I've never really been a big fan of Halloween. Of course when I was a child, I loved the candy, but dressing up wasn't one of my priorities. You just had to do that for the candy.
One year, my mom dressed me as a cat. Uh, well, it was her idea of a cat anyway. With little money, we had to improvise as best we could. Mom had permed my hair to a frizzy wave and it tended to fluff out from my head (not in a good way), so she just put two "pony-tails" on the top of my head where cat ears would stick up. She used makeup to paint a black cat nose and whiskers, dressed me in a black turtleneck and stretchy pants, and pinned some kind of tail she made, from who knows what, on my behind.
The main thing I remember about that particular Trick or Treat trek, was being made fun of. I even remember one older kid asking me if I was SUPPOSED to be a cat. As a child I was rather shy, so I just nodded my head and tried to disappear. I can't remember how my brother was dressed, but I know it was another simple idea from the mind of my mother. He was having the time of his life, because nothing bothered him and his main objective was candy. Period.
That isn't the reason I don't care for Halloween. I wasn't scarred forever or anything. I guess it's fine if you like dressing up and eating free candy. But I have never really gotten comfortable with celebrating ghouls and goblins, devils and ax murderers. I even stopped taking my children to the school Halloween Carnival at one point. I've since mellowed a bit about that. Mostly I think it's harmless unless you really get into the horror and evil of it. I wish we didn't have to go through all the candy, making sure some nut case didn't put a razor or drugs in something.
Wikipedia says Halloween has its roots in the Celtic Festival of Samhain and the Christian holiday of All Saint's Day. It is largely a secular celebration but some Christians and pagans have expressed strong feelings about its religious overtones. I've been preached to about it from former pastors, with their viewpoint being that its origins are pretty sadistic. I don't know, but I imagine if my grandchildren care about it, I will be more of a participant. My children didn't get to trick or treat much, because we lived out in the country, but I did carry them into town once or twice to experience it. It was just easier to buy them a big bag of candy and call it a day. If that scarred you LeLe, please forgive me.
My brother was born on Halloween. We could always tell....... *wink*
1 comment:
I never really got into halloween either. My kids always went but we never really got into the big high dollar costume thing. We would go to the halloween carnivals at their school before it shut down and Nikki even won the costume contset one year. It was a small school...we did her up as a witch. I'm wih ya on the grandkid thing...maybe I'll get one someday.
Post a Comment