Halloween was unknown

to me as a kitten. We never "celebrated" it.  There were no masks or costumes or ghosts or cotton wool "fog" or cardboard cut outs of devils in front gardens. Children did not go "trick and treating".  

If anyone had done any of the "Halloween things" we would just have been confused.  We most certainly would not have been allowed to knock on doors demanding chocolate or Halloween related sweets.

I came out of knitting group at the library yesterday to find that the area outside had a scatter of Halloween related lollies on the ground. D..., the person with me, and I both wondered what the parents had been doing to allow the child(ren) to leave such a sticky mess there. It looked horrible, smelt horrible and was potentially a danger. We cleared it up as best we could and put the mess into the bin in the park. I wondered if the same imps were going to go "trick and treating".

"The problem is that their friends now do it and they want to," one of the mothers in the street told me as we discussed the problem later. She doesn't mind her children having chocolate occasionally but the whole Halloween thing is something she could do without. We both know that it is simply a commercial enterprise here. There is no "tradition". It has been imported from elsewhere. 

There is a sort of unspoken rule here that unless you are "invited" by means of decorations or a sign you do not knock on a door. Not too many people offer that invitation. It does not solve the problem altogether. Older children, especially those who are in their early teens can cause strife for those they think might be likely victims.

I try to accommodate without an invitation by putting a small bowl of chocolate "frogs" at the front door with a sign. It will say something like "the witch is working on another chocolate spell - help yourselves".  A few frogs will disappear. I have never had someone take all of them and I have never had any trouble. The remainder go to the library for the students doing last minute exam revision.  (The library also provides tea/coffee/cold water...and the occasional listening ear.) 

But the whole Halloween thing is something I find I don't like. I know it is supposed to be a bit of fun but it is really a "celebration" of evil. It isn't about "All Saints" or "All Hallows" or honouring the dead. It seems to be nothing more than a commercial enterprise designed to get people to spend money - and children to eat too much chocolate. 

 "Am I allowed to put frogs in their summer activity packs?" I asked the mother to whom I had been talking.

"Oh, yes as long as they are only the chocolate sort," she said. We smiled at each other. 

I must start work on activity pack spells.