Do we really know why we celebrate Halloween? In America, I mean – we have no religious traditions connected to the last day in October, we aren’t celebrating some form of national pride, and most of us are so disconnected from any kind of “harvest” that it's hard to say we’re rejoicing a bountiful summer yield of corn or squash. Halloween is most likely a mix-match of all sorts of autumn celebrations from all over Europe, but for American youth it has boiled down to basically one thing - going door to door in a range of spooky or funny costumes demanding candy from neighbors you only see on this special day, once a year.
To preface, I’m speaking from a mostly suburban experience of Halloween (that’s all I know). Others may spend the night of October 31 differently, but for me that was it: a night of exploring the neighborhood as Superman or a vampire and collecting over-sugared snacks. And another caveat: I can’t eat a lot of the good Halloween candy (damn milk and nut allergies). But I really don’t think that took anything away from the experience.
I’ve talked some already about how I think walks are a practice in finding and telling good stories. Well, trick-or-treating as a kid is pretty much the best a walk can get. You explore a place you are already somewhat familiar with, though the promise of evermore candy is a motivating factor to go down a few new streets or even cross into that foreign neighborhood across a main road. You have permission to walk up to everyone’s door, to stand on their porch for a few moments, to get a quick glimpse inside their house before the candy is dished out and your parents make sure you issue the necessary ‘thank-you.’ You meet other kids in wild outfits – recognizable characters from movies or TV, pop culture references, and some truly gruesome slasher movie villains complete with fake blood and plastic knives. Even that feeling of true adventure that comes from being out in the world after the sun goes down doesn’t seem to go away until you’re 13 or 14, when you realize that it’s pretty much the same world as during the day (only dark). But when you’re a kid, all those crazy things about Halloween mash together to make for a night that always seems to be memorable.
Trick-or-treating on Halloween is the first time as a kid that you get to explore the real world. Not a backyard or a playground, but real streets where cars drive and real houses where people live. It's probably how you first learn the layout of your neighborhood. I can still tell you which houses gave out the best candy, the one house that always had whole cans of soda, and the one dentist that inevitably gave you a toothbrush. I used those houses as landmarks when I started riding my bike around on my own, and still think of some of those houses in that way now.
I don’t have a great story from every Memorial Day or Easter, but I think I have at least one worthwhile tale from every Halloween I can remember. There were the two separate emergency room visits – the year I had an asthma attack as Elmo and the one that I ate half a Hershey’s bar as a Ninja Turtle (I think Donatello). There was the year when a friend and I wore his dad’s old spandex jazz-gig outfits from the ‘80s. The one I picked was electric green with a hot pink lightning bolt sewn across the chest, and I wore a Howard Stern wig that year, too. There was the year, maybe the last time I really went trick-or-treating, that a big group of friends all descended on one neighborhood, ten or twelve of us in half-assed costumes joking and laughing down the street, well past the hour when most kids had gone home. And then there was the year a little later that three of us hid in the bushes in front of my house, waiting hours into the night to scare anyone that tried to TP the yard. No one actually attempted any vandalism, but I remember the night nonetheless.
I don’t think I’m arguing that Halloween is better than any other holiday, or saying that Halloween is under-appreciated. But I think it's important to acknowledge what really makes Halloween (or any holiday) worthwhile – a day set aside to create and remember stories around family and friends. And Halloween stands out because it is one of the few holidays where strangers make their way into these stories, whether it's other kids you meet in the neighborhood, or the old couple that hands out full-size Hershey’s bars, or the costumed guests you meet at a party. Halloween night, at its best, is about the thrill of making new stories with new people, and sharing those stories years down the road. Those stories can be scary (especially thinking about what pictures might exist of past costumes) but most are filled with joy and adventure, and are what make Halloween the spooky holiday that it is.
Links to Things I’ve Enjoyed Recently:
The Wikipedia page on Halloween is actually fascinating and part of the inspiration for this week’s newsletter. It has more reference links than the page for the State of New Jersey.
This New York Times story on the bizarre and dramatic history of sushi in America is awesome. It is a beautiful pairing of image and text, but not overblown or hard to navigate. Not exactly hard-hitting journalism, but a step in the right direction for making “news” engaging and entertaining without watering it down or exaggerating the events.