Halloween observations, 2022

Last night, I handed out candy to trick-r-treaters for the first time in my adult life, and it was the happiest Halloween I’ve had in a very long time. Amid all the sensational spookiness, here are a few things I took notice of throughout the evening:

- It gets hard to come up with something else to say other than “Happy Halloween!” and “Wow, cool costumes!” But you soon realize that that is all anyone really needs to hear.

- It’s interesting to see which kids take one piece of candy, which kids take two, which kids take a few, and which kids stop and ask how many they’re supposed to take.

- There is nothing happier than a child in an obscure, less-trendy costume who just got his costume guessed correctly, especially by an adult. I saw a little boy dressed up as what looked like an inflatable Gumby, and I had an idea of what he was going for. I asked “Are you one of those inflatable car dealership things?” He responded with a massive smile and a demonstration of his arms flailing about. It was superb.

- The feel in the air on Halloween is familial and familiar — familial in the way strangers interact like siblings, familiar in the way we all seem so comfortable. Isn’t it fascinating that on a day celebrated in disguise, we can feel more connected to one another, more truly ourselves, than we do regularly? I think that might be because Halloween is a time for us to disguise ourselves physically, rather than emotionally and spiritually, as we usually do. On Halloween, we commend each other for the ways we veil our external selves; costumes, accessories, makeup, are all complimented for their believability and originality. It is every other day that we are commended for the ways we veil what is internal. We live in a world that praises the pretend and ridicules the real… true expressions of true emotions are often ignored, scorned, or lampooned in comedic contempt. It is arguably healthier, and far easier, to mask the skin on your face than to mask the unacknowledged whirlpool of worry brewing in your gut. You can be anyone you want to be on Halloween, and so it seems that many people choose to be themselves, just by a different name and face. It is not only a release, it is a reminder of how insignificant a person’s appearance is in determining who they are.

- Adults will take plenty of candy if you offer it to them sincerely.

- The kids seemed to prefer chocolate to hard candy, which is the opposite of how I used to feel. When I was that age, I always preferred hard candy because it felt more satisfying to bite into. Rather than the malleable milky texture of chocolate that succumbs to your bite in silence, I liked a brittle exterior that breaks with a loud “crack!” before dispersing its deliciousness. The older I got, the more I of course realized that the savory supple chewiness of chocolate makes it the far more enjoyable and refined delicacy of the two.

- Experiencing this holiday on the other side of its festivities gave me a chance to truly bask in its wholesomeness for the first time. It is much harder to appreciate the pure joy of childhood when you are the six year-old dressed as a ninja, than when you are the grown up handing them a Milky Way.