I find Halloween to be a lot like Valentine's day. Another money making holiday for the greeting card, costume-making and candy manufacturing gurus of the world (well mostly just in the USA). Let's not deny the fact that most of the costumes are probably made in Taiwan or China and the best chocolate really does come from Europe... so in reality the reaping of this holiday is global.
When I was little, I think I was a princess almost EVERY year. I wore a pink dress (that was my cousin's during her days as the Dairy Princess or maybe her prom dress?), a pink crown that I had in my dress up box, and every year my mom would have to buy or find me a new wand to carry around. Let's be real, I am the only girl in my family which basically makes me a princess everyday but on Halloween I got to dress and act like one. It was magnificent. Then at some point during middle or high school Halloween became a holiday in which the girls wear as little as possible, everyone gets completely drunk and does stupid things. Well, I guess after 9th grade the novelty of this holiday wore off. Mostly because I ended up in the hospital with a banana bag, but also because the holiday can't exactly bring back the the days of dressing as a princess in a light pink gown that is far too long, putting on my own makeup and wearing heels that I couldn't walk in.
So I'm sorry if I don't get all excited about Halloween. Which is fine because Moldovans don't celebrate it either. Most kids don't even know what it is (in the villages). In the capital some of the clubs and bars participate and many people of the young city dwellers wear costumes out to the bars. I've heard from a lot of the Peace Corps Volunteers working in schools that the kids go CRAZY over Halloween parties. Which makes sense. When you're a kid why wouldn't you want to dress up in a spooky, crazy outfit or as your favorite cartoon character, eat loads of candy and basically goof off all day. One volunteer actually told me that one of the teacher's at his school was boycotting the Halloween party as it celebrated paganism and is against the religious beliefs of the majority of the children at the school. On the one side, the volunteer just wants to share an American custom with his students but on the other side the teacher has a point. http://www.history.com/topics/halloween
It's funny because I love scary movies but I hate Halloween. I love chocolate but I never really liked begging for candy (trick or treating). Last year, my roommates and I put together a bowl of goodies which included apples, candy, condoms, toothbrushes, pencils and toothpaste. The assortment was acquired mostly for free as one of my roommates' father is an orthodontist, Gannett Health Center gives out free condoms and the apples were acquired from an event that had extra. The candy of course cost us a little. When we received no trick or treaters... we indulged ourselves in the pile and stored the toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss and condoms for later use. I hope this year 108 Parker has some trick or treaters. With gritted teeth and I wish all my readers a Happy Halloween!
