Halloween in Holland – Scaring and Confusing The Dutch

Halloween in Holland

It’s Halloween in Holland. A time when the undead walk the earth looking for candy. As a horror movie fan I always enjoyed this time of year and the basic special effects make-up techniques I was taught at college come in handy when creating costumes for Halloween parties. However, they also resulted in a few awkward moments as I traveled to my first Halloween party in Holland.

I had decided to go to the party as a zombie and spent an hour in front of the mirror molding morticians wax and latex into mutilated burnt flesh on the right side of my face (a little extreme I know). With the addition of fake blood and a dirty boiler suit I almost looked like a bootleg version of Freddy Kruger. Close enough in appearance to be mistaken for the well known movie villain but different enough to avoid copy right infringement. I could have been Fred Crewger, the killer from A Nightmare on Elton Street.

Since I knew it would take a while to get ready I decided to prepare at home and travel on the train to the party. It was not until later that I found out how much of a mistake this was. I thought people in their costumes traveling to parties would be a common sight but it turned out I was wrong. Halloween is not a very well known holiday in Holland. Hardly anyone celebrates Halloween in Holland (however that has changed in recent years). This is especially true amongst the older generation who must have been more then a little surprised to see a zombie buying alcohol at the local super market for a party. I probably looked like an off duty horror movie killer taking a break from murdering lost teenagers in the woods.

As I browsed the shelves for booze I heard a small scream and turned to see one of the regular checkout girls running towards me with a look of horror and concern on her face. She frantically asked me what had happened as I tried to calm her down and explain it was not real. I could have used the opportunity to ask for compensation money for extreme freezer burn from the frozen foods section.

The look on her face was similar to what I saw later on the faces of my fellow train passengers during the two hour journey to Rotterdam. However, they expressed a lot more horror and a lot less concern (unless you count concern for their own safety). As each of them boarded the train they would look at my face with worry before looking at my hands, going wide eyed and moving very quickly to another part of the train. In retrospect covering my hands with fake blood might have been a bad idea as well.

I wanted to explain to all of them that I was going to a party but at the same time I did not want them to run off screaming before I had time to elaborate that I meant a Halloween party and not some kind of serial killer reunion party. I decided to sit quietly and avoid eye contact which probably made me look like a very shy serial killer.

Eventually I arrived at the party and was no longer out of place amongst the vampires, zombies, witches and other party goers enjoying Halloween in Holland. Everyone was very surprised that I had traveled so far in my costume. It made an amusing story during the consumption of alcohol.

The next morning I discovered that pulling latex off the face is even less pleasant with a hang over and fake blood dyes skin orange. I only got a few strange looks on my return journey due to the orange rash like marks covering my hands and face. Luckily there was nothing in the newspapers about a shy serial killer timidly stalking people on the train to Rotterdam during Halloween in Holland.

Next time I think I’ll go as a ghost under a sheet or a Ghostbuster.

Stuart

Stuart is an accident prone Englishman who has been living in the Netherlands since 2001. Even his move to the country was an unintentional accident, the result of replying to a cryptic job advertisement he found one day in a local British magazine. Since then he has learned to love the Dutch (so much so that he married one of them) and now calls the country home. He started the blog Invading Holland in 2006 as a place to share his strange stories of language misunderstandings, cultural confusions and his own accident prone nature.

14 Responses

  1. ChickyBabe says:

    That’s funny stuff Stu! You really slept with the latex on? I think we need a photo to go with this post!

  2. marycub says:

    hee hee. I think the best night i had at a fancy dress was as a bunny girl. Not because it was a particularly well thought out costume just because of the reactions i got from others. Well it WAS a tarts and vicars night!!

  3. Mélissa says:

    I know how you feel, Halloween is not well known in Belgium either, its sad really. I did buy a pumpkin though…
    Anyways, Happy Halloween and thanks for the comment! I hope that orange stuff comes off alright :S

  4. ellen says:

    Ahahahaha, that’s funny, Stu. I can’t believe you went to bed with that stuff still on.

  5. Charlemagne Stavanger says:

    very nice stu :D

    Freddy Krugers are everywhere around here tonight, only some look a little to big to be asking for candy. Hey if they aren’t embarrassed why should you be?

  6. Invader_Stu says:

    ChickyBabe – I wish I could find the photos but I don’t know where they are anymore.

    Marycub – You did a Bridget Jones? :p

    Mélissa – It old took a few days to come off :p

    ellen – I was a drunken little sleepy horror movie monster

    Charlemagne Stavanger – It would have been alright if I was not the only one in the whole of Holland

  7. Aisling says:

    Lol. I went out this weekend to a bar with my parents and their friends (HOW MUCH OF A DORK AM I?) and our little group was the ONLY one dressed up! It was insane. And I live in Canada where most people celebrate Hallowe’en! Ugh.

    Anyway, I went as Sailormoon. ‘Nuff said.

  8. marycub says:

    I did a bridget jones but better. All other bunny girls that night were mere imitations.

  9. Rose says:

    Funny Stu and that wax and latex stuff is nasty stuff to get off your face.

  10. Invader_Stu says:

    Aisling – You were showing the rest of Canada how to party :p

    Marycub – Wow. It must have been good :p

  11. Alison says:

    Beautifully told story, as always! I love that you’ve got a bit of makeup experience. I’ve got a friend in New Zealand who does special effect makeup and recently got a job working for WETA, the company there that does a lot of the special effects for films like the upcoming Hobbit.

  12. French Bean says:

    Well, you can congratulate yourself on how well you managed to scare people using your makeup skills!

  13. Does fake blood really turn the skin orange? The same shade as your hair or are you two-tone? :-)

  14. Windmillfields says:

    Funky Monkey insists we are going out for a walk tonight dressed up for Halloween, think my sleepy town are in for a shock!

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