Halloween

Now the second largest commercial holiday in the U.S., Americans spent over $6 Billion last year on Halloween.

This is a holiday that started with the Celtics, continued on through Popes and country's, each bringing different superstitions, beliefs and celebrations.  I highly recommend that you go on line and check out Halloween History if this interests you.  I think it is fascinating.  It explains why masks, costumes, bobbing for apples etc.

In my Halloween history I think the first time I went trick or treating was in 1936 and it was quite different than it is today.  If we wore a costume, our mother made it.  Our masks were made out of some kind of heavy material that was probably starched onto a form.(If anyone knows what they were made of I would like to know.) 

Trick or treat had two meanings in those days.  When someone came to our door, Mama, with her darling homemade cupcakes decorated to the hilt, would say "We need a trick before you get a treat."  The child would then sing a song, say a poem or do something ion order to get a treat.  It also hand another connotation.  Tricks in those days meant soaping windows.  Everyone in our neighborhood had the cleanest windows in town the next day all  we had to was all the soap off our windows.  Even though we had given treats, the kids would wait until the lights went out and then go soap the window.  Our country kids tipped over outhouses,.Whew.........what a stinky job.

Parents didn't go with us.....it was safe to go out alone.  Today, parents stand out on the sidewalk or street and watch their kids the whole time.  Also, today really young kids , who look adorable, and older kids knock on doors.  In my childhood, older kids wouldn't dream of trick or treating, it was only a little kids thing.

I can't believe I am telling this, but the Halloween I will remember the rest of my life is when my son was seven years old.  My husband was in the Navy and we lived in a Quonset hut.  There were rows and rows of huts with their corrugated metal roofs.  My friend Ursie and I sent my 7 year old out with her 4 year old daughter with their little masks and paper bags.  In just a short time, both kids came home crying.  A man had come to his door and was very rude and told them to get out and he scared them to death.  Here is where the story gets...........you decide what.

Ursie and I were furious that an adult would be so mean to two darling little kids.  Ursie and I were both short and she was skinny as any twelve year old kid.  We decided we would go trick or treating for them and if any one was rude to us we would throw a rock or two up on their corrugated roof.  We would show them.  Ursie  only had to put on a mask and she looked like a kid.  I was a little more mature so I cut holes in a sheet and covered my whole body.  We had a blast.  We sang and we tap danced and really had fun and were collecting a lot of great candy.  But then...................................

About 4 blocks from home we knocked on a door and a man came out, cursed at us and told us to get out and not come back.  Well......after he was back in his house we threw a rock or two on his roof,.  What we didn't expect was that he came running out of his house and started chasing us.  Usrsie was smart enough to dart off into the dark.  Did I?  Oh no, I ran right down the row of bright lights and all of a sudden I felt a big hand grab my shoulder and say, "OK Sonny, take me home to your dad."  In a wee voice I said I didn't know where my house was.  He said," fine, we will keep walking until you find it."  He was hurting my shoulder and I was scared to death.  If I had been a child I don't know what it would do to me.(of course, kids know better than to throw rocks on peoples roofs.)

Because he wouldn't let go of me I finally went home, opened the door and looked at my husband.  "Daddy, a man wants to see you." He could tell I really meant it and so he went outside.  The guy said your kid threw rocks on my roof and my baby was asleep."  My husband asked him if he told the kids that,. "No," he said, but they still shouldn't have done it.  My husband said, "Weren't you ever a kid?  You know they were just playing around.  I don't know what else he said, but the big bully left.

I didn't dare tell him I was an adult as I figured as grumpy as he was he just might call the police and I would get in trouble. 

There, I have confessed my greatest sin......glad it ended well, but I will never forget it, or never forget what a great husband I had.

Until next time,
Be kind to one another