Trick or Treat?

--Blogpost written by Bob

Walking on my knees with slippers fastened with duct tape, I appear like a
3-1/2-foot high demon at the front door of our house last year when
I greeted trick-or-treaters.  I think I scared them all away!

Halloween is a holiday I never had much time for in the past but now it is one of my favorite holidays.  It provides an excuse for some of my crazy behavior and, at the same time, hides my face from direct responsibility.

This is Mr. Pumpkin Head with his snorkel gear.  He looks similar to the snorkeler
on our July 26, 2015 blogpost about our new swim ladder.

According to the American Folklife Center, "Virtually all present Halloween traditions can be traced to the ancient Celtic day of the dead.  Halloween is a holiday of many mysterious customs, but each one has a history, or at least a story behind it.  The wearing of costumes, for instance, and roaming from door to door demanding treats can be traced to the Celtic period and the first few centuries of the Christian era, when it was thought that the souls of the dead were out and around, along with fairies, witches, and demons.  Offerings of food and drink were left out to placate them.  As the centuries wore on, people began  dressing like these dreadful creatures, performing antics in exchange for food and drink.  This practice is called mumming, from which the practice of trick-or-treating evolved.  To this day, witches, ghosts, and skeleton figures of the dead are among the favorite disguises.  Halloween also retains some features that harken back to the original harvest holiday Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween) such as the customs of bobbing for apples and carving vegetables, as well as the fruits, nuts, and spices associated with the day."

Happy Halloween!

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