Celebrating Halloween
Why are fewer children participating in Halloween? It seems now that Oct. 31 is more about the adults than it is about kids. The origins of Halloween date back to pagans from northern Europe. Although very little of the festival’s origins have been properly documented, there is some evidence to suggest the church was also involved.
Some parents don’t allow their children to participate in the ritual of trick-or-treating because of safety or religious reasons. That’s a shame because they’re denying their own kids the chance to be a kid. We also shouldn’t be discouraging teenagers from going door-to-door.
Halloween was a wonderful time for many of us. We would tromp around our neighbourhood, collecting treats, while dressed in a costume that our parents helped create.
Halloween forces children to be creative, to come up with a costume idea and put all the pieces together. (This year’s favourites: Spiderman, pirates and characters from “Black Panther.” Big Bird is oh, so, 2012.) Carving a jack-o-lantern is also an artistic experience.
Trick-or-treating allows children to explore their neighbourhood and have a sense of community.
Ironically, as fewer kids go trick-or-treating, more adults are making it a bar night. (It’s too bad Oct. 31 fell on a Wednesday this year.)
For children of all ages, Halloween is fun. The Simpsons’ “Treehouse of Horrors,” bobbing for apples, scary movies (“The Shining” followed by “Psycho”), carmel apples, roasted pumpkin seeds and radio stations adding “The Monster Mash” and “Thriller” to their playlists for the day ... what’s there not to like?
Relax parents. If you follow all of the safety suggestions that are available online, your children are going to be fine. Just accompany them on the walk and check their bag of treats once they get home — and no stealing their mini-Oh Henry! bars.
As a tactful reminder, no pranks or vandalism please. Drive carefully or, better yet, stay home until the kids are off the streets. Halloween should be a celebration. And, as a final footnote, please don’t show discrimination to black cats. Black cats bringing bad luck is a myth, like everything else Halloween. —James Miller
Valley Editor
Let kids enjoy trickor-treating tradition