Halloween Memories

Todays post is dedicated to the wonderful people visiting from Mrs. B’s Haunted Blog Tour.With preparations for tonights events and tomorrows events I havent been able to participate much with her 31 Days of Halloween lately. But when she asked me to fill in for someone on the Haunted Blog Tour I could not refuse! It’s both a pleasure and an honor.

I thought I would discuss Halloween memories. For many of us Halloween has had a special place in our hearts since we were children. As a child, I identified myself as an agnostic long before I knew what that meant. I was raised by an atheist father and a Baptist mother. I was free to explore religion on my own and as a child I had a beleif in the divine but didn’t know how to describe it. Halloween was always what I looked forward to the most. More than my birthday or Christmas. I always felt alive at this time of year. Many people assumed it was about the free candy but the reality is, it was so much more than that. I could feel the electricity that Autumn brought. Long before understanding the elements I can remember standing outside with my arms spread out, head held back, and just feel the cool light wind breeze right through me. I longed to stand beneath the Moon and just stare at Her beauty. Before understanding the veil thinning, I could feel energy circling around me. It was always something that brought me a sense of peace. At the same time I knew that change was coming. I was never one who got excited about New Year’s Eve on Dec 31st. I never felt that sense of change and a New Year coming on that day. It was on Halloween that I could feel it.

Of course I didn’t ignore the excitement of costumes, decorations, and trick or treating. In my neighborhood it was rare to see a house not partaking. We never decorated our home to any great extent, we had our pumpkin of course. Some houses were like ours, but they did participate in handing out candy. The idea of going to a church for a Fall Festival or to the mall to trick or treat was almost sacrilege in those days. And while I don’t really knock churches for having Fall Festivals or Trunk Or Treating…..I abhor mall trick or treating (and yes, I did once take my children to the mall because around here not alot of homes partake in the holiday). In August I would start dreaming up my costume. I don’t remember buying costumes much in those days. It was mostly buying makeup and then making something up with what we had. I remember distinctly one year wearing black, white, and red makeup and my own clothes and dubbing myself as Jeffrey Dahmer’s girlfriend. The red of course was blood dribbling down my face after a “meal”. Oh the irony of that costume, LOL! Back then I opted for scary costumes. Once in a great while I did something cutesy, but it was usually something scary. In September I would sit down and draw a crude map of our neighborhood and a nearby neighborhood. I would do this so that I could optimize the best route so I wouldn’t miss a single home but the last home I visited would be a next door neighbor. It was a very serious business! At school we had costume contests. Teachers, librarians, and principals would dress up. Not one child was ever offended. The funniest costume was when our lunch lady wore a trashbag with a lunch tray, milk carton, and sporks glued to it. Once I got home it was all about eating as quickly as possible so that we could start as early as possible. In those days you didn’t start until dusk. When I would step outside with my sister and mom, you would see hundreds of mini ghouls and goblins running from house to house. Squeals of delight and friendly hellos from the parents could be heard. It was a happy time. We would spend hours walking from house to house. Getting scared by homes set back in the woods, daring one another to go first. People rigged up their yards so things popped out at you and made you scream. People hid in bushes with fake machetes to rush out at the older children. You knew you were going to be scared and you loved every minute of it. We would ramble home around 10pm. Tired. Makeup smudged, bags full. Mom & Dad would sit and examine all the candy for safety. My dad would proclaim all Crunch bars as unsafe and eat them when he thought you weren’t looking. And if you called him on it, eat one in front of you. We would go to bed in post holiday bliss. Exhausted but smiling. Dreaming of the next year and what you would wear.

Times have changed of course. And with it I have had to make changes. I want my children to experience Halloween the way I did. We decorate our home and our yard. We plan out costumes. The kids make maps of the neighborhood. We have an annual Halloween party so they can wear their costume more than once. I try to make it a month long celebration instead of just one day. And if they so desire, they come to a Samhain ritual with me. So they can spread out their arms and feel the wind. So they can stare at the Moon and feel Her staring back. So they can feel the change that is coming.