However, I started to think about Halloween. I went to Wikapedia and found more than I ever wanted to know. I was aware that Halloween was the celebration on the evening before All Saint's day. It is thought that it originated in Celtic times. The changes in Halloween over time are interesting. They go into great detail about various religions and people. Each group had their own way of celebrating.
What I as really thinking about was how Halloween has changed over my life time.
On the farm we didn't do Halloween at all. In school we did something which I don't remember. It was probably to color a witch or pumpkin.
During the 60's in the Arctic we didn't observe the evening.
When I came to Red Deer in 1969, I moved to a fairly new area of town. Most residents were young and had kids so there were many kids around. You had over 100 kids visit your house. There was also some damage done. Some things were turned over. A few eggs were thrown. Gradually the evening became only the receiving of treats. Now malls have events for kids so fewer kids than ever tour the neighborhood.
When my kids were little in the early 70's we took them out "door knocking" They were crazy about this. I remember taking them one cold and windy night. I wanted to go home but they wanted to keep going. One of them was still a preschooler.
The sad little boy won best costume at the school dance with this costume.
A very large scary ghost.
Somebody who wanted to collect for UNICEF one year.
When my son was about 14 one Halloween he wanted to go to his friends place about 8 Halloween evening. They were just going to fool around in the house? But he asked me if he could take my bike. He came back in about an hour. The next spring when I got my bike out it was covered with egg. He and his friends had been out riding bike and throwing eggs at each other and I only found out about it in the spring.
So Halloween used to be a bit of a wild affair in the early 70's but has become a very tame affair.
That's a big change for 50 years.
