Halloween: A Teachable Moment

Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Harry Potter, Ghosts and Witches oh my!  Taking my 6 year old trick-or-treating this year was an adventure. My neighborhood is a quiet one on Halloween with only about six houses out of about 60 actually participating. Last year my sons was miserable and saddened that this was the case. So this year we piled in the car, and drove to a neighborhood down the street that was bustling and humming with laughter and anticipation. He was mesmerized by the vast array of costumes.

Halloween now-a-days is all about the candy of course. But before we journeyed into the sugary fantastic world of treats and trickery I sat down my son and we discussed the meaning behind All Hallow's Eve. Halloween is the night before All-Saint's Day. I explained that "Begging at the door grew from an ancient English custom of knocking at doors to beg for a "soul cake" in return for which the beggars promised to pray for the dead of the household. Soul cakes, a form of shortbread and sometimes quite fancy, with currants for eyes became more important for the beggars than prayers for the dead. This slowly became treats, candy, etc."

Each beggar sang a song which also over time has transformed into "trick or treat"

Soul, soul, an apple or two,
If you haven't an apple, a pear will do,
One for Peter, two for Paul,
Three for the Man Who made us all.

I could have gone on and on but, alas he just wanted candy. I thought well, my little story went in one ear and out the other. BUT at the 3rd house, "ding dong", the door opened, and my son, to my surprise exclaimed "I am not a beggar, but if you haven't an apple a pear will do, did you know that is what they said before we started saying trick or treat, my mom taught me that."