Halloween is such an interesting holiday/celebration, or whatever one wants to call it. I enjoy it immensely, most of the time. That’s because I’m a sucker for treats, especially dark chocolate ones, and I’m not opposed to a few tricks now and then.
I do get a bit annoyed when the trick-or-treaters insist on continuing to ring the doorbell when the decorations and other lights have been turned off. I mean! How rude can you be?
We never did anything like that when I was a kid. We always honored the sign next to the candy dish saying, “Please Take Just One,” and we never laid into the doorbell hoping someone would answer and refill the bowl.
Okay! There was one time in this ritzy neighborhood where all the kids from the other side of the tracks, me included, loved to go. They had the best treats and great decorations. One time, some old curmudgeon put out one small bowl full of goodies and a sign saying, “Please Take Just One.”
The treats were gone by the time we walked all the way up from our part of the town. So, someone decided to ring the doorbell and see if the guy might have a few more to hand out. Instead, a voice came over the speaker by the door, saying if there was nothing in the pumpkin, go away.
So, we did go away after ringing the bell incessantly until he screamed at us from the other side of the door and threatened to call the police.
Halloween today is no longer a pagan experience designed to ward off evil spirits or call them to you in some cases. For the most part, it is a time to put on silly costumes, throw parties, go trick-or-treating, and eat way too much candy. That does not mean people here and worldwide have given up their beliefs concerning evil spirits, ghosts, and other critters that may or may not exist.
Here’s a link to a piece I wrote earlier this year as part of a blogging challenge that discusses my encounter as a pre-teen with something that may or may not have been a ghost or spirit.
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