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Thoughts on a Celebration, Community and Home

We don’t celebrate halloween, not having grown up with it as family tradition here in Australia. I do however notice that more and more families in our community are now choosing to recognise the holiday. In years gone by I have said ‘Sorry, no treats here’ to the few children who knock on our door trick-or-treating but this year I read these words just days before halloween;

“The front porch is a welcoming space, a space of meeting, greeting, leaving, and transitions. Front porches draw the inhabitants of the house outside, bring neighbors into conversation with one another, ease social isolation, and provide a public space of respite, shelter and shade.”

~ Making a Family Home, Shannon Honeybloom

I have been thinking a lot about home, family, friends and community. I have much to be thankful for when it comes to our home, our little family and supportive friendships, especially during our recent heartache; friendships both new and old, support from often unexpected places and in many different forms, this sense of community has made all the difference on days where the raw emotions are that little bit closer to the surface, even now after many weeks have passed.

With so much to be thankful for and the words of Shannon Honeybloom in my mind, this year we have a little bowl of goodies for those trick-or-treaters who knock at our door. After all, I believe families who make the time and effort to spend this time with their children should be celebrated. Maybe this is one way that I can give just a little back to my community. And who wouldn’t want their front porch to be a place filled with the excited, happy conversation of children anyway?

Do you celebrate Halloween? For my overseas readers, I would love to hear about your holiday celebrations. For my Australian readers, did you recognise the holiday this year?

Photo source

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Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

Filed Under: Family Time, House or Home Tagged