(Image of my niece, Madelyn. Altered by my daughter, Tori)
It is All Hallows Eve Eve! One more night until ghosts and goblins and things that go bump in the night have their day! I still get so very excited about the holiday even though my days of trick-or-treating are a long way behind me.
We got into a conversation about the holiday last night at the comic shop. Jeff and Cameron and I are all around the same age and we were comparing the differences between the treats of today and in our day.
Does anyone recall getting home-made popcorn balls when you trick-or-treated? Carmel apples? I cannot imagine folks doing that today unless they were relatives or people you knew very, very well.
We all were of the opinion that candy today is much more cool than when we were kids. You rarely see the kind of candy on Halloween-stocked shelves that would make children turn up their noses.
I recall the thrill of coming home after the big night and dumping all the candy out on the floor to sort through, separating them into piles of favorites and things we didn’t want. While the parents hovered over us, declaring that it was to make sure everything we got was safe to keep, what they were really doing was surreptitiously spying out what they would sneak out of our candy bags later on that night when we were nestled, all snug in our beds! Sneaky adults!
As we enter into this long, dark night of celebration, what are your favorite Halloween memories?
I leave you with a poem by George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824). I believe it may have been Nymeth who posted it awhile back. It certainly impressed me. In reading it I felt the kinship to Lovecraft’s work. Enjoy, and feel free to share your thoughts on and memories of Halloween in the comments.
Darkness
I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chill’d into a selfish prayer for light:
And they did live by watchfires—and the thrones,
The palaces of crowned kings—the huts,
The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consum’d,
And men were gather’d round their blazing homes
To look once more into each other’s face;
Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:
A fearful hope was all the world contain’d;
Forests were set on fire—but hour by hour
They fell and faded—and the crackling trunks
Extinguish’d with a crash—and all was black.
The brows of men by the despairing light
Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits
The flashes fell upon them; some lay down
And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest
Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smil’d;
And others hurried to and fro, and fed
Their funeral piles with fuel, and look’d up
With mad disquietude on the dull sky,
The pall of a past world; and then again
With curses cast them down upon the dust,
And gnash’d their teeth and howl’d: the wild birds shriek’d
And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl’d
And twin’d themselves among the multitude,
Hissing, but stingless—they were slain for food.
And War, which for a moment was no more,
Did glut himself again: a meal was bought
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart
Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;
All earth was but one thought—and that was death
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails—men
Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;
The meagre by the meagre were devour’d,
Even dogs assail’d their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famish’d men at bay,
Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead
Lur’d their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,
But with a piteous and perpetual moan,
And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
Which answer’d not with a caress—he died.
The crowd was famish’d by degrees; but two
Of an enormous city did survive,
And they were enemies: they met beside
The dying embers of an altar-place
Where had been heap’d a mass of holy things
For an unholy usage; they rak’d up,
And shivering scrap’d with their cold skeleton hands
The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath
Blew for a little life, and made a flame
Which was a mockery; then they lifted up
Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld
Each other’s aspects—saw, and shriek’d, and died—
Even of their mutual hideousness they died,
Unknowing who he was upon whose brow
Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,
The populous and the powerful was a lump,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless—
A lump of death—a chaos of hard clay.
The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still,
And nothing stirr’d within their silent depths;
Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp’d
They slept on the abyss without a surge—
The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The moon, their mistress, had expir’d before;
The winds were wither’d in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perish’d; Darkness had no need
Of aid from them—She was the Universe.
“…what they were really doing was surreptitiously spying out what they would sneak out of our candy bags later on that night when we were nestled, all snug in our beds! Sneaky adults!”…I believe you just gave yourself away!
That picture is absolutely priceless!
I remember one year helping the 80 something year old neighbor of my grandma, make and handout candy apples & popcorn balls to children. She lived alone and didn’t have money to buy “store bought” candy but had an apple tree and wanted to give the kiddies something. (and it was amazing how many of the little snots said “ewwwhh, where’s the GOOD stuff,” not knowing or caring the lengths this old lady had gone to to try to make the night special.
Being an aged thirteen years i was “too old” for trick or treating, but i did try to knock some sense into some kids heads. She was sooo happy that night, i had roped my best friend into helping out when she came by trick or treating, so she had company, and kids didn’t roll her house, (it was in front of the junior high school). She died the next year, i was always happy that i spent that Halloween evening with her, sticky fingers and all, and i don’t even LIKE candy apples.
you are right about the candied apples and home baked treats.. but they all ended around my area by the time I had my kids in the late 60’s.
Another thing I remember is that we always just went thru one set of apartments.. go down one side and up the other (we’d wind up with about 3 grocery bags full of candy!) When we’d near the end of the apartments many people had run out of candy.. they would then hand out pennies and nickles! (today of course they’d probably get a weird look that it wasn’t dollar bills!) We’d most likely wind up with 3 or 4 dollars worth of change in the mix.
I think my favorite memory was of going to Salem, MA…it’s just so wild there on Halloween!
Watch out now, take care
Beware of greedy leaders
They take you where you should not go
While weeping atlas cedars
They just want to grow, grow and grow
Beware of darkness (beware of darkness)
Janet: I can certainly imagine that it is pretty wild there on Halloween night!!!
Deslily: How cool to be able to stay in one area and still get a big haul of candy! We lived out in the country so trick-or-treating was always an exercise in being driven around to various places.
SG Taylor: What a fantastic memory. Thank you so much for sharing it. Kids can indeed be greedy little snots when it comes to one kind of treat over another. I for one miss the popcorn balls. I loved those things. It is great that you got to create such a happy time for her on her last Halloween and created such a rich lifelong memory for yourself.
