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I've been receiving some Halloween e-mails already, and it set me to remembering - I've got an awfully sensitive "remember" (as my little daughter used to say).
I thought I'd share with you a little poem I wrote when I was in 6th grade, about a gazillion and a half years ago. (That year I also made the cover of Normal
Central School's newsletter with my drawing of a (really crude) cornucopia at Thanksgiving. I still have the original drawing. Am I pathetic or what?!)
HALLOWEEN
Ghosts and goblins and witches can be seen
Roaming around on Halloween.
Don't be frightened, they won't kill.
They're just kids, but still
They'll trick if you don't treat.
So give them candy or other sweets to eat.
If you don't treat them they'll play a trick,
Like soaping your windows or hiding the gate.
And you won't know it till it's too late
To catch the critters and end their pranks.
Maybe we should give them a vote of thanks
For keeping our Halloween spirits high
And for showing us, how, as years go by,
We're never too old to enjoy trick-or-treat.
And when the evening's over
And Dad's let in the pup,
He's down on the floor with the rest of us,
Ready to DIVVY UP!
.For most of my childhood there were 4 of us Kober kids, (Larry arrived when I was a freshman) and we only got candy on Sunday nights when our whole family played BINGO, so Halloween was indeed special to us.
We used to go out trick-or-treating for 4 nights, one in each direction - N,S,E,W. And when we decided what our costume would be, the object was that no one would recognize us. Costumes were not bought - there weren't any to be had. They were concocted out of whatever we had on hand or could borrow. All the Kober kids never went together because people would know who we were. My two oldest brothers used to dress up like gypsy girls and they got a big charge out of making people think they were girls. At that time our neighbors actually invited us into their homes. If they had company, they'd get the company in on guessing who we might be (what chance did they have?)
One of our neighbors was Mr. Dickey. He never had candy. Instead he gave us his poker winnings - usually at least a dime each. Hey, that dime bought 10 pieces of penny candy! Or maybe wax lips or a tongue or a harmonica from Anson's store. Yup! Halloween was not what it's like today - taking the kids to parade around the malls, sifting through their bags to make sure there's nothing dangerous in their stash, worrying that some people think it's a pagan holiday and the kids are devil worshiping. Even the Unit 5 grade school where I was secretary quit calling it Halloween and renamed it "autumn festival".
Ask a kid if he thinks he's devil worshiping - he'll probably say, "Huh?" "Heck, I'm just dressing up like my favorite superhero or monster and having a fun time collecting candy and waving lightsticks." It's probably one of the few times kids actually get to behave like kids nowadays - except for the little girl I saw clomping through the grocery store, all dressed up in a mommy dress slopping off her shoulders with high heeled shoes to match, lipstick smudged across her lips nearly to her ears, pushing her own little shopping cart, with a gigantic purse hanging to the floor from her tiny little wrist. Oops! That's another story...
Well, Happy Halloween! Or Autumn Festival! Or whatever...
Love and God bless,
Judy Kober Hirsch
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