2024 Life Logs, Day 304: Halloween
Date: Thursday, October 31, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Warm; High Temp 64, Low 60 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Halloween has an interesting history. Prior to the Christians, the Pagans celebrated Samhain on the first of November. Samhain or Sauin is the Irish language name for November. This celebration marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the darker half of the year. Along came the Christians and they celebrated All Saints’ Day on November 1, also known as All Hallows’ Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas. This was a celebration in honor of all the saints of the Church. There are versions of this celebration all around the world. In Mexico, they celebrate Día de los Muertos, in Italy it is Ognissanti, in the Phillipines it is Pangangaluwa, and the list goes on. Most of these celebrations honor the dead in some way. Here in the US, we just celebrate candy! Donning a costume and Trick or Treating on Halloween night can yield a huge bag of candy. Tonight, I set a bowl of candy outside my door with a sign that said, “This house is occupied by only a GHOST and a lone wolf. But they offer you a treat on this hallowed night. Please take 3, if you dare.” Then I headed to Heather and Jed’s. Ollie was spending the evening roaming in the neighborhood with Simon, and another friend, Jack. Heather, Jed, and Jonah were off at a party at the home of one of Jonah’s friends. Sam was heading to a movie with friends later, but he offered to stay home to greet the Trick or Treaters, and we certainly had a greater number than usual. I didn’t get many children last year. My driveway is long and dark and really does look scary. So, I assumed most just pass by. But when I got home tonight, the bowl of candy was half empty, so maybe tonight I had more visitors.
The rest of my day flew by. This morning Shadow and I drove to East Falmouth to pick up Olga. We went for a wonderful, long walk on the Quashnet River trail. On the way home, we stopped at Town Hall so I could vote, which felt great. But it was almost noon when we got home, and between eating lunch, doing a laundry, doing some kitchen clean-up, and other odds and ends, it was suddenly 2:45 pm and time to pick Ollie up after school. After school, Ollie and I went shopping, trying to find a skeleton. Unfortunately, everything Halloween was mostly off the shelves, already replaced with Christmas decorations. Ollie and I agree that it should be against the law to put out Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving, but I think we are in the minority on that one. We then headed to his house to decorate the front yard. I then headed home for a Zoom call with my doctor. He thinks my lingering cold is a sinus infection and prescribed an antibiotic to try and get rid of this before I fly to North Carolina next week. After the call, I took Shadow outside to play and then fixed a quick dinner so I could head to the Goldstones. And in between all of that, I communicated with Jo and she sent some photos of Ziggy and Coco in costume at school today. A lot to pack into one day and now it is time to get ready for another. Happy Halloween.
