The History Of All Hallows Eve

Many people consider Halloween a secular holiday -- either glorifying gore or gluttony. But its roots lie deep in two specific spiritual traditions -- the changing of the seasons, and a religious obligation to honor the dead. The Celtic festival of Samhain was a celebration of the final harvest and the official start of the "dark season" of fall and winter. As you'll find with many cultures around the world, October/November has historically been seen as a natural time of year to focus on the end of life -- with the freezing over of pretty much every plant, the slaughtering of livestock to provide meat throughout the winter, and in ceremonies remembering dead ancestors (telling tales of those long gone is the genesis of the scary ghost story). It might sound a little morbid, devoting so much effort to corpses -- but back in the day, death wasn't so scary, it was a regular part of people's lives. Now we fight it with every technological tool available to us, pretending that we are invincible -- and shuffling off this mortal coil seems a more ominous proposition. It's no wonder that Halloween is represented either by superhuman serial killers or campy shtick in modern times.
(photo by Ramona Creel -- click to buy)

Even once the Christians took over, the holiday became "All Hallows Eve" -- a time in which to honor those who had died. Catholics throughout the world decorate graves with flowers and candles. In Latin cultures, Dia De Los Muertos is not a grim or solemn occasion -- but is celebrated in a humorous fashion, with goofy-looking skeletons, gifts of sugared skulls, and the telling of funny anecdotes about the dearly departed. The northern Europeans set a place for the dead during their fall feasts. And trick-or-treating comes from the tradition of "souling" -- children and the poor would go door-to-door singing songs or saying prayers for the dead (often dressed as ghouls and spirits), and were rewarded with cakes and other foodstuffs. So you see, every bit of the Halloween festivities hails back to a religious ceremony of sorts. Christ, trick-or-treating is practically a sacrament! (Is that blasphemy?)

Right-Wing Nuts Ruining The Fun

When I was in college, my sister told me that her church was sponsoring a "religious walk-through" instead of a haunted house that Halloween -- where kids would be taught a lesson about heaven and hell through a series of dioramas. In this story, four children playing in the street were hit by a car (so the first lesson is "don't play in the street!") The good little girl who had been saved, died and went to heaven. The bad little boy who hadn't been saved, died and went to hell. The good little girl who hadn't been saved also died and went to hell. And the bad little boy who lived long enough to be saved at the last minute just before he died, went to heaven.

What the freak kind of a lesson is that to teach children?? That you can be a little shit your whole life, but accepting Christ at the last minute will save your soul from hellfire and damnation? And that being a good person doesn't carry any weight with the powers of good and evil, if you aren't a Christian? That's actually the OPPOSITE of what I believe -- no way would I ever let a child of mine participate in such a misguided venture!

But it gets even worse. Jerry Fallwell started another fabulously reactionary tradition called the "Hell House" to compete with secular haunted houses (marketing themselves as conventional Halloween "attractions," without telling patrons that they are walking into an Evangelical booby trap!) Places like Scaremare offers a guided tour through a series of exhibits depicting sin and its consequences. Funny how they seem to focus exclusively on sins like abortion, suicide, the use of alcohol, adultery, pre-marital sex, occultism, and homosexuality -- rather than the sins of false piety, hypocrisy, judging thy neighbor, and abusing one's power within the church...  And, of course, the message is that if you don't accept Christ as your personal savior, you will be damned. Perhaps I'm a bit naive, but I see this as far more damaging to kids than a little "boo" from a ghost. I guess it's only acceptable to give children nightmares if doing so will somehow brainwash them into believing your religious views. Policing morality by scaring the hell out of your kids with visions of eternal torture -- sounds a bit like mental abuse to me. Nice way to celebrate a holiday!

Razor Blades In Apples

Throughout the years, there have always been rumors of children receiving treats with a trick in them -- razor blades, needles, poison, you name it. The idea that accepting food from strangers is inherently dangerous has become so commonly-accepted that most local hospitals will x-ray your candy for free on Halloween night. However, the truth is that (apart from a single act of premeditated murder by a trick-or-treater's father) there have been no recorded incidents of candy being deliberately tampered with. There have also been exactly zero instances of children getting injured or sick from their loot (beyond a tummy ache from eating too much) during Halloween. So if this is the reason you're keeping your kids from knocking on doors, the trick's on you!