Debi: Actually I was outing my parents who admitted to such behavior. We were always lucky because Tori was more of a bag of chips kid than a candy kid so her Halloween candy always sat around forever, so if we wanted something we would just eat it because otherwise it would end up in the trash later on.
That is a fantastic memory from SG Taylor.
I remember home made trick or treats! And normal sized candy. I miss the popcorn balls the most.
I love that poem, Carl!
That’s my favourite Byron poem – I included it in my post on The Road because so much of the novel’s imagery reminded me of it.
I hope you have a great Halloween, Carl! I don’t really have any Halloween memories because it’s not celebrated here, but I love the idea of it, and I love immersing myself in creepy reads and scary movies around this time.
I confess to being a surreptitious spier on my son’s treats…and he hasn’t quite forgotten it either!
I remember the plastic orange pumpkin that we used for years and years to go trick or treating around the block, stored in the attic after Halloween was over. I remember being Little Bo Peep and making my brother be my sheep. I remember my feet hurting me so much in 7th grade that I let my friend finish trick or treating while I stayed at her home and watched The Graduate on television with her mother. I remember kids trick or treating with pillow cases, out ’til wee hours of the morning. Now, there’s a 7:00 p.m. curfew, and no teens allowed, in our town.
Something that irks me is how seasonal candy used to be just for the season: candy corn was CORN for HALLOWEEN, not in pastel colors for Easter like we also see now. I don’t think treats should be generalized to all holidays even though I can’t think of more examples right at the moment.
I must say as a teacher, that I get more joy from the kids in my classroom than I ever had as a kid myself. They are just beside themselves with joy. Tomorrow they’ll bring their costumes in paper bags, and change in the bathroom after lunch. There will be a parade around the school, and a craft to decorate your own pumpkin. There will be chocolate pudding cups with Oreo dirt and crushed candy bones on top. There will be Halloween Bingo with candy corn as markers. Life is especially good when you’re eight.
May the Great Pumpkin visit you, Carl, and leave you lots of treats and surprises tomorrow night.
p.s. One year I held up a fun size bar of candy and asked, in the teacher’s lounge, “What’s so fun about three inches?”
(Somebody taped four of those bars together for me and put it in my mailbox.)
Bellezza: That is hysterical! Gotta love people with a sense of humor. Great other stories as well. I can certainly understand the joy in seeing Halloween through your school children’s eyes. It is fun to watch kids get excited and to remember that feeling…that moment of connection is just fantastic. I hope you all have a magical day at school tomorrow.
Nymeth: Now that is a real shame. I think you need to start the tradition! I’m glad my memory is still holding up, I knew it was you who posted that. Thanks again for doing so. I remember reading it and thinking that I just *had* to use it this Halloween.
Carrie K: Me too!
Your niece is so cute! She must be about my daughter’s age, right – ten/eleven months? Although I don’t think she would wear a cute Halloween mask without trying to eat it. Great photo.
Ella: Yes, she is 11 months. And she wouldn’t wear a mask like this either, my daughter used a paint program to alter this photo for the season.
I remember taking you and Robert around in the wagon-you were only one and couldn’t eat most candies-however Mary Jane and I feasted on the candy for a few weeks. To top it off ,it was freezing out. I still feel guilty for sacrificing you little ones for our greedy pleasure.
Cute picture of Madelyn!
I miss when my stepson was younger and trick-or-treating. (He is 16 now.) One year, he wore a fabulous dragon costume hand-sewn by his Mom. I put on my Elizabethan-style velvet dress (to be a princess), my husband threw together a knight’s costume, and we all went dressed up to the local outlet mall for trick-or-treating. So many adults thought it was cool that we all wore costumes. My stepson spent a lot of time as the dragon chasing the princess, with my husband in hot pursuit.
I can remember popcorn balls and homemade treats when my brothers and I went out back in the 80s. We would make one round in our own neighborhood and then it was off to my grandparents’ house and their neighborhood. We would also go to these Halloween parties that the church would have at the old schoolhouse and some of the adults (my grandpa being one of them) liked to put on masks and peer through the windows to scare everyone.
Right now the weather is cold and windy, perfect for Halloween. I will be staying in the house, eating popcorn balls and candy while reading Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber for the R.I.P. Challenge. Thank you for reviewing this book. Now I owe you one for telling me about Neil Gaiman and Angela Carter.
Oh….Halloween. I can remember actually getting full-sized candy bars for trick-or-treating! And popcorn balls…and homemade stuff. But I also grew up in a town of 500 people where everyone knew everyone else. Had it’s advantages and disadvantages.
We used to have a Hallloween Carnival at the school every year. There was always a parade of costumes, a haunted house, games and a cake walk. Those used to be the best!!
That is the cutest photo! I loved dumping out the candy on the floor as well and seeing what goodies I got. We lived on the same street as Wilford Brimley (the actor) and we loved to go to his house because it was the only time of year we ever saw him.
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The kids dumped their candy out and sorted it and made lots of trades.
Thanks for the goodies cups you made for the kids. That was very generous. They were quite pleased!
I don’t have a lot of memories of Halloween. I was a mummy one year. My mom tore a white sheet in strips and wrapped me up in them.
Wow! I can’t believe how big she is. The last time I saw her she was a newborn. Time sure flies. She is so cute!
I can remember pop corn balls and candy apples. I think Halloween was a lot more fun back then. I just wanted you to know I just finished my review for R.I.P.III. I am sorry I didn’t meet the challange. I will try again next year.