Welcome To The November 2018 Issue Of Story Quilt!

 

Halloween

 

Today evening is Halloween night. We're almost ready with 200 pieces.

I grew up in rural Manitoba. My father was a new immigrant well-schooled to be a public school teacher. My first home was in the northern woods of Arborg. My mother used to say it was at the edge of civilization. Dad loved it. My mother not so much. Later we moved closer to Winnipeg for a school west of Gimli, an Icelandic community. Finally to Springstein, a Mennonite hamlet of farmers. In none of these places did we hear of Halloween trick or treating although Dad did enjoy devoting the appropriate Friday afternoon to decorating the classroom and allowing costumes to be worn.

Now we live in suburbia in Guelph, Ontario, a small town of about 150,000. Halloween evening is very popular here. It starts at sun-down when yard lights signal a welcome for kids to approach the door, ring the door-bell and shout: TRICK or TREAT. Susan all decked out in a large black witch's hat opens the door and hands each child a treat of a small sweet like a mini chocolate bar or a small bag of potatoes chips. The rule is all gifts must be wrapped. The kids come with big cloth bags and even small pillow cases prepared for a huge gift run after the night is over. Parents help if the child is very small and control the consumption of loot after they get home. The total amounts can be so huge that kids say they have lots left over from last year! Of course no small kid wants to miss this celebration of freedom to wear outrageous costumes and see yards all decked out in ghoulish paraphernalia. Our neighbour goes all out each year with mock tombstones marked “Pet Graveyard”and skeleton animals littering the lawn spot-lighted with flood-lights of different colours.

We consider ourselves lucky to live in freedom to do such outrageous things safely and with abandon once a year.

 

Ed Janzen