Happy Halloween for Cairns community

Tonight is an opportunity to connect with your neighbours and local community as groups of youngsters dressed as witches, zombies and scary monsters take to the streets to “trick or treat”. Halloween is often incorrectly dismissed as a US creation and although Americans embraced and made it popular, it originated more than 1400 years ago as part of the pagan Celtic festival of Samhain.

In those days the souls of the dead were thought to return home, so people would wear costumes and a light bonfires to ward off these ghostly visitors.

Now Halloween offers us a chance to connect with neighbours, to get youngsters (and their parents) away from their screens, engage in some harmless fun, don a crazy costume and eat a few lollies along the way.

Which is something we all need to do. It’s been a tough two-and-a-half years since the pandemic thundered across our world and stopped our tourism industry in its tracks. And while visitors are rolling back in by air, car and cruise ship, for many of us, times are still stressful.

With the rising cost of living, rocketing fuel and energy prices and difficulty in getting health care appointments when needed, there’s absolutely no doubt we could all use a bit more fun in our lives.

So when you see some kids dressed up with most of their parents’ supply of tomato sauce smeared across a first aid kit worth of bandages, carrying a pumpkin lolly bag or with a Harry Potter lightning bolt on their forehead, give them a smile.

You don’t need to go all out with a singing skeleton or a spooky lightshow, but a “happy Halloween” and a couple of lollies in their bag will brighten everyone’s night, including yours. Alison Paterson, Reporter