Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween Past



Everything changes and evolves.  Halloween not-with-standing.  It has grown into a huge industry in The United States.  There are entire holiday stores that are devoted to costumes and decorations.  People put up orange and black lights outside on the same trees that will sport Christmas colors in a few weeks.  You can find an outfit and makeup that will transform you into most anything at all with little effort.  Some things are constant, of course.  Many kids still go from door to door collecting candy and other goodies.  Mostly minature candy bars nowadays.  Streets fill up with ghosts and monsters.  There are still tricks that are played.  Everyone but old grouches and those who are offended by some religious perspective or supposed evil seem to have a great time.  Halloween is still fun.  Different but plenty of fun.

I grew up in a different age.  There was little commercial value in Halloween except for an increase in candy sales I'm sure.  Masks were available at some places along with a few costumes.  None of them were very elaborate.  Most of us had mothers or grandmothers who made our outfits for Trick or Treating.  We had to decide well in advance what we were going to be and wear on Halloween.  Othewise it just turned out to be a white sheet with holes cut out for eyes, nose and mouth.  There were never any bags or carriers for the collection of goodies.  Most of us had grocery bags that we decorated at school or at home.  They had cut out handles or ones that had been pasted on the top for easy carrying.  My wife reminded me that rainy days resulted in busted bags with spoiled candy.  Sometimes we would make extra trips home to deposit our loot so that it wouldn't break the bags.  There was always some mean adult who would drop a big apple in the sack and split it open.  Great party ideas included bobbing for apples in a tub of water.

Anyone who did not have treats or who made the mistake of not being at home on Halloween was subject to Tricks.  Lots of these would result in juvenile probation and in today's world despite the fact that they were pretty much harmless.  We soaped windows, flung toilet paper in the trees and every now and then set a bag of poop on fire at someone's doorstep.  Schools were always a target.  Egging was reserved for another level of trickster.  We were told that raw eggs destroyed the paint on cars and that only hoodlums did such things.  For some reason that stopped me.  Not sure why.  Tricking was great entertainment and geneally accepted by the community at large.

All-in-all the results of Halloween were the same in the 1950's and 60's as they are now.  Sugar highs turn into headaches and stomach aches.  Parents end up taking much of the candy into their possession to stop future gorging and overdose.  All of the costumes and stuff get stored away.  Messes get cleaned up.  It is a terrific holiday.  Happy Halloween!