Reclaiming Halloween

 

Well, the above is a picture of my crew at work and me. A great crew it is - one of the best it has been my pleasure to lead. We accomplish much as a team and accomplish it with panache. We had fun today on our job in celebration of Halloween. Left to right there are Devin, Josh, Kathy, the old "Ref" yours truly, Lori, Kristi, and Brandon. Some of the other workers kidded me that, with my team, I should wear that outfit everyday!

 

I go to bed very early because I arise so early, so it will be impossible for to partake of more Halloween festivities. Maybe next year when it falls on Friday again I can take in a party of go trick-or-treating.

 

Did I ever tell you that I was twelve years old before I went trick or treating for the first time? Among members of the Church of God that thing was generally frowned upon (at least back when I was a child; I really can't say how they view the matter now).

 

My parents weren't so nutty, religiously speaking, that they thought it was such a big deal. But when you are members of a certain community, you tend to follow along and not make waves. Yes, we believed in a literal devil and had an interesting demonology as part of our overall theology. But we were separated from "the world" and just didn't partake of such "questionable" amusements, especially if they had bad connotations. (Although all of my family loved horror movies from way back.)

 

However, after my parents split up and the church excommunicated them because of it, things were different. My mom bought costumes for me and my little brother for the first time and we were allowed to go out trick-or-treating with our friends.

 

I was a skeleton that first time. Scary! And back then we always waited until dark before we went out. Those were simpler times, and safer, too, overall, I believe. We stayed in our own neighborhood and knew most of the folks we visited. 

 

But when I think back, we were allowed to watch all the Halloween specials on television. And when our school put on Halloween plays or had Halloween-themed activities, my parents had no objection whatsoever to our participating. I even recall Mom always making sure she had candy on hand for the neighborhood kids - which I was allowed to pass out even when I didn't "officially" participate. 

 

Now that I'm older I enjoy the folklore and pagan history of the holiday. Paganism has a certain earthy appeal to me. Just wait until next year!