Britannica
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.
When I was a child – back in 1492 or so – things were much simpler. My brother and I scrounged around, looking for a way to ‘dress up’ for Halloween, creating costumes. We didn’t buy any costumes. Sometimes we bought masks, but they were generic type masks, not a particular character. My parents would get set up to hand out candy. My brother would head out the door to find his friends, disappearing until the time my parents said for us to be home. I went out to find MY friends and we headed for the neighborhood next to ours, where the houses were nice and close together and LOTS of porch lights were on, welcoming all comers.
We walked and walked, happily filling up our Halloween bags and eating at the same time, having the time of our lives. The only parents we saw on the streets had super young children who were obviously out for their FIRST Halloween. Very few cars. Kids of all ages everywhere. When our bags were full, or we were too tired to go any farther, we would finally head home.
My brother and I each took our Halloween bags to our rooms, to be hidden until we had each eaten all we wanted over the next days. Stomach aches were a part of it. Only a HINT of warnings that maybe we should look at what we got carefully before throwing whatever it was into our mouths. The only one I remember was the possibility of razor blades in apples. As I said, life was simpler then. And GLORIOUS.
The world has changed, and the holiday and celebrations have been forced to change with it. Now there are subsidized Haunted Houses and group parties. Kids are still going Trick-or-Treating, but mommies accompany them, or follow in cars. Only occasionally will you see a costume a child has created. Most of them are purchased. No one stays out late. Everyone checks every piece of candy to be as sure as possible that all is okay. The kids don’t know any differently, but it makes me a bit sad. Things will really be different this year, with the pandemic. I hope they still look forward to the celebration and eat too much candy!
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