Halloween has a long tradition

Connie Cousins

When I was a child, I remember having lengthy discussions with my friends about our planned Halloween costumes during our hourlong school bus ride.

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These outfits usually were rigged-up creations from old clothes, with pillows for stuffing — or straw the year I was a scarecrow — and, of course, sheets for “ghosting.”

Starting out after dinner in the dark chill of the autumn, I still remember the crunching of leaves as we walked along the road by the light of one flashlight. Usually an older sibling or parent accompanied us.

One very special memory I have was the year my mother joined us. Usually a quiet and shy woman, she appeared in costume, masked, padded and ready. I was astounded and so were our neighbors.

It was the custom then to invite trick-or-treaters inside the houses to show off costumes and to guess their identities.

Of course, with the distance between houses in the country, it would take most of the evening to visit five or six homes.

Even when I got older and went into town with a friend on Halloween, we still only visited the homes of people known to my friends’ parents.

After some mean individuals put razor blades and other harmful items among the candy in the 1980s, Halloween became a scary time for more than being out in the dark at night and ghost stories.

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced sah-win),a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. The Gaels would take stock of supplies and prepare for winter. The ancients believed that on Oct. 31, the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased could wreak havoc, such as sickness or damaged crops. Masks and costumes were worn to mimic or appease evil spirits.

The practice of begging door to door for treats on holidays goes back to the Middle Ages when the poor folk would go begging on Hallowmas (Nov. 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (Nov. 2).

Ruth Edna Kelly, in her 1919 history “The Book of Halloween,” makes no mention of trick-or-treating in the chapter on “Hallowe’en in America.” The practice spread in the 1930s and by 1947-48, Jack and Jill and Children’s Activities magazines and the popular radio shows of Jack Benny and Ozzie and Harriet included stories about Halloween trick-or-treat.

Although many areas have gone to daylight hours for trick-or-treat or have provided parties for kids instead of sending them out to knock on doors, Halloween is still regarded by many as a fun time.

Bellefonte is decorated and ready for Halloween, with some streets expected to see as many as 300 children on a quest for their traditional treats.

Connie Cousins writes the weekly On Centre column on Bellefonte. She can be reached at connie.cousins@yahoo.com.