Series: Masami Wake | Halloween for Grown-Ups

FLORALUXE

Halloween for Adults

While Halloween is a major event for children, it's also a time for adults to embrace their inner child and enjoy it wholeheartedly. It evokes the feeling of playing ghosts in the haunted house or testing courage during the forgotten summer holidays.──In Tokyo, next to the FLORALUXE salon, there's a community of houses with cobblestone streets inhabited only by foreigners. Starting from early October, they surprise (or delight?) us with adult-oriented Halloween decorations on every window, in their shrubbery, and under trees.

Text and Photos by Masami Wake

Halloween Arrangement Using Pumpkins as Vases

Halloween (Halloween) is a shortened form of "All Hallow's Day" (November 1st), evolving from Hallowe'en to Halloween. Its origins lie in ancient Celtic festivals predating Christianity in Ireland and Scotland – marking the end of the harvest, the beginning of a harsh, dark, and long winter, and the start of a new year.

The end of the Celtic year was considered to be October 31st. It was believed that during this liminal period, when the boundaries between time and space blurred, the spirits of the dead would visit their families, and spirits, fairies, and witches would emerge. Costumes were worn to ward them off.

Today, carved pumpkins known as "Jack-o'-lanterns" are common, but this is an American tradition. Originally, in Ireland, turnips were carved. Their white surface gave them a striking, bandaged-man-like appearance.

The potato famine, Ireland's staple food, led to emigration to the Americas, as depicted in Titanic. From this diaspora, President Kennedy emerged, leading to the America that exists today.──This festival is indeed an important event for Americans as well.

At FLORALUXE, during this season, we enjoy Halloween arrangements using both fresh and preserved flowers, with pumpkins serving as vases.

FLORALUXE Inc.
New York Flower School Roppongi Hills / Minami-Aoyama
Tel. 03-3497-0024
info@floraluxe.com