Halloween Apples!

We always used to yell "Halloween Apples" when I was trick-or-treating, I'm not sure why because if anyone ever gave us an apple we threw it out because razor blades. 

Anyway, Halloweening is a great memory - circling through the neighbourhood, running to keep warm under the frosted streetlights, plotting our route, checking with the other groups we met about where the best house was - there was always one giving out real full-size chocolate bars! 

(One year the dentist who lived across our street handed out toothbrushes for heaven's sake!  The next summer he set his garage on fire because he thought he could use gasoline to kill the weeds in the walkway, which gives you a good idea of how bright he really was!)

Anyway, the challenge was always to assemble a costume that could be worn to the costume parade at school but would also accommodate a winter jacket underneath, so you didn't get too cold and have to go home too soon.

Then when the pillowcase was full we would tear home and dump the bags to sort out our loot, what a sweet confusion, to decide what we wanted to gobble down first.

When my own kids were halloweening, we used their loot bags as "back-ups" to our own stash, deftly sorting out the candy they didn't like so we could supplement our own handouts, and make sure we didn't run short.

When we lived in Victoria, fireworks were a Halloween tradition and we always assembled with the neighbours to set off some fireworks in the cul-de-sac and hand out sparklers to swoop around in the dark - great fun. When we moved back to Saskatchewan, we did miss that there were no fireworks here-- so much of the time, it is just too cold on Halloween night to spend extra time outside! 

I'm glad we never ran into these guys!

Best Halloween video ever!

Moving on, I've been collecting some funny Halloween and Halloween-adjacent stuff to share on the blog:

Omg. I couldn’t love this more pic.twitter.com/QreHCNilpS

— jonathan Slater (@slater_paul) October 30, 2024

Pediatrician here.

If a nice, older kid/teenager comes trick or treating at your place, give them a piece of candy WITHOUT giving them a hard time. In fact, give them 2.

They chose this over other risky activities. Validate that. #Halloween

— Christina Johns, MD MEd (@DrCJohns) October 30, 2024

From historian Craig Baird:

Happy Halloween Week from your friendly, not possessed, Canadian historian doll. pic.twitter.com/fmJLzUewJm

— Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx (@CraigBaird) October 28, 2024

Baird is great at making outstanding pictures with AI:

It is Halloween Week and here is a picture thread to brighten your day. Canadian animals in each province dressed up and out trick-or-treating. Enjoy :)

Saskatchewan:
Pronghorn as a witch

🧵3/14 pic.twitter.com/2gBDX8r58o

— Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx (@CraigBaird) October 29, 2024

About October 30 (All Hallows Eve Eve?)

Mischief Night first began to emerge in Europe in the 1790s, but there are some records of it existing as early as the 1500s.
It wasn't until the 19th century that it began to make its way into Canada and the United States.

🧵2/7 pic.twitter.com/YyLHgoVi8p

— Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx (@CraigBaird) October 30, 2024

In English-speaking parts of Quebec, it is called Mat Night. This name comes from the fact that tricksters would go to homes and steal the welcome mats from the front steps of the house. Sometimes they would switch mats between houses.

🧵4/7 pic.twitter.com/6WZK3YMQAh

— Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx (@CraigBaird) October 30, 2024

In Niagara Falls, Ontario, especially during the 1950s and 1960s, the night was called Cabbage Night. This name referred to the custom of going into gardens at homes and taking leftover rotting vegetables (usually cabbages) and throwing them around the neighbourhood.

🧵6/7 pic.twitter.com/6TArBys2bi

— Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx (@CraigBaird) October 30, 2024

The "Bah, Humbug!" caucus speaks up:

There’s just too much Halloween now. Fall festivals and pumpkin patches and Hocus Pocus movie nights and parties and trunk or treats and boo baskets and the switch witch. The center cannot hold. Halloween was never meant to be this much Holiday. It is not a load bearing Holiday.

— Lucy Huber (@clhubes) October 30, 2024

When did Halloween get to be such a production? We used to just put out a pumpkin or two. Now it’s like Beetlejuice Disneyland out there.

— Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦🇮🇱🇬🇪🇲🇩 (@acoyne) October 26, 2024

And in reply:

Yeah, that's the Halloween spirit!