Trick or Treat

Tonight the children roam the neighborhood in search of candy, saying that famous line, "Trick or Treat.  Tonight is Halloween, apparently an old druid feast.

So when you were little going around for your bag of candy, what did you say?  The typical one is "Trick or Treat."  Less common is the one we used.  It was, "Please help the poor."  My mother insisted that we say that because Halloween is sometimes known as Beggars' Night.  I checked online and there were a number of people who said, "Please help the Goloshans."  Goloshan apparently was a Pagan deity, so perhaps Goloshans were his followers.  Hard to know.  These now grown-up people also had no idea why they said that either.

All of the folks who said, "Please help the poor," were from Detroit.  So how in the world we managed to get the tradition in Ohio is anyone's game.  We never had any relatives from Detroit.  And I don't know any other kids who said what we did.

When my brother and I had to say, "Please help the poor," it had an effect on me.  The words kind of sunk in and I got a little tiny taste of what it would be like to go to a stranger's door and beg for food.  And I didn't like it very much.  My mother didn't like, "Trick or Treat," because it was an implied threat -- if you don't give me candy, I'll do something bad.  And back in my younger days, soaped windows were not uncommon.  Apparently, getting soap off windows is a very laborious job.  So although she couldn't tell what we said for sure, we obeyed.

We get about three children at our door each year.  Probably the same ones.  No one wants to come down our driveway to get treats and the next door neighbor never gives out candy.  One year when it was beautiful and mild, I took a folding chair up to the top of the hill and gave out treats there.  Each year we have a little contest as to how many will come.  Everyone ventures a guess.  Elsewhere in the neighborhood, there is much more activity.

Coming home and looking at the wonderful treats was the best part.  We really did appreciate the candy, the pennies, the occasional popcorn ball, or whatever anyone gave us.  It was fun dressing up and being someone else or something else for the evening.  It was just as fun seeing what other kids chose to be for Halloween. 

Tonight is yet another Halloween night.  I'm going to guess five children will come to the house.  And whoever they are, they are going to get doubles and triples of everything!!

Stay safe.