Halloween Wishes
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.
The holiday’s origin is in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1. It marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, which was often associated with death. So on the night of October 31, the worlds of the living and dead become blurred…and the dead would come back to earth. Early ceremonies were bonfires, where people wore costumes and offered sweets in the hopes that the spirits would not damage their crops.
Fast forward to modern times and this offering of sweets became trick-or-treating. As a kid, I would put together some sort of costume and visit the neighborhood houses. Of course, that was back in the days when you didn’t have to take your candy to the emergency room to be X-ray’d before you could eat it.
When I was first married, we looked forward to Halloween. And, we were an in-demand location. We gave out full-size candy bars. Yep, that’s right…full-size candy bars. Imagine how big a little kid’s eyes would get when they picked out a candy bar that was bigger than they were. It was priceless.
Unfortunately, Halloween has gone commercial in response to the weirdness and wildness of society. Theme parks take care of our haunted houses. Shopping malls hand out candy. And, we can get our hot apple cider at Starbucks.
So while I don’t have trick-or-treaters anymore…I have kept one Halloween tradition. Watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show and eating Spooky Joes. Sounds hokey I know…but it’s my way of keeping the tradition and I’m sticking to it.
Happy Halloween everyone. Now let’s do the Time Warp again . . .
