Monday, October 30, 2023

CHILDHOOD HALLOWEEN

      Origins  of Halloween are interesting. But I'm going to bore you with my childhood Halloween experience.

       For the most part there was nothing.

       My childhood was in the 40's and 50's. We lived in a rural area where everything was limited. Halloween treats were just not heard of. Even in the village kids did not go from house to house for treats. Most people didn't have the spare cash to buy candy. Going house to house for treats was not heard of. Farms were too far apart to go from house to house and transportation was limited. 

      In school we had a Halloween party in the afternoon. Some kids had costumes. The teacher used it for an art class. We bobbed for apples. That was it. 

     The main idea at that time was tricks and some of the tricks were not funny and damage was done. The idea was to scare people so various mysterious noises were made. The first kids who came to our house sneaked on to the yard. They had a small home made device that made a loud noise on the window. We were alarmed as we didn't expect anything. 

     In the village a common trick was to tip over the out houses and move things around from place to place. Since cars were not locked they were easily pushed from place to place. Someone could find their car at somebody else's house. In my first year of high school the police man came and got the boys to go around and tip  the outhouses back up. I was a little upset as I hadn't been with the gang to upset out houses. 

    So Halloween when I was a kid was much different than it is today. My first trick or treating was when I took my own kids out trick or treating. I remember one night that  was bitterly cold. They were young enough that I had to go with them. I was cold and wanted to go home. Not my two little pumpkins. They wanted to keep going and they did.

    Much has changed about Halloween in my life time.

43 comments:

  1. What a cute story! Love that about tipping outhouses and moving cars. I'm sure it wasn't cute then, but I wish that's all kids did these days. I was at some party with the apple bobbing adventure. Seemed like a way to drown. Linda in Kansas

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    1. Apple bobbing was a lot of fun watching the other guy chase the apple.

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  2. Your childhood Halloween sounds a bit fun and brutal.
    Ours was in the city trick of treating. Always with a parent. Kids alone in groups that were older, were in danger of having their candy stolen by even older kids. Eggs and toilet paper were the tricks around town back in the 1950s.
    Today, the Trunk or Treat style Halloween are the safest.

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    1. Here, the malls put on a great show and businesses give out candy.

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  3. It has become a much bigger event, particularly the displays. Some like it more than Christmas, but I am not among them.

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    1. Halloween is heavily marketed now with truck loads of candy and costumes.

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  4. Fun Halloween Memories. Take care, have a great day!

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  5. I remember trick or treating growing up in a town which was a suburb of St. John’s, Newfoundland. What you describe sounds like rural PEI, in farm country. Hallowe’en is a fun day for kids these days. Thankfully the days of the outhouse are long gone.

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    1. Yes, tricks are probably very rare . we don't see anything around here.

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  6. I remember going from door to door as a kid and getting lots of candy for my bag, which was just an old garbage bag, as I remember. I do remember dressing up and how much I enjoyed that! :-)

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    1. You were in a heavily populated area with all the forces people. You didn't have to go very far.

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  7. We always have trick or treated from house to house and I still have some kids come round for treats. It will depend on the weather as we may have a bit of snow today! I'm ready with my bowl of candy, tho...

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    1. Interesting that you have a long history of getting candy.

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  8. Funny how holiday traditions evolve, even though we try to keep things as we remember with out fondest memories!

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    1. Life goes on and changes. Being in my 80's I have experienced major changes.

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  9. I have to re-enter my website to comment it seems! Oh well, I do think holidays change dramatically with each generation.

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    1. You're right. Traditions change faster than we think.

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  10. The best trick was not tipping the outhouse but
    moving it very discretiy a few yard back from were it was naturely placed. [So I am told }

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  11. My childhood was also rural and limited, but the tipping outhouses belonged to my father's era and his stories. We did have some fairly near neighbors and a few kids in our neighborhood, so Dad drove us around and we went to houses where the porch light was on and treats were ready for us. Our costume was usually just a mask. I remember my rubber Tinker Bell mask.

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    1. Interesting how various areas across the country had their own ways to celebrate.

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  12. It's so very different these days.

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    1. It was different in various areas and countries.

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  13. I remember Halloween as a time to get candy from our neighbors. Then as I got older (teenage) it became a nastier time when evil tricks were played. I'm not sure the Statute of Limitations has passed so I'll say no more.

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    1. Thank God for the good old Statute of Limitations.

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  14. Good memories Red! We have had a total of 6 little girls here tonight, one little girl was dressed as Harry Potter and the rest were princesses.

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    1. That's the same number of kids we had. We used to get about 50 kids.

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  15. It would have not been nice for somebody sitting inside one of the outhouses back in Esk when a gang of kids turned it over!

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    1. Well, there are stories about that event but I think they are only yarns.

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  16. When I was very young, in the forties, Halloween was celebrated at school by parading around the school block in our costumes. Going house to house for candy didn't happen until much later. Trouble making was common. My husband's and my car was soaped in the sixties.

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    1. Your right . some kids wore costumes to the school.

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  17. Not having kids, Halloween has passed out of my experience.

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  18. I can see how trick-or-treating would be difficult in a rural or farming area. Funny that your desire to be included in the outhouse-tipping trumped any relief you might have felt at not having to pick them up again!

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    1. The villages were also very dimly lit so the ruffians were not easily seen.

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  19. We had home made treats...apples and popcorn balls and cookies. At the local grocery store we got a full size candy bar!

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    1. I'll have to remember to go to your place because you are giving away some good stuff.

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  20. Thanks, Red, for the look back on Halloween. As for myself, I don’t get excited about it at all, but I sure see a lot of folks spending a lot of money on decorations and so forth.

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    1. It's called marketing. I'm amazed that they load the stores up with Halloween material.

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  21. It's never fun to be punished for something you didn't do! (Being made to put the outhouses back) I have good memories of dressing up for Halloween. One of our local teachers told us she had a surprise for us so we were raring to get to her house. She gave out ice cream bars so we had to unmask to eat them before they melted. That was her way of finding out who we were :)

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    1. Those darn teachers. They always had a gimmick.

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  22. Tipping outhouses? Sheesh! Moving cars around is aggravating too. I would think people would anticipate this and lock their cars.

    Halloween was different when we were young too. My brother and I went trick or treating very far in our sugar plantation camp and our parents were never worried. Parents didn't worry as much back then. It was an innocent time.

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