HALLOWEEN

I'm sitting snuggly in our Maryland home, while the weekly "Northeaster" moans and groans outside, trying to blow us away. I've lived through several Massachusetts hurricanes. so Tropical Storm rain and wind don't upset me.

The big question: "Will the rainy and windy weather let up so that kids can "Trick or Treat?"

I've written about the "Trick or Treat" phenomenon in a much earlier blog entry, so I will probably repeat myself. 

Before 1944, Halloween night was the time for "Trick" only.  On that night, teen-agers enjoyed themselves by doing "tricks" such as:

Cutting clotheslines

Stealing garbage cans

Ringing doorbells and running away

Hanging toilet paper over everything

Removing fencing

Scaring little kids and animals.

Etc.

My Aunt Marjorie tried to calm things down each year by holding her famous "Halloween Parties." Neighbors and relatives attended in mandatory costumes.  I have a picture of the party attendees when I was eight years old (young).

Cousin Charlie Kraihanzel was a pirate.

Buddy Bob Case was Superman.

Cousin Tom Phillips and I were old ladies.

Cousin Wayne Phillips wore a mysterious costume.

Other cousins and neighbors wore all kinds of costumes, some of them receiving prizes for originality. 

See?  Gentle activity... no "tricks!"

Marjorie was a very inventive person, and besides the usual games like bobbing for apples, she developed the very scary "Ghost Walk."

Our house had a big dusty dark basement.  Marjorie, dressed as a Disney-style witch, placed lit candles and creepy pictures on the basement walls.

She then led all the kids to a spot where they could sit in a circle around her and watch her "show and tell" her "dead body collection."

She let the kids hold each item. Some of the very young children, like Cousin Wayne Phillips began to cry and had to be comforted.  

Marjorie's collection: (the light was dim)

Two large peeled grapes for eyes

Corn kernels for teeth.

A plum for a nose.

Lettuce for hair.

Boiled spaghetti for intestines.

Marjorie had a scary spiel for each item. 

We kids loved these parties that our beloved Aunt Marjorie prepared for us.

Last month, a dear friend of ours passed, Brenda Eaton. She and her husband, John, were neighbors in Randallstown, Maryland.  Brenda was very creative ... a lot like Aunt Marjorie. 

One Halloween, we sponsored a neighborhood party. Every one was to come in costume. Several couples said they might come late and after a while a costumed presence showed up.

Try as we might, no one could determine who this person was.  She was dressed as Bo Peep,

A half hour later a person dressed as a shepherd showed up.  Now we had two unknown costumed people to think about. We assumed they were a "couple" but which one of the six who hadn't appeared could it be?

When food was served, our mystery couple had to remove their makeup before they could eat, and so, they confessed. We then knew that this was John and Brenda Eaton.  

I've mentioned these two examples to show that one doesn't need "tricks" to have fun on Halloween.

In 1944 or earlier, someone thought up a way to eliminate those destructive Halloween "tricks." By appealing to kids' greed instincts.  If kids kept busy begging for candy, they would not have time to do bad things.  And ... it worked!

I show the year 1944, because that is when I found out about "Trick or Treat."  I was too shy to ask folks for candy, and I could no longer get kids to do "tricks" with me. But I did have fun celebrating Halloween in other (legal) ways.

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