Comments on: Athena Swears That Any Rumor of Her Turning Into a Zombie Is Just That, a Rumor

By: B. Durbin

B. Durbin — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:47:10 +0000

“Moving” trick-or-treating so as to get away from adults’ Halloween celebrations is pretty funny, given how trick-or-treating started.

Back at the beginning of the 20th century, Halloween was two things: parties and Mischief Night. If you were a kid you likely went to a party to have fun; same with adults. Teenagers and young adults might instead be out pranking as they had nothing better to do.

We-eellll, sometime in the teens or so, Mischief Night started being a cover for more nefarious activities, and by the 20s there was a lot of harmful and occasionally deadly things going on, usually racist-related. So a bunch of community groups (including the Boy Scouts) got together and brainstormed ways to keep this stuff from happening, and they decided the best thing was to flood the streets with people. The Boy Scouts would lead groups of kids around, the adults would give out candy, and with so many people on the streets the deadly “pranks” would probably stop, which they did.

If you look at popular culture, you can see how this idea slowly took hold. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, for example, has “tricks or treats” as an afterthought to the party. And now, of course, you have people freaking out about the “pagan origins” of trick-or-treating, with bizarrely retconned traditions that it’s supposed to be referencing. (And yet, somehow, trick-or-treating is almost solely American, barring a few places that have borrowed the tradition.)

So, yeah, getting the kids off the streets because of the adults’ activities is ironic, since they were put out there to stop adult activities in the first place.

By: Other Bill

Other Bill — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:25:38 +0000

Turtlesong, GalJ, and Xopher, ping me at wdass at hotmail dot com if you want to see a photo of the ridiculous version 1.0 baby velociraptor costume.

By: Douglas

Douglas — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:46:54 +0000

In Highschool I took the daughter of a friend of the family to a movie. She was just a friend, JUST A FRIEND! and I got the Machete treatment.

I think you should posterboard these bizarre representations, and plaster them all over your “den” or “office” at home for when boys start visiting in a few years.

That way you can tell athena “I didn’t threaten him at all!” (cuz I guess girls hate when dads act like dads, though they think it’s cute) but you can feel comfortable with having offered the threat of athena eating his brains.

By: KateH

KateH — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:56:02 +0000

Coming in late – sorry! It seems that this Beggar’s Night you speak of as being ‘in Ohio’ is not in big cities. I see Cincy and Toledo (admittedly not the biggest of big cities, but still…) don’t do it, and Cleveland and all its suburbs don’t either. Trick-or-treating is on Halloween, unless the 31st falls on a Sunday, when it’s usually switched to the Saturday. Of course, the biggest problem is with Daylight Savings Time now ending after Halloween, trick-or-treating -officially- runs from 6 to 8pm, and the sun isn’t really down until a bit after 7. The Powers That Be say this prevents ‘bad things from happening’ but it just makes Halloween less fun, IMHO.

By: Mel

Mel — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:15:27 +0000

Mythago, pranking certainly was at one time. TPing, egging, taking your neighbors car apart and reassembling it on the roof…In _Halloween and Other Festivals of Life and Death_ Jack Santino says that Halloween and other carnivalesque holidays “are mere ‘rituals of rebellion’ that act as a safety valve for feelings of injustice” but that on the other hand, “carnival celebrations have led to bloodshed and war” (109) which sort of supports both the idea that its a harmless holiday and that it hasn’t always been.

By: Pat H

Pat H — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:56:50 +0000

I had a split childhood. In the South Bronx, where I lived until 12, Nov. 30 was just the day before All Hallow’s Eve (I went to a Catholic school.. we didn’t dare say Halloween!!). I never did any trick or treating, since I had to be in bed early, since we had to be at mass very early on All Saints Day.

Then I moved to New Jersey, where the day before Halloween was known as Mischief Night. That day was primarily for teenagers to get into trouble. I was humor challenged as a teenager. I saw nothing funny the year that someone decided to set off fireworks inside mailboxes, but both my brothers thought is was hilarious.

By: Pegkitty

Pegkitty — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:15:16 +0000

I’m with @mythago – here in Western PA, 10/30 is Devil’s night, when the adolescents distribute eggs & t.p., and 10/31 is trick-or-treat night.

By: mythago

mythago — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:56:52 +0000

Mel @31, dunno about trick-or-treating but the 30th has been Devil’s Night as long as my dad, who is seriously old, can remember. And no, setting fires is not the traditional expression of holiday cheer.

By: martinl

martinl — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:25:29 +0000

Like Athena needs more brains.

By: Mel

Mel — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:24:23 +0000

mythago @ 19 Actually, Trick or Treating on Halloween is a mid-20th century convention, before the 50s or so Halloween was what Devils Night/Moving Night/Mischief Night is now, and I dunno how it is in other regions, but in Southeastern CT where I was young and in the suburbs of DC where I’ve been for ages, those pranking nights had faded out as well (though I know it still goes strong in NJ)