All Souls Eve

For the last couple of Halloweens we’ve chosen to pass on participating, in particular the ‘trick-or-treat’ portion.  We didn’t decorate, and we left the porch light off and sat in the back of the house watching TV; it is, the accepted form of opting out.  The neighborhood has outgrown the need, all the kids have grown up, and moved out onto other parts of the country working in the fields they chose.

  For some inexplicable reason the other day my wife popped out with

“let’s decorate for Halloween this year.” 

I pointed out that doing so would advertise we’re part of the concept and that we’d be obligated to play our part of trick-or-treat.  She agreed that it was reasonable to assume that, so we went to the local Walmart and purchased bags of candy; I made it a point to only get candy I would not mind eating after the event.

  If my son were still here we’d have schemed up ways of shooting Nerf projectiles at the little ghost and goblins once they scored their booty; my boy is thirty years old but still possesses a huge quantity of mischief, so all I can say is that it’s best he’s in Boston~ or there could be arrest warrants sworn out on the both of us. 

   Now I, as a child, loved trick or treating.  That was back in the late 1950’s a time according to Wikipedia when the practice really grew into such a relished US custom; and who questions Wikipedia; on obscure topics such as Trick-or-treating anyway?  But something that was of interest were other tidbits such as the tradition of going from door to door receiving food already existed in Great Britain and Ireland in the form of ‘souling” back in the mid-1800’s. Where children and poor people would sing and say prayers for the dead in return for cakes.  Guising, as in children disguised in costumes going from door to door for food and coins- also predates our current trick or treat and was recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895.  Such fun as masquerading and disguising while carrying lantern’s were done by scooping out turnips, later in the US the rendition of Jack-O-lanterns made with pumpkins. 

  But the idea of trick or treat was recent. For those refused goodies for their efforts usually found mischief done to their yards, homes or barns.  It was referenced in print in 1927 ~ “Hallowe’en provided an opportunity for real strenuous fun.  No real damage was done except to the temper of some who had to hunt for wagon wheels, gates, wagons, barrels etc. much decorated the front street.  The youthful tormentors were at back door and front demanding edible plunder by the word ‘trick or treat’ to which the inmates gladly responded and sent the robbers away rejoicing.”  

Now the real TRICK to this holiday is on the consumer; just as the real TREAT is to the retailer. In 2011 almost 7 billion dollars was spent on Halloween, up from $5.8 billion the previous yea.  Most of that on costume rentals; from sexy pirates to cute little pet costumes (considered to rake in about $310 million, and smallest slice of holiday pie). 

 But the biggest surprise to me was not the two billion spent on candy; that should be a no brainer, but that 1.21 billion went into Adult Costumes, two hundred and ten million more than into children’s costumes. So whose holiday is this anyway?

  Decorations came in at 1.88 billion, as greeting cards brought in only $470 million (not including postage of course).  That means an average household will spend $73 this year on Halloween; a mere fraction of the $700 per person spend on Christmas of last year.  So tell me again…Where’s the recession?