Happy Halloween: Beggar’s Night

It’s almost here: Halloween.

No bait-and-switch angst today, just a fun idea. A throwback, if you like.

(“Can’t we have a little of the angst?” “No. Shh! I’ve been a stick in the mud in previous years; I’m done with all that.”)

We’re all-ages here at Cedarcrest, young and old, with many an All Hallow’s Eve tale to tell.

Once upon a time, some of you called it “Beggar’s Night.”

FromTheDeskOfJanissSignature For those celebrating, I’ve heard all kinds of stories about you little gremlins and your so-called harmless pranking. One of you titled yourselves “The Goblins of the Season.” Moving furniture off of porches, throwing rotten tomatoes or fruit, eggs and toilet paper. Little hellions all! Parents ignored this as long as it was kept to certain level; there were lines you knew not to cross.

The best part sounded like keeping your secrets each year, with each other or from each other.

Decorations were actual jack-o-lanterns, bales of hay, scarecrows, and candles in buckets…things you made. Those of you who were old enough to trick-or-treat made your own costumes. Old clothes, rags and scraps, painted faces. Nothing store-bought or commercialized. Characters from the Wizard of Oz? The Mummy? Cowboys and Indians? Dogs and cats, hobos, and lots of clowns. Devils, angels, and paper masks made to look like characters from animated Disney films.

Treats were apples and pears from fruit trees, popcorn balls and penny candy…homemade cookies in wax paper! If my mom had found anything that wasn’t factory-sealed in my loot bucket, into the trash it went. It sounds amazing, all that imagination with a generally good attitude.

Let’s do ALL of that this year. Who’s with me?