 |
 |
Halloween always falls on the evening of October 31st and this year it falls on Friday night. Legend has it that October 31st marked the end of summer and the harvest. This day also marks the beginning of the dark and cold winter season. Halloween is a time when children dress up in costumes and start to trek through the neighborhood looking for sweet treats. The Halloween cry of, "trick-or-treat" resonates through the night. This procession of "sweet seekers" starts around 6:00pm and ends around 9:00pm. You may wonder: Why do the children wear these costumes? In olden days, it was thought that on Halloween night, ghosts would return to this world looking for prey. In order to avoid being recognized by these demons, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark, so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. This time is often associated with death. Many "spine tingling" stories are told during the week preceding Halloween to create a frightening atmosphere. We hear many ghost stories and scary stories involving cemetery tenants rising out of their graves to stalk people and we often hear about "blood-sucking" vampires searching for a bloody drink to help them maintain immortality. Frightening creatures such as: Dracula, Frankenstein, werewolves, black cats, skeletons, witches and zombies suddenly appear terrorizing the public. Of course, these are all superstitions, not real stories, but it gets people into the spirit of Halloween. Here are some basic rules governing Halloween: 1. Children must dress up in the costumes that they can make or buy. The reward for this dress-up is a bounty of sweets for their creativity. 2. Children start roaming the neighborhood around 6:00 pm and usually continue ringing door bells and knocking on doors until around 9:00 pm. 3. There is an unwritten rule that children should only go to houses that have outside lights on as a signal that the children are welcome to come and "trick-or-treat". 4. Some adults even participate in this festive evening by donning costumes to surprise the children. 5. After shouting "Trick-or-Treat", the children's expectation is that they will be showered with tasty delicious sweet candy. Chocolate seems to be the candy of choice. 6. Some opponents of the "sugar craze" would either not turn the outside light on as a signal not to come, or if they want to participate in this fun-filled night, give the children a small toy. We have a dentist in our neighborhood and every year that I went "trick-or-treating" with my daughters, we are talking about 10 years or so, we all got toothbrushes! Imagine a ten year supply of free toothbrushes! Toothpaste is not included. 7. Supermarkets and drug stores carry a wide variety of sweets just for Halloween, such as: Hersey Chocolate bars, Kit Kat bars, Snickers, Nestle Crunch Bars and lollipops are some popular treats that children long for. Two or three bags of these goodies are usually sufficient but check with your neighbors to see how many children visited the neighborhood last year. One quarter of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween. Americans spend an estimated $6 billion dollars, thus making it the second largest commercial holiday. Another activity associated with Halloween is the carved Pumpkin that appears on our doorsteps and porches. This gourd-like orange fruit gets inscribed with ghoulish faces and is frequently illuminated with candles. The practice of decorating a "jack-o'-lantern" comes from an Irish folk legend about a man named "Stingy Jack" who tricked the devil a couple of times. When "Jack" died, God did not want such a person in heaven, thus throwing "Jack" back to the devil who in turn punished Jack. Jack's punishment was to forever roam the earth with a coal burning inside the gourd. What is a teal pumpkin? Teal pumpkins aren't all the rage this year because of some style trend. It's all about saving the lives of kids with food allergies. Last year, a girl ate a chocolate peanut bar called "Snickers". After eating the snickers bar, she developed hives and a rash soon spread all over her tiny body. She began to vomit, sneeze and cough. Her mother took her to the emergency room for treatment of a life-threatening allergic reaction. Mia Lupo was 2½ when she first put a Snicker's bar in her mouth. "I was that mom who used to think the peanut moms were crazy, and now I'm that crazy peanut mom," said Lupo, who learned in June that Mia is allergic to nuts and fish. Halloween is frightening for Lupo and other parents of kids with food allergies. It's a time of year when candy that could be deadly to their kids is practically everywhere. So she and Habib, Kilyanek and other parents from around the country are part of a campaign to make a holiday filled with potentially dangerous sweet treats safer for all. Called the Teal Pumpkin Project<http://www.foodallergy.org/teal-pumpkin-project?>, the idea is to encourage people to offer nonfood treats like stickers, glow sticks, Halloween rings and stamps to trick-or-treaters with food allergies. Displaying a teal pumpkin on your front porch this Halloween will let kids know you've got allergy-free treats for them. "My child gets upset, to the point of tears, if there's not something there for her," said Lupo. "Every child should be able to get something, even if it's something little, if they're going to participate." Inclusion, not exclusion, is what the Teal Pumpkin Project is all about. "It really does give me hope," said Habib, whose 5-year-old son, Elias, has a peanut allergy. "On Halloween, he goes trick-or-treating, just as other kids do. He puts it in his basket, and knows he can't have it until we get home and go through it. He knows I'm going to have to take some of it away. International Student and Scholar Services will be hosting our annual Halloween party on Friday, October 31, 3:00 pm to 5:00pm. Please come dressed up in your scariest costume, and if you have children, please bring them. Robert Chudy Program Director International Student & Scholar Services (ISSS) Office of Global Affairs University of Connecticut Rowe Center Room 126 Storrs, CT 06269 phone: 860-486-6653 email: [log in to unmask] web: www.isss.uconn.edu