Halloween traditions have changed over the years

Homemade cookies, fresh fruit, toffee apples used to be regular treats

Fall arrived with its splendid colours and flavours. Listening to the radio, “it’s pumpkin spice latte time.”

I just drove into town or rather Sydney (my friends make fun of me when I say town because to them that means downtown Glace Bay) and what a magnificent fall day. Yes, the Cabot Trail is beautiful but I enjoy the Sydney-Glace Bay Highway daily.

God’s canvas constantly changes, I can’t even count how many colours — green, yellow, orange, red, purple, brown, crimson and pink. (Well, maybe the latter is because being retired, I have the time to look at the world through rose-coloured glasses.)

Autumn keeps us on our toes too. The sunlight even changes the colour of the trees, luckily, no white yet. But the sparkle has changed to a dullish brown so we know, as hardy Cape Bretoners, that we are in for it soon.

Oct. 31 was just a few days ago. I’ve been exploring memories of Halloweens past.

Mom, who is 82 years old, remembers there being so many more people out and about, little kids right up to adults. They would just dress up in old clothes and go collect their candy. Her biggest and scariest memory was the firecrackers. They came in strings of 20 or 30 and blasted consecutively. No fireworks like today. She even mentioned it’s impossible to buy fireworks in P.E.I. today unless it’s a government-approved event.

Fifty or 60 years ago, trick-ortreating was much safer. Safety rules on one of the two local television channels weren’t necessary. We’d start at dark with a pillowcase, stopping only long enough to trade it in for an empty sack. We’d usually stop about 10 p.m. We’d receive homemade cookies, fresh fruit and candied toffee apples. Mom just explained that the apples came from my grandmother’s “little old lady” neighbour, who made them special, just for us.

We had no reservations at all about eating treats as we walked. People invited us into their homes to admire our costumes, trying to guess who we were. I was recognized one time because my hands were just like my father’s. Parents didn’t need to inspect treats for pins or razor blades.

Thirty-five or 40 years ago, in Winnipeg, my children got dressed up in their snowsuits, with their costumes over top. One woman remembers doing the same thing here in Cape Breton, at least once. Seldom did Halloween not mean snow on the ground and usually lots of it. No decorating outside, just usually a jack-o’-lantern. I’m not old enough to remember when turnips used to be carved out. Safety concerns arose. Parents escorted their children, especially in the bigger cities, reporting anything suspicious.

Nowadays, trick-or-treating has designated hours. I’m not sure if there is an upper age limit, but it’s frowned upon to have older teens trick-or-treating.

In my company house in Glace Bay, it’s very interesting that my neighbour has about 300 visitors, while I have less than 30. We’re in the same house, it all depends on where the main door is located. Costumes are so much more elaborate and expensive. Outdoor decorating is also a big deal these days, often up for the whole month of October and some even with multimedia and 10 feet high blow-up decorations. And of course, commercially, the stores are all decked out in orange and black as well.

I recently heard someone mention they lived down a long driveway and would pack their treats into their truck, driving down to the road for a “tailgate-type” party.

Many organizations are doing supervised parties rather than trick-or-treating. There are horror shows and movies — the gorier the better. I read a new Halloween movie grossed $77.5 million. I remember séances and ghost stories. Something simple like a riddle about: “What did the boy ghost say to the girl ghost? You’re boo-tiful!”

Who remembers back in 1998 when Bill Jessome hosted four-minute TV episodes called “Maritime Mysteries,” showcasing the unexplained and the supernatural. My husband recently dipped into his tape collection finding episodes we’d taped on the VCR. With today’s technology, commercialization and sensationalization, we had to laugh at what was considered “spine-tingling” back then. How things have changed. Google says trick-or-treating didn’t start until the 1920s or 1930s in North America. Originally Halloween was called All Souls (or Saints) Day. Going back to the Middle Ages, the poor might beg door-to-door for food in exchange for a song or prayer. Some churches today still continue a tradition of lighting candles for the departed on this day. Historically it was an old Celtic festival, Samhain, when barriers between ours and the ghosts/ spirits world thinned out at years end and people dressed up (disguised) to scare these spirits away.

Maybe things weren’t as simple and innocent as I thought. I talked about the treats but not the tricks (we won’t mention, eggs, soap, toilet paper or blown-up outhouses). But I do think, gone are the days of bobbing for apples, homemade costumes and Unicef collection boxes for much more detailed, expensive theatrics.

Hope everyone had enough Halloween kisses.

Lila Carson is a former elementary teacher who returned to Cape Breton. A course on the history of Cape Breton piqued her interest in learning about where she lived and sharing this knowledge with others. Comments or ideas for future columns can be emailed to lilacarson@hotmail.com.