&uot;From its birth in pagan transactions with the dead to the current marketing push to make it a ‘seasonal experience,’ America’s fastest-growing holiday has a history far older – and far stranger – than does Christmas itself,&uot; is how author Ellen Feldman describes Halloween in the October issue of American Heritage magazine.

Friday, October 26, 2001

&uot;From its birth in pagan transactions with the dead to the current marketing push to make it a ‘seasonal experience,’ America’s fastest-growing holiday has a history far older – and far stranger – than does Christmas itself,&uot; is how author Ellen Feldman describes Halloween in the October issue of American Heritage magazine.

&uot;Today 70 percent of American households open their doors on it, 50 percent take photographs on it, and the nation drops more than six billion dollars celebrating it. … Halloween has become the darling of American holidays. Only Christmas outearns it. Only New Year’s Eve and Super Bowl Sunday outparty it.,&uot; adds Feldman in her article.

To this, allow me to add my own observations. regarding this particular day at the end of October on the calendars.

Halloween is certainly not a real holiday, despite what Ms. Feldman says in print. We’ll be getting our mail, banks will be open, and schools will be in session. In reality, most of the observance of Halloween next Wednesday will be during the evening. And for most of us the key phrase that evening will be &uot;trick-or-treat.&uot;

Now there’s a strange phrase. Maybe it should have been reversed to &uot;treat-or-trick.&uot; Thus, the children at the door could imply that treats dropped into their bags or plastic buckets could prevent the alternatives of tricks as consequences.

One person who was curious about this phrase, according to Feldman, asked a large group of trick-or-treaters what they would do for tricks if treats weren’t being offered. He found in this informal survey that 83 percent of the children had no idea as to what to do for tricks, or minor vandalism. I guess the alternative for them was to get to the next home as soon as possible.

Halloween is the time when the retail stores clear off shelves featuring so much orange and black goodies, plus spooky stuff, and get ready to display more Christmas merchandise.

However, Halloween in this area has a special place in our memories when it comes to really rough weather. Just a decade ago at our home that evening we had maybe four or five trick-or-treaters instead of the expected five to six dozen mostly costumed callers at the front door. What we had that night was the start of one of the worst storms of the last century.

Here’s a portion of a column I wrote as a recap of that storm which started on Halloween evening in 1991:

&uot;It has been written and said that one never misses the water until the well runs dry. And to this can be added a newer and even more timely adage that one never misses the electricity until the power goes off.

&uot;For the people of this region, what happened after Halloween (1991) was really a cruel series of weather tricks with no treats at all. Maybe we didn’t get the deep snow, but we were issued something even more spookier. What we endured was all too much ice and brisk winds which caused extensive damages to trees and power lines., One of the results of this stormy situation was the loss of electrical service to the homes and businesses over a wide area of south Minnesota and north Iowa.

&uot;Now one of the customs in this part of the nation seems to be based on naming a major storm or blizzard after a holiday, event, or specific day on the calendar. Thus, many of us have endured blizzards labeled for St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Good Friday, Christmas, New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, and even the traditional ones which allegedly come at state tournament time. Then there’s the one storm system which went into the history books as one of the worst ever, the famous (or infamous) Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940. The weather situation … (of a decade ago goes) into the memory banks as the Halloween Blizzard or Megastorm of ’91.&uot;

By the way, does anyone still have I SURVIVED THE HALLOWEEN BLIZZARD OF ’91 t-shirts?

And in the Nov. 4 issue of the Tribune we’ll have several photos and more information about the Halloween Blizzard.

Feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears Fridays in the Tribune.