halloween = no big deal

So, they don't really celebrate Halloween here, for whatever reason. I don't even care. However, two interesting things.

This morning at 5am, a loudspeaker was going off around our house, with what sounded like chanting. It was later identified as a prayer. I saw the following from my window: a small candle procession, a lit up float of the virgin mary, and a car following the procession with the aforementioned loudspeaker. Abby asked about it at work and it turns out it's a superstition, they are warding off evil spirits on Halloween by praying to the virgin mary. How did I miss this last year, did I sleep through it?

Also, I got the following text from Abby: "Some of da kids r dressd up 4 halloween. I think theyre supposd 2 b da white witch, but they look like klansmen."

The White Witch is a local legend about an evil white witch. If white is evil, why is everyone always bleaching their faces here? Something to think about...