hallowe'eners and beans

while john has posted a very insightful and concise history of hallowe'en on his profile (which is worth hanging around on no matter what), i realize there are christians that struggle with it.

i am pleased to announce i am not one of them.

and why?

in a word: candy.

the argument has been made that as hallowe'en's roots are pagan it should figure nowhere into the christian holiday calendar. well, my learned friends - if that's the stance you want to take, you can't have any of my tootsies rolls you'll have to throw out a huge chunk of easter and most of christmas too.

i think, (and upon occasion i do) that the more relevant question is, is halowe'en still a pagan holiday? well, it is still celebrated by pagans in parts of the world, but then so is easter - so i don't think that means we should stop celebrating easter or the chocolate fest that's become either. rather, i'd hope we might take a look at what hallowe'en means to us as a community, our children and the canadian diabetic association.

hallowe'en is a marvellous social event. it is one day a year that parents can get out into the neighbourhood and actually meet their neighbours. children dressed up as ghosts, ballerinas and wads of chewed up bubble gum (yes, i had a troubled childhood, what's your point??) are a guaranteed ice-breaker: conversation with someone you might see once a year doesn't have to be forced or stilted; and for your child's part, the little biatch that wouldn't put on that fifty dollar cher costume i reserved for her in july but noooooo… she has to be a gypsy! who the hell dresses like a gypsy anyway and is that my hermes tie???? that adorable little ragamuffin gets candy.

lots and lots of candy. now granted some of it is that cheap dollar-store candy that's made in someplace like kuala lumpur and tastes like a benobo's ass; but you know that even that cheap candy will get eaten in december before the christmas candy rush starts. and the barter potential of much of the good candy you get will get you out of at least one beat-down at school because your parents sent you out dressed as a wad of chewing gum and let your sister indulge her fantasies of being a bag lady.

and as for the adults, its a prime opportunity to get to know which kids belong to which parents, where they live, who their brothers and sisters are, who are being taken around by a really hot nanny, and which are being raised by that really cute single dad with the lexus down the street.

and did i mention there's candy??????