun at each other. I miss her friendship and our humorous exchanges. The other blogger I'm letting go is Chelle, The Offended Blogger . Chelle was a special lady. In addition to her own blog she created and managed Humor Bloggers Dot Com where humour bloggers like m...
16 comments
Read more

The Dangling Conversation

There's a debate underway in my household between my wife and I. I say "underway" because it hasn't quite reached the "raging" stage. If you want raging, my wife (a Francophone) and I (an Anglophone) from time to time (usually in a weak moment of my own making) slip into our number one discussion around why we don't speak more French at home - ergo - when am I, a former public servant who learned French at the expense of our gracious taxpayers and was technically rated bilingual (even though I hardly used it), going to improve my use of Canada's other language? This one never gets resolved, hence it's ongoing nature. But the current debate is over a remark I casually made the other day. I'm no geek, but with a lot of time on my hands I surf the web, converse on Facebook and such and - I have to admit - "I'm nonamedufus and I'm a Twitterholic". In an epiphany-like moment I was struck by the apparent impact of social networkin...
15 comments
Read more