City spooked by devilish cargo but in Nairobi they are novelties used yearly since 1996

By DAVID ODONGO and NYAMBEGA GISESA

The decorative skeleton cargo paraded by custom officials in Mombasa recently was for a Halloween party that is celebrated in the last Saturday of October.

Halloween, an ancient Scottish tradition, remembers the dead and is marked alongside The All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day.

The Village Market in Gigiri Nairobi claimed ownership of the Halloween paraphernalia for a Halloween party slotted for October 26.

Among others a Halloween party features a fancy dress competition and ghoulish games like house of horror, trick or treat, the spooky wheel, fiendish fun and feasting.

Ghostly art works from chair covers, finger bat puppets, candleholders, lanterns to window decorations are the other hallmarks of a Halloween Party.

   In a press statement, Market Masters Ltd, the owners of Village Market – that has held Halloween parties for past 17 years – said: “Just like during Easter Holiday or Christmas season, the items in question are solely used for decorating the entire shopping Centre for our annual Halloween parties.”

The Halloween cargo imported from China was meant to replace the old, worn out ones at the upscale shopping mall.   

Halloween is not just for fun. It injects pretty penny to European economies. In the US, for instance, Halloween is second to Christmas as a money minting festivity. The National Retail Federation estimated that the 2012 Halloween parties collectively added $10 billion (Sh85bn) to America’s Gross Domestic Product.