Think ghosts, goblins, princesses, and knights in shining armor...everywhere, a sea of them. Leaves rustling. A chill in the air. The smell of chilli, fire pits, and hot apple cider. Hundreds of happy kids moving up and down the street. It was the Halloween that I had always heard of or had seen in movies as a kid. A Northeast style Halloween made sense to me; it fit. It's practically the birthplace of trick-or-treating, right? Well, no actually the first tric-or-treat in the US took place in Minnesota (who knew, right!)...but the Northeast gets all the credit, probably due to the Salem Witch Trials.
Anyhow, the first Halloween that my daughter actually went trick-or-treating was in Kansas. I'm not sure where the tradition came from but instead of going door-to-door in our neighborhood, everyone gathered at the mall and instead went store-to-store. It was probably some conspiracy created out of the city's need to increase local sales tax..."if they come, they will buy!" Or some type of scheme like that. I disliked that very much. It was one more way of over-commercializing yet another holiday. One more way for me to remain isolated from the people living right next door, granted sometimes that's not so bad.
Once upon a time, everyone knew their neighbors, usually on a first name basis, unless they were your elders and then you kept it formal and respectful. We weren't afraid of the candy, that it would be "poisoned" by some deranged person with a child's axe to grind. We didn't pile up in the backs of trucks and go neighborhood hopping, unless you lived out in the sticks and then you really had no choice.
We moved to West Point, a military installation, where the street you lived on had 50+ kids all within the same age range. (When you have 25 Majors all living side-by-side, what do you expect?). The kids would get together weeks before and start discussing their costume ideas. Rarely did you see the same exact costume...well, I take that back. Princesses ruled on our street...so to avoid that repetitiveness, you had to get creative and think outside the "Disney Box." (Of which sprung Katie Beth's perfect rendition of Princess Buttercup!). It was a community event, but the tradition of Halloween remained largely unchanged. The parents actively participated but also stepped back and allowed the kids to enjoy their holiday.
Fast forward to our new neighborhood. We no longer live on post. We live among "the civilians." One fourth of the residents cart their kids off to some carnival or organized event outside of the neighborhood and half the homes turn off their porch light and don't even bother. It leaves the neighborhood dark and weirdly silent. The kids that do come by our house would hardly even be considered "in costume." (I turned a few away for coming by in regular clothes and a pillowcase...if you don't care enough to dress up, I don't care to give you my candy!). There are the occasional ones that revel in the tradition and just enjoy Halloween, but they are few and far between. Most of the kids could care less and only want you to fill up their bag as quickly as possible. The parents that do participate with their children do so begrudgingly, as if their are a million other places they'd rather be.
I always considered Halloween one of those occasions that afforded me the opportunity to shed my introversion, to a degree, and see and talk with all those that live on my street or in my neighborhood. That's certainly the way it was at West Point, it's certainly not the way it is here...or hardly anywhere else I've seen. It's sad that these few types of occasions we have to get to know our community are the occasions that people are running away from it. Abandoning it for some other "community."
These are the days of organized events, skepticism, and darkened porches rather than community gatherings and celebrating a fun, harmless tradition our parents started 60 years ago.
I miss the good, old school Halloween. I miss our West Point Halloween where everyone enjoyed a fun night with their kids and their neighbors. All in great costumes, fun yard decorations, food, candy, and great people!
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