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It's About Halloween ...
Posted On: 10/24/2021 23:15:27

I don’t have to check my calendar … I just have to see the department in my chosen shopping location, to see the massive displays of Halloween costumes and other paraphilia to prepare for the end of the month. It seems that the majority of costumes are for adults. I grew up in a time when Halloween was a school party and a tour of the rural neighborhood, to sing a song or recite a verse at a neighbor’s front door as payment for a treat that could have been made in the their kitchen. There were a few pranks, instigated by some young adults, and most were accepted in good humor. There were no injuries, no food poisonings, no razor blades in home-made popcorn balls, and no defacing of personal properties.

Our costumes were put together at home, often using clothing from our own closet or our parents’ work closet. Most of the time, we used face make-up instead of masks, and often wore a warm coat and boots if there was a layer of snow, suggesting that winter was coming early. For the more creative kids, they would draw a face on a brown-paper grocery bag, and then would cut holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth, to make a mask. Common character costumes were of pirates, cowboys, and clowns were popular with the boys, and the girls liked being a princess, a fairy, or a cat with whiskers. For the kids who were braver, they would agree to be a ghost (if their mother gave her permission). We would dig out the inside of a pumpkin from the garden, carve a face on the pumpkin, then put a lighted candle inside. They were called ‘jack-o-lanterns’ and a special decoration by the door. We always hoped that there wouldn’t be any wind that evening that would blow out the candle.

There were games at school involving apples on a string or bobbing for apples in a laundry tub. We learned songs or poems that we could use as payment for any treats that were available to us. There was always candy… orange and black jelly beans, jujubes, and the ever-enticing black licorice pipes (shaped like the one that Grandpa smoked) that had some red sparkles on the bowl that was to look like the pipe was being smoked. What fun to pretend that we were smoking! Our teacher would give us orange construction paper to draw and cut out ‘jack-o-lanterns’ to decorate the window in our classroom, along with black cats with arched backs that were supposed to scare away any ghosts that may want to visit us during class.

We don’t have any children knocking on our door at Halloween. For years, we had a community Halloween party because the homes were too far apart for the children to walk, and the parents were not all the willing to drive from one property to another. I do know that neighbors, as well as ourselves stock up on our favorite candy treat, just in case someone appears at our front door, pillow-case sack at the ready. If nobody comes, we enjoy our treats as long as they last. We don’t hear any local ‘spooky’ neighborhood stories of events; such as some that happen in the city (as reported on the news).

You may not agree, but I still think that Halloween is for the kids, not the adults. Aliens, super-power characters, ‘blood and gore’, and howling witches, are not what makes the kind of Halloween that I want to enjoy. I much prefer to celebrate Thanksgiving and look forward to Christmas and a New Year.


Tags: Treats Costumes Tricks Pumpkins



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Viewing 1 - 4 out of 4 Comments

02/04/2022 15:10:19

You said it.  Halloween was a  fun tim when I was a kid.  It is kind of sas to think so many children will not be children beyond five.  Many today engage in adult activitives even before their teens.  Halloween used to be a time when neighbors watched kids and said Hi to parents but not now.

Judy



11/02/2021 05:35:48

There is Halloween for kids, and then there are the adult parties for young adults. I used to be a young adult and they were fun, but that was before the days of drinking and driving laws and all of the other things of today. As a kid for TRICK OR TREATING, a simple mask, maybe, and the brown paper bag from the grocery store. Like everything else, things change. We will never be going back. And sometimes things were not as good as our memories portray



10/29/2021 19:05:10

I agree wholeheartedly as well. We live in different times indeed. Many sadly focus more emphasis and money spent on Halloween. Candy is another subject all its own. I call this time of year *sugar season*, as Halloween begins a long stretch of sweets consumption...all the way through early spring. I miss the days gone by..they are gone.



10/25/2021 13:13:27

It's all different now for sure. When I was growing up it was very much like you remember. It was all in good fun for us kids. People were a lot diffrent in those days. Never worried about crazy stuff like we see today. If you recall it would have to be the beginning of darkness when we went to neighborhood houses and proclaimed "trick or treat". Just like you wrote now we see costumes at the stores made for adults. I agree with you, it was for kids and also agree I look forward the most to Thanksgiving, Christmas and bringing in the New Year.




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