Last night, I had to make a run into town -town here being Philipsburg -the nearest larger community to us that has more than one store in the whole darned place.
So, I asked Miss Maya if she wanted to go for a ride to town with Grammy. It was with a bit of uncertainty that I made that offer to her because the last time I was in the particular store that I had to go to, she had acted so bad that night -had a huge, really, really huge, massive meltdown that Mandy and I were a bit fearful that we all might end up being banned from ever shopping at the Weis market there ever again!
But anyway, I decided to make the offer and since she accepted, I figured maybe I'd give her another chance to show that she can actually behave, be good, ya know.
Lucky for her -and for me -tonight she was pretty much angelic. Didn't have to reprimand her at all and I kind of like it when things come together like that, ya know.
But on the drive -it's all of 12 miles from home to this little burg-town -I was really surprised by what I saw along the way.
Okay, I don't go out very much these days -pretty much an old homebody, that would be me. I'm much more content to stay put in the house, work on my craft du jour, watch tv -even wash dishes -than to go ramming around any more than I absolutely have to do so I wasn't prepared for the sights I saw at many homes along the drive into town.
Lights! All over the place! Or so it seemed anyway.
At first I thought Wow, lots of folks are really getting the jump on putting their Christmas decorations and stringing all kinds of outdoor lighting all around.
Then it dawned on me that all these decorations and lights were in anticipation of next weekend being Halloween!
Virtually every other -or every third house anyway (or so it seemed) had orange lights strung all over the front, on porches in trees -you name it. All these decorations just for good old Halloween!
So much different from when I was a kid and it was time to do the "Trick or Treating" that's for sure!
I can't remember anyone doing any kind of decorating of the homes back then for this auspicious occasion!
Heck no! Why we were lucky that people turned on their porch light when they heard us coming up the sidewalk and they sure as heck didn't leave that one light all all evening for the kids, much less provide scads of colored lights, scary creatures hanging on the sides or front of their houses either! Maybe back then some kids, some families would have a pumpkin with a face carved in it and a candle lit, seated in the center of that pumpkin, but that tended to be the extent of the Halloween decor back then!
Today, if Mandy or Bill carves up two of the pumpkins Mandy bought at a big local farm about a week or two ago and tries to put a candle in it and set it out by our front stoop, you can pretty much be guaranteed that the morning after Trick or Treat night, that pumpkin will be laying all broken apart on the sidewalk and out front, on the street that goes in front of our house!
And, if either Maya or Kurtis happens to wake up and see those pretty pumpkins all smashed up too the morning after, they're gonna be two upset little kids and for what -what does that prove by shattering something the little kids -and some adults too -enjoy doing for the Halloween holiday??
Makes me wonder there -a lot -about what kind of society are we becoming that people have to destroy other people's property in the guise of having a good time.
Makes not a lick of sense to me.
9 comments:
Well thought and well written, but I think this phenomenon is just a symptom of something very complex and very wrong with the society that the human have created for themselves, and which only they can solve. But how?
You are right, I had not put it into words until I read this post, but when I was young there were not any decorations for Halloween. And today as we drive through the neighborhood every third house is elaborately decorated, gaudy, extreme. Some yards are so full of decorations we can't see the yards. I don't think the persons who destroy pumpkins wake up on Halloween to find someone aching to get out and destroy pumpkins, I think those same persons are the ones rude to elder persons in lines at the store, cut in front of people as they are walking out the door, jeer and sneer at their own parents, and think that anything they can think of that makes it fun for them is okay to do. I have never been a big fan of Halloween, opting instead to think of this holiday as a tribute to an autumn harvest and a family holiday.
That is definitely not on, smashing up little kiddies pumpkin lights.
As for floodlighting the place well that is plain ridiculous.
I personally will not be celebrating halloween, so if I have eggs thrown against my windows, so be it!
Nuts in May
Like everything else, Halloween became much more complicated and commercial driven. In my youth, we had that candle-lit pumpkin to tell us there were goodies within. When my kids were little, we'd decorate together.. making our own grave stones and setting the leaves to look like fresh mounds. Now that they're grown, I've gone back to a simple carved, lit pumkin. One home a few blocks away begins their designing of the next year's deco early in November. It's more elaborate than an amusement park haunted house. They clearly enjoy the creativity and that's fine with me. I just don't get the enormous expense for this one night. The candy is costly enough. As for pumpkin-smashing.. I remember that from my days as a kid. It seemed that the night before was the time you had to worry, so pumpkins were kept indoors until the 31st.
I save the majority of my decorating for Christmas! And as for the smashed pumpkins, I don't know what the night before Halloween is called but here it's called "Devils Night" and it gets pretty wild. I've always kept my kids in on that night and of course they were in by curfew on Halloween night but I remember watching the kids come down the street toilet papering the neighbors trees, egging their cars and houses, smashing pumpkins, throwing tomatoes, tipping over VW bugs.. They didn't touch our house, there were 7 of us and they knew my Dad but even with all of that it still isn't as bad as it is in Detroit where they set buildings on fire! This is our first Halloween in this town.. I'm curious to see what happens, if anything.. It's pretty quiet it here. I'm hoping it stays that way.
Thanks for that insight. Here in the UK Halloween is becoming bigger and bigger. When I was little and watched films etc where Halloween, American style, was portrayed I always though wow, how wonderful. Now it's become so popular, I'm not so sure - or maybe that's just me getting older and becoming a grumpy old woman.
As another said, it seems to be a symptom of greater societal ills. Nobody ever did such malevolent deeds when we were kids. Somehow, Halloween has become - to some - a day with license to forget all laws and manners. Shame, that.
We tipped over outhouses but there are none left to tip.Let's hope pumpkin smashers also grow up to be good people.
Lucy does that to me all the time. My new strategy has been to wait until she takes a nap or make sure she goes with a full belly! She likes to throw a fit at the craft store/fabric store so last time we went I told her if she was patient with me while I got fabric then we would find crafts we could do together next week. That went over well!
I noticed here in Tennessee that people are decorating for Halloween. I never bothered because if I had all my stuff, then RIGHT now I would be starting to put up my Christmas stuff. It usually takes me about 3 months to decorate, but I have no Earthly idea on how to do Doc's house or even if I will because we will be traveling to his parents home for the holidays.
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