So there’s Christmas Eve, and some people even say, Thanksgiving Eve. But today is All Hallow’s Eve and was transformed into Halloween. Basically, it was an Irish holiday that the Druids created or embarked upon to allow dead souls roam around with living bodies. People would place out food and treats to ward off the souls, or some would even carve into fall vegetation and place a light, in them as protection. The Roman Catholic Church wanted to take it over as a Christian holiday as the eve of November 1st – All Saints Day. That did not work, as shown by the little research I did and the popularity of the holiday as it stands today.
Personally, I can skip Halloween. I never celebrated it growing up. I was raised in a Christian home so until we moved to Birmingham, I recall ignoring the knocks of trick-or-treaters. My 1st Halloween was spent as Hallelujah night at the church my family joined. We dressed up as Bible characters. If you weren’t an angel, you wore sheets and towels and just chose a character. It was simple and fun. We had games and won candy. It has evolved into a community fall festival, but I no longer dress up as a Bible character.
But that was Halloween for me. When I became an adult, working with children, I still had no desire to dress up, and for some reason, I thought I would. My coworkers would make plans for their costumes and tried their best to get me to participate, but I saw no fun in it. I did enjoy seeing the babies and little children dress up as their favorite cartoon characters, superheroes, and princesses. I have been a teacher for about nine years now, and I am not sure if it is old age (I’m not even 40 yet!) or what but I still find no enjoyment. I think I like it less than I did. I was sick last year, so I was able to skip the holiday, and I conveniently had an appointment today, so I missed the costumes and parade fun again. Darn! But reading spooky stories and carving pumpkins or putting children in a sugar coma brings me no delight as a teacher.
Maybe it is because I don’t like being scared so scaring others is not an option. Or maybe I don’t like the hassle of a costume. Maybe I just don’t like Halloween. I don’t know. It is not a big deal. It will be interesting to see what I do next year, depending on where I work.
Tomorrow is November, and I love Thanksgiving!
Give Love. Get Love.
The Ready Writer 