on a halloween faux pas.

You learn something new every day.

After exactly (happy anniversary!) 7 total months in Egypt, I have made more than my fair share of rookie's mistakes. There is something of a learning curve to cultural adjustment, though, and I've been fairly gaffe-free in the past few months.

Minus the time, that is, when I invited two small Egyptian children to play "Pass the Pigs" with me--a cheesy game from the States that involves rolling rubber pig-shaped dice to earn points for whatever position the pigs land in. They begin playing with great enthusiasm and gusto, rolling the little twin porkers hoping for the prized 40-point "double leaning jowler" position. Then their aunt came by and, while smiling, asked me if I happened to know that pigs were unclean in Islam.

To my credit, I did know this. But I figured that rubber replicas hardly constituted an unclean offense. It didn't really—the kids continued to play without any problem. But still, a slightly awkward mini faux pas.

Now, as you all know, my gentle readers, Halloween is nearly upon us. I heart Halloween. Playing dress up, eating candy, drinking hot apple cider, the sharp fall air, roasted pumpkin seeds, dressing up the concrete goose on my mom's doorstep in its pumpkin Halloween costume… I love it all. [The concrete goose's name, incidentally, is Lucille H.H. Goosey, and it has some half dozen country-cute outfits: an American flag sweater, a little sailor's hat, a Mrs. Clause outfit for Christmas, a raincoat for the spring, bunny ears for Easter, and so forth. Yes, welcome to the Midwest, with all its charms and occasional oddities.]

In my enthusiasm and nostalgia, I may or may not have been talking about Halloween for the past 2 months to my Egyptian friends. Now, try explaining Halloween to Egyptians. For that matter, try explaining Halloween to anyone. To go the Druidic-origins route is to alarm and, ultimately, misconstrue what the holiday is really about for most people. It's not quite a Latin American Dia de los Muertos day to honor our own dearly departed, either, however. I usually try to pass it off as a kind of children's day. In all, that's not too far off. Or, if I'm feeling a flair for the dramatic, I present it as a day when we commemorate the epic battle between the forces of good and evil. Anyway. Something like that.

Snicker miniatures being unspeakable expensive and the classic Mr. Goodbar mix not existing, I opted to buy some packaged brownies to distribute to my co-workers last night at the language center where I teach. "Happy Halloween!" I greeted them, plunking down brownies on little Kleenex squares, grade school style. Most of them smiled, thanked me, and began munching down on their little squares of fudgy goodness.

One of my co-workers, however, quietly followed me into my classroom. The conversation was in Arabic, but went something like this:
"Um, excuse me, Miss Alissa, but is this cake for Halloween?"
"Yes! It's for you—Friday is Halloween in America."
"Yes, but you see, Islam has only two holidays: eid al-fitr (the end of Ramadan) and eid al-adha (commemorating Abraham's near sacrifice of his son)."
"Right, but this isn't a religious holiday—it's not Muslim, it's not Christian. It's just American."
"You don't understand. We are prohibited from celebrating any other holidays. So, I need you to tell me that this isn't a Halloween cake. It's just a gift."
"Ah. Ok, then. This isn't a Halloween brownie. It's just a gift!"
"Ah, thank you very much," he said, with a big grin on his face, and promptly bit into his brownie.

Whoops. I suppose it would be a bit uncomfortable for most Americans if an exchange student burst through the doors and started plunking down symbols of a holiday we didn't know about, didn't celebrate, and seemed vaguely demonic in its origins (as, to be fair, Halloween kind of is)—something like, "Happy holidays! Here's your voodoo-doll shaped cupcake." It might give us pause as well.

In any case—Happy Halloween to all of you, at the very least!

Not to be left out, I will be attending a tiny Halloween party in our apartment as a flight attendant—something that may be lost in its effect as 1. most Egyptians have never flown anywhere and 2. uh, it's actually an outfit I wear to the office normally.

Until next time, my friends--enjoy eating the pumpkins out of the candy corn mix for me.