Holidays are weird. Seriously. Think about it. At Christmas, a large jolly man in a red suit flies through the sky and delivers presents into our homes via a chimney. At Easter, a big fluffy bunny leaves plastic eggs full of chocolate.
Then there’s Halloween: no strange creature or person enters our home, instead we knock on strangers doors and ask for candy.
Don’t get confused, Halloween is great. Halloweentown is the best movie ever. But when really thinking about it, the whole concept of modern-day Halloween is odd.
Not only that, but Halloween now feels different than 10 or 12 years ago. There was never any worry about what might be hiding in our candy. We checked everything – not for razor blades – to make sure nothing was open and potentially spoiled.
Special Halloween treats were the best. I had one neighbour who made fudge every year. She was the favourite house of the night. Having grown up in the country, we always had to have a parent to haul us around – she was Dad’s favourite too, she always sent a baggy out for him.
Now if someone wanted to try and do that same, sweet! (Pun intended.) But that homemade candy would be tossed without a second thought in the city.
People are so wary of crime, even though crime rates are going down; according to Statistics Canada, crime has gone down 28 per cent since 2006.
People are exposed to crime everywhere though – real and fake. It lives in our televisions, books, and our newspapers. We’re amazed and entertained by it as a society.
Crime constantly being in our faces leads us to believe that crime now is so much worse that twenty years ago. When in reality, it’s not the case.
We’re living in an over sensationalized world; things are constantly being made into television shows or movies “based on a true story.”
Making A Murderer has people questioning their neighbors they vaguely know in passing or maybe not at all.
There will always be a huge difference between country and city when it comes to trick or treating.
The community atmosphere is different.
My dad knows everyone within a 16 kilometre radius of our family home. No joke. Everyone.
He walks into the community gas bar or diner and don’t expect him to get out for at least 20 minutes, depending on how many people are in there. He talks to them all.
Knowing everything about everyone makes a person trust them when they feed your children baked goods. Or at least who know who to trust and who not too.
Halloween has always been about the spooky and the scary. Goblins, ghosts, and ghouls. Now instead of the make believe, people are worried about the real monsters. The ones who don’t wear masks.
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