I am astonished at the growth of halloween in the last 20 years. It is now, economically and in terms of how much notice people take of it, bigger than Easter.
I am not a great fan of the festival personally. I know that makes me seem like an old grump, but my concern is really borne out of how it sits with modern life.
Going back a few hundred years, when high days and holidays were few and far between, such festivals were latched onto by the community as a means of letting off steam and coming together for shared food and fun.
Times have moved on and people live more isolated lives. Elderly people are scared when someone knocks on their door at night because they don't know who is there and what their intentions are. Halloween has been used by a monority as an excuse to extract funds from unwilling givers and to taunt and intimidate vulnerable people. Little children dressing up collecting chocolate treats from neighbours is one thing. However, teams of deamnding teenagers (and older) inflicting nasty 'tricks' on people who don't pay up - or even on people who don't fit their idea of 'coolness' is quite another thing entirely.
I stopped giving treats to halloween door-knockers when they turned their noses up at sweet treats and make remarks my meaness as they walked down the path towards equally rude and ignorant parents who were obviously expecting me to subsidise their children's pocket money.
However, if you are celebrating tonight, or if your kiddies are happy with sweet treats and graciously receive them, have a great evening and don't mind the old grump sitting with the lights off and the blinds closed!!
