Trick or Treat

"The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays goes back to the Middle Ages. There is little primary documentation of 'masking' or 'costuming' on Halloween in America before 1900. But the custom had become firmly established in popular culture by 1952."

Well I don't know how it is in other areas of the country...but Halloween has gotten to be a BIG event down here in Florida. Of course Universal Studios puts on the "Halloween Horror Nights" and Disney throws the "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party" which probably helps to conjure up the enthusiasm. But even in our neighborhood, Halloween is alive and well and almost as popular as Christmas when it comes to decorating. "Yard Haunts" are popular here and lit Jack O'Lanterns grin from every doorstep. I understand that decorating the outside of the house and yard for Halloween is a somewhat newer custom in the US....yet it's always been a tradition where I've lived. Admittedly, parts of our neighborhood are far more festive than others...but in my section...the neighbors go all out!

I always wax nostalgically about it because it really is as close as it gets to vintage Americana. All the houses decorate to the hilt outside, and most of the folks passing out candy are in costumes as well. There is one house on the next street over that does a big Haunted House every year complete with major special effects. We believe they are affiliated with Universal Studios in some way because you can't get those kind of props at Michaels. But it's really fab, and you can hear the spooky music drifting along the night wind all the way over to our house. All the families get together and walk around, while the kids trick or treat. The quiet streets are just brimming and bustling with people. Some of the men pull wagons with beer or small kegs in them...ha ha! Everyone dresses up including the adults. I always have my Mom come to pass out candy at our house so that we can walk around with the kids. In fact, our little part of the neighborhood has gotten so 'famous' for the Halloween celebration, that people have started coming from other places just to Trick or Treat here and experience the revelry of it all. Some people ride around on golf carts passing out candy and we even have some hayrides that will come through...ha! And we are NOT in the country. We live in a golf course community. But for some reason Halloween is simply magical here, and I always try to soak it all in while I'm enjoying the festivities because it's as close as it's gonna get to the Hallowe'en's of Old. It's a holiday that has no stress and expectations...it's just about friends and family and a bit of fantasy! FYI...the photo below is a family snapshot from the 60's and that's my brother in the Casper costume. I wasn't born yet...but I was there in spirit...muwahahaha!