Subscribe Feed (RSS)HATCH Night
October 31st, 2008 by Bryan Allain | Filed under faith, life.If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
(I got mentioned over at Stuff Christians Like today…to find out why, read on)
I grew up in Southeastern MA, as many of you know, and I attended a small little reformed church in Dartmouth, MA called The First Christian Church of Hixville for a good 10 years or so (that’s the actual church pictured on the right). Like any church you’ve ever attended, there’s lots of stuff I could pick on and disagree with about the church. Today’s not the day for that though.
There’s a few things I still love about Hixville. I love many of the people I came to know there. In fact, many of them remain strong influences in my life. I also love the memories that I have. Playing football on the lawn after church, walking to the corner store to buy jolly ranchers after Sunday school despite being told not to, putting kielbasa and dish soap into someone’s coffee cup as a prank, and then realizing it was the wrong cup (sorry Mrs. Gamble!). I could go on and on until the second coming, but I won’t.
Anyway, since today is Halloween, I just HAVE to mention HATCH Night. It was a tradition at Hixville for a handful of years. As kids, instead of trick-or-treating we got HATCH night. You might be wondering why it was called HATCH Night? Well, it’s an acronym of course, and it stood for:
Hixville’s Alternative To Carnal Halloween.
Brilliant. Absolutely Brilliant. Not sure who came up with it, though I think it was one of our elders, Rick. He had all sorts of cleverness in that brain of his (still does, I’m sure). (Ed. Note: My dad said it was our pastor Ken who came up with it. Like Rick, he was pretty clever too.)
HATCH night wasn’t all bad for us kids. We still came home with a bunch of candy. The worst part of it all was explaining to your friends that a) we don’t go trick or treating because it makes the devil happy, b) we go to church instead, and c) I’m dressing up like an old man from the Bible for the 3rd year in a row. (Only biblical costumes allowed at HATCH Night of course.)
I was exchanging emails with my friend Luke yesterday, and we got to talking about HATCH Night since he also grew up at Hixville. The more I thought about HATCH Night, the more I marveled at its brilliance. So on a whim, I shot an email over to my friend Jon who runs the amazingly funny (and wildly popular) Stuff Christians Like blog because I thought he’d get a kick out of it too. He was so amazed by the HATCH Night concept that he included it in his Halloween post today.
I feel so honored. I hope Rick does too (and/or Ken). And for that matter, everyone else who was a part of HATCH Night through the years! Hixville Represent!
(if any of you old Hixville folks read this, I ask, nay, I demand you leave a comment with your favorite HATCH Night memory)
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Cottonballs glued to my face, a sheet wrapped around me, and a big wooden stick. Yes, I was moses every year that i remember, (along with most of the other kids).
Another fave was when i was old enough to help run the creepy, “stick-your-hand-in-the-opening-and-geuss-what-gross-junk-you’re-feeling”, booth in one of the sunday school rooms. We made a certain girl cry because she correctly guessed pigs foot and clearly, only a cheater can tell what a pigs foot feels like.
Wow, totally remember that game. Who was the girl that got upset because we called her a a cheater? was it dawn b? bethany w? i can’t remember.
I also remember the “Kitty in the Corn” game where you had to dig through kitty litter (unused) to find candy corn. did we eat that candy corn afterwards? I hope not. If we did, maybe inhaling all of that Fresh Step explains why I’m an idiot.
As for the cottonballs on your face, that’s high comedy. There might have been a few angels in there. Maybe a Mary or a John the Baptist. But otherwise I think everyone was probably Moses/Abraham. Good times.
Speaking for all the girls - we always wanted to go as Jezebel so we could wear lots of makeup. Had to skip the part about being eaten by dogs…
Well, although I’m a girl, I dressed up as a wise man along with Karyn and either Sarah or Steph. I had no makeup, but I probably did have a beard.
[...] Happy to report that Prayers For Blowouts got a mention over at Stuff Christians Like this morning. It was due partly to the Sports Survey that we ran on Jon Acuff and partly due to the Halloween alternative that my old church used to put on called “HATCH Night”. If you’re curious to know what H.A.T.C.H. stands for (the C is for Carnal), you can read more about it here. [...]
Wow, cross dressing at HATCH night definitely was pushing the envelope. Somebody’s got to have old pictures of some of those, right?
Bryan, you did make me laugh! I remember all the grumbling cause you all had to dress as a biblical character…again. As for the girls, except for Jezebel and Eve, no one would be able to tell who you were. Though I don’t remember any parents letting their daughters dress as either of those. Thanks for the memories!
I remember something about a box on a table and when you picked it up there was a head of someone. Doug Maybe? sticking through a hole in the table. Anyone remember that? I kind of remember a lot of little girls dressed up as Mary. Then you could take your baby doll to church with you…
Bryan, I went through every church album and could not find one picture of Hatch night! I did however find some very interesting photos of you and Seth oh and Luke too. Those are for another post…
Chris
That had to have been Doug’s head, right? He loves that stuff. Can’t believe there weren’t any photos. As for some of those other pics you found, you have to get those up on facebook. Nothing like embarrassing pictures from the past. Hope you, Ken, and the kids are doing well!
the girl you made cry, was most definitely my sister joscelyne. that was going to be one of my memories too. i didn’t remember what she guessed though. i think i remember trying to defend her. i think we did silly games like eating donuts off a string hangning from the ceiling only using your teeth. and i think i went one year dressed as an indian (oops, native american), which definitely is not a biblical character. maybe i just came from work or something. but thinking about hatch night made me think of the thank tank. what did that stand for?
hey bry , dad wants me to let you know that hatch night was the brain child of ken harmen.
and i thought it was a good safe way to do Halloween …..
I’m pretty sure I went as an angel one year. Really, that’s all I remember going as. Same concept…a sheet and maybe a coat hanger twisted as a halo, maybe wrapped in a gold garland. Wait, I am also now remembering wings. I think the wings were a sheet fashioned around more coat hangers and decorated with gold glittering fabric paint. Maybe this memory was more elaborate that in actuality. The game I remember was tasting baby food and guessing the flavor/type it was. Anyone remember that one?
Definitly remenber being a wise man!! Yup we borrowed costumes from Bethany chapel, ( they were very well equipt in the biblical characters department.) I remember painting cardboard boxes with gold paint as the gift of “gold” to bring. I have to confess I am guilty of sneaking out and trick or treating in a “secular” costume before rushing to HATCH night! Didn’t Joscelyne so accurately guess peeled grapes and cooked spaghetti also?
yeah, i think you were right that it was joscelyne. and shame on you for trick or treating! tsk tsk.