Monday, October 24, 2011

Trick Or Treat



Halloween looms although the stores started putting displays up right after Easter.  Still think it’s a dentist conspiracy.  And why do people get so uptight about witches and goblins?  And what does the Easter bunny have do with anything?  People forget the purpose of holidays and like sheep are turned into marketing fodder.  Buy candy and gifts, gun powder and turkeys, flowers, cards and party hats.  Tradition is good, but we have lost an innocence of simple trick or treating, sitting on Santa’s lap, the birth of our country that proclaims peace, but has been in some kind of war most of my life and celebrates by blowing up neighborhoods every Independence day.
As for Halloween, I am a victim of sweets.  The treats intended for the kids get gobbled before the 31st and last minute replacements must be purchased.  We used to get a couple hundred costumed revelers filling their buckets and pillow cases.  Families in the area matured just like mine and volume faded.  Last year, there was a resurgence of costumes at the door.  Protective parents often escort their kids now.  It wasn’t like that when I was young.  It was a night to frolic the streets freely.  My sack was so full it’s a miracle I still have a tooth.  Around here the doorbell rings for a couple hours irritating the dog each time and then there is silence.
My kids used to love carving pumpkins and putting on costumes.  Without fail, they were sick each and every Halloween, but they braved the elements and did their rounds.  When they got back to the house, they sat on the living room floor trading candy after their big night out.  Older now, they have lost the enthusiasm they once had. 
Must have been twenty years ago since I’ve been to a Halloween party.  I went as a dickhead.  My friend did too.  He wore a hard hat with various pictures of Richards.  Mine was made of a woman’s nylon filled with batting, sewn on one end just so with blue Sharpie veins and worn on my skull.  It was a good two feet tall and I had to duck through doorways.  Of course, I won best costume that year.
  The point is holidays are supposed to be fun.  We get all grown up and forget what it was like to be young.  Let’s allow the little ones to collect some magic memories.  Your dentist will scold you to your face and smile privately in the office counting your money.

7 comments:

  1. We don't have Halloween here. Some try to hold functions but there's no trick or treating. Its the wrong time of the year. It should be held in autumn and we have spring. Halloween is a Pagan tradition also called Samhain. Pagan traditions still pop up like the rabbit and egg thing at easter. They signify fertility. When christianity was invented they decided to hold all their special times on the already established Pagan sabbats. Like christmas at Yule etc. But I seem to be writing an essay here. I am really interested in the old ways before christianity when people lived by the seasons as part of the whole cycle of life and were in tune with nature and how they fitted in the whole scheme of things. Ok I will stop rambling now.

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  2. I miss the old days of Halloween,when we were kids and you ran from house to house, breath condensing under the plastic dime-store masks. Bags full, leaves swirling and the chill of the night air absolutely glorious.
    Now, I'm not even sure they have regular trick or treating. We have the usual holy-roller crank that writes in to the paper about it being demonic and it should all be canceled (hello...Halloween; shortened from All Hallow's Eve, before All Saints Day and All Souls day)
    and then the churches that throw the *harvest parties*--and I laugh because that is much closer to pagan than anything in the regular bacchanalia of candy and begging and ill fitting costumes.
    DH and I take the day to celebrate---movies, sometimes costumes, lights low and remember those magical days as a child......
    We lived in the real salad days of the celebration!
    Happy Halloween, and eat a few goodies for me!

    XXOO~~
    Anne

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  3. People sure do like to get all bent out of shape and take the fun out of things!! I have always loved Halloween---wind blowing, leaves flying, running around the neighborhood like maniacs while your bag gets heavier and heavier. I wish I had a reason to dress up---I feel like going "Goth"!!!

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  4. The holidays only lose their magic if you allow that to happen. I say dress up in your costume and go surprise some friends by trick or treating them! Begin changing your own holiday traditions to reflect what you think they ought to be. I know, sometimes easier said than done. I see by peoples blogs that there are a lot of folks who love Halloween and do a lot to celebrate it besides giving candy to children. You really hit a nerve here Glenn. You usually do with your astute observations.

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  5. Well said. I used to decorate for the holidays, carve pumpkins, and seems a couple years ago I stopped. Not sure why. And yep, people can be so silly trying to push their fears upon others.

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  6. all I know is I always feel better when I can dress up and pretend I'm something else and such great joy and fun happens...yes it takes a long time to be come young again for those that practice it every year...great for them...so what are you going as this year?

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  7. This year I will be the the doorman, greeter, candy hander outer. Wouldn't be any fun for the young ones if nobody answered the door!

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