Okay I know not everyone’s that happy about it, but love it or hate it Halloween is here again.
It’s funny growing up in the UK, Halloween was never really a thing, but every year for some reason I used to get dressed up.
None of the other kids in my street (or even my town) did this, so I just used to go round to the neighbours and spend the evening with them.
After Michael and I got married and bought our first home, that’s when we started to become more aware of its popularity in Australia.
We were living in a family friendly area, so groups of kids and parents would walk around trick or treating.
When we moved to the house we’re in now it was a similar thing, but now most of those kids have grown up so it’s pretty rare we get any visitors.
Plus anyone who’s seen our steep driveway would probably give us a swerve anyway!
But just in case, we always have a few lollies in a bowl and a few decorations around the house, including two Halloween Lego builds of course…
It just makes us smile.
Apparently Halloween has pagan roots and goes back to the Celtic Fire Festival of Samhain, which recognised the end of harvest and the start of their new year.
Over the years it got merged with Roman festivals and then Christian influences.
According to one site trick-or-treating is said to stem from the practice of ‘souling’.
A Medieval practice where churchgoers would go between different parishes and ask the rich for pastries which were known as soul cakes. In return, they would pray for the souls of them and their friends. While “souling”, people would carry with them lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips.
There seem to be a number of different versions of this, but you can certainly see similarities.
I think most of this is far from the minds of anyone trick or treating today, and I can’t help but wonder what those ancient Celts would think if they could see the festivities today.
Either way it’s become a day that divides people, and there’s enough division in the world right now.
So the best approach I think is to respect how people feel about it.
Be kind.
Be mindful.
If someone’s not interested, leave them alone, and for those who want to partake – let them enjoy it.
Ann 🙏