Happy Halloween! It’s also my father’s birthday; the ol’ ghoul would have been 103 today. I’m kind of like Arlo. Imagine that. I sometimes feel as if Halloween has been co-opted by adults and various agents of commercialism. I wouldn’t resent this so much, except I am all too aware that Halloween has always been the perfect kids’ holiday. It belonged to them. I guess I’ll have to concede that the days are past when parents would turn their children out into the night and hope they’d return, having inflicted no damages upon the neighbors that would rise to triple digits.
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16 responses to ““Good Lord, Deliver Us””
My wife’s birthday, also. The kids considered her a witch when they were growing up.
Thanks for restoring the link. I had to remember how to forage Comics.com.
Yes, I was very surprised when I found out maybe 30 years ago that adults were excited about Halloween! I had stopped “dressing up” for the holiday at about twelve, so to hear people double and triple that age talking about what they were “going to be” didn’t compute. Let the kids have the day to themselves… the time comes to let go and move on!
Here in Trinidad, Halloween takes place down on Main Street in the late afternoon. The kids go up and down the street and the merchants give them candy. All over by dark. Last year, we had our first snow fall that morning, and there’s lots of snow on the ground again this year. From what I gather, this is not normal. Must be Global Warming in action!
My first exposure to adults continuing the Halloween traditions came in the early 1980s. It didn’t seem too unusual since they were all in the university’s theater department; they constantly celebrated everything and threw parties for everyone’s birthdays.
My uncle tells a story about tipping over an outhouse on halloween. The outhouse owner had anticipated shenanigans and moved the structure a few feet off the hole. A couple would be pranksters fell into it on their approach in the dark. Swears it didnt happen to him, but “ a friend”.
Today is my sons 10th birthday. Yes gone are the days when you just let your kids go house to house.
Wet snow here in N. Illinois; maybe such will cut down on the usual 3-digits of kids trucked in from elsewhere. We hope that the departure of two near neighbors [who plastered both entire homes and yards with crappy black stuff] will cut down the number of sightseers, but, unless they know aforehand, the vehicles are likely to come anyway. It is not a pleasant day to be out and about.
Can you tell I’m not a fan of halloween? Perhaps that is connected to the fact that, as kids, my sister & I were forbidden to go begging.
It was more like extortion than begging.
Our downtown has a children’s Halloween party downtown. 800 children anticipated Merchants decorate, city and chamber does some with opposition of Baptists, Pentecostals, and other churches who sponsor Trunk or Treat events.
Ghost is downtown with $100 of wrapped candy. I am home with antibiotics. We had to persuade our window Decorator to dress mannequins in black. She is opposed and won’t hand out candy
Roberta, our sales associate, had a ball handing out the candy to a veritable sea of children. And I have to admit there were some adorable kids walking the sidewalks. My favorite: the boy dressed as a washing machine with a hamper of laundry on top with his head hidden among the clothes.
My grandson and mom/dad went all out with rolling scale Hogwart Express with headlights, smoke, Harry Potter theme music, a Sorting Hat that sorted. Harry roade on engine. His sas dressed as hairy giant and pulled wagon. They get photoed a lot. It is a total DIY project.
When I gave him that wagon as a baby I never dreamed he’d be pulled around in it at age seven!
Giant is Hagrid who is a main character in books and movie, a gentle giant. His dad made impressive Hagrid.
About TP event. Never got TP’d but took part in some. We wrapped a teacher’s car for which we were punished. Put a highway warning sign a top his car. Did not end well.
Living out in the country, I never went trick or treating as a kid. As a matter of fact I associated Halloween as more of an event for vandals, so I didn’t care for it. Since our kids lived in the suburbs, I discovered how really cool the community comes together. We actually started talking with our neighbors! Last night the first kid came to my door as one of those T-Rex costumes that you are seeing all the time. It was huge. I almost gave him all my candy as I knew no one was going to have a better costume.
As I was writing this, I realized that there was no mention of Devil’s Night (re-named Angel’s Night) in the Detroit area. Years ago there were fires set all over the place and residents rallied to keep watch. I am sure that there were neighborhood watches, but the media did not over-hype it like they have in years past.
Happy All Hallows/Saints Day!