Halloween colors are fine, but what about the candy?

From Oct. 29, 2002:

Do you have your Halloween costume ready? I hope so, because it’s getting late to put together something really elaborate, and just a sheet with eye holes cut out is going to look sort of lame.

I’m going as a hobo, but then that’s the same costume I use every year. It’s easy because all it requires is a stick with a bundle tied on the end and the same clothes I’d be wearing anyway.

Let me know if you are giving popcorn balls or little boxes of raisins to trick-or-treaters. That way I’ll know to avoid your place.

I like Halloween a lot, mostly because one of my smart and good-looking daughters was born on Halloween but also because people really get into it and sit around and think up questions such as this:

My co-workers and I are wondering why black and orange are the traditional colors of Halloween?

Orange is easy. Duh. Orange is an autumn kind of color. Harvest moons, pumpkins, fall leaves, fading embers, bad dye jobs and so on.

Black is a little more complicated. Obviously, Halloween is associated with the night, but there is more to it than that, depending on how silly you want to get about it.

Most people agree that Halloween goes back to the ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain, which was the beginning of winter and, in a nutshell, an important religious holiday that had a lot to do with the spirit world.

To the ancient Celtics, black was the presence of all light and therefore sacred and readily associated with a major date like Samhain. To the Christians, who turned Samhain into the Eve of All Saints, or All Hallows Day, black is associated with death and spirits and evil and so on.

So make whatever you want out of black as a Halloween color. I wouldn’t get too worked up about it if I were you. Have fun and hope your kids get a lot of the little Snickers or Milky Ways that you can snag when they’re not looking.

They can eat the popcorn balls.