The scare came from a couple of cases that caught the media's attention, but were erroneously reported to the masses. In 1964, a cranky housewife in New York started giving out packages of inedible objects to kids she thought were just too damned old to be trick-or-treating -- things like steel wool and dog biscuits. They were clearly labeled, and no one was stupid enough to try and eat them -- but she still plead guilty to child endangerment.  In 1970, 5-year-old Kevin Tosten from Detroit died after eating his uncle's hidden heroin stash, and the family tried to protect the uncle by creating a story about drugs being found in the child's Halloween candy. Not true. Then in 1974, an 8-year-old boy from Texas died after eating a cyanide-laced package of Pixy Stix. Police discovered that the candy had been planted in his trick-or-treat pile by the boy's father, who had taken out a life insurance policy on his son (fortunately, the bastard never saw a penny of that money and was executed in 1984). And several batches of candy have been found with metal shavings or prescription medications mixed in, but they were found to have arrived defective from the manufacturer -- but nothing tampered with on the consumer end.

Common Sense And Safety

I also hear a lot of parents talking about how it just isn't safe letting their kids out at night by themselves on Halloween. Of course, most of these people trick-or-treated themselves as children, and their only unpleasant experience was running out of room in their candy bag before the night was through! But things are "different" now -- the world is a scarier and more threatening place. In this fear-based society, we have convinced ourselves that every stranger is a kidnapper and murderer and rapist, that our lives are threatened whenever we set foot outside of our homes, and that our children are targets wherever they go. But it simply isn't true.

The statistics show that kids are no more likely to become the victims of violent crime or sexual assault on Halloween than any other day of the year. And in many states, registered sex offenders are prohibited from handing out candy,  putting up decorations, answering the door, dressing in costume, attending parties where children will be present -- or in some cases, even turning on the porch light, leaving the blinds open, or going outside on Halloween. It might actually be a safer night for your kids to wander the streets than any other! According to the National Child Safety Foundation, the number one risk for children while out trick-or-treating is a potential pedestrian vs. auto accident (not molesters) -- and these are mostly caused by kids who run around in the middle of the road, wearing dark costumes that drivers can't see. You could just give the child a glow stick and a lecture about road safety -- but parents prefer to worry about a non-existent kidnapper, instead.

The bigger issue is that people just don't take time to know their neighbors anymore, and so it's easier to be scared of them. When I was a child, I trick-or-treated in a neighborhood where every one of the adults who gave me candy knew my name and where I lived. We never viewed any of them as a threat, because their kids went to my school or they bought Girl Scout cookies from me or they chatted with my mom while she was gardening. And my mother taught me a bit about "stranger danger" before sending me out -- I always went with a group, I knew not to enter people's houses, and I was smart enough to recognize weird behavior. Are our kids so ill-prepared for the world these days that this is more than they can handle? Sad! And if you are that untrusting of the world, why not go with your kids and supervise them? Say "hi" to folks, get to know the neighbors as you prowl the streets? Maybe that's just too much effort...

However, I was encouraged last year when we spent Halloween in San Francisco. Matt and I wandered around the Castro and Mission Districts in costume, and were pleasantly surprised to see all the little trick-or-treaters out and about. You wouldn't think this area would be conducive to Halloween activities, since most people live in apartments. It's also a part of town that would give the gated-community crowd a heart attack -- 25% barrio, 25% gay, 25% homeless, 25% yuppies, and 100% urban in character. But folks set up lawn chairs on the sidewalk and handed out candy from bowls, the local shops (and bars and restaurants and clubs) all gave out treats, and I saw more kids out enjoying the evening with their parents than I had in "safe" suburban Atlanta neighborhoods. No one got shot or mugged or kidnapped. In fact, the atmosphere was wonderfully festive, like a 16-block long street party. It just goes to show that worry is a relative concept -- it all depends on your expectations and frame of reference.

Ramona Lays Down The Law

In my fascist state, Halloween trick-or-treating will be mandatory for everyone, and even adults are invited to join in -- no age limits!

A Blessing From Father George

"May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house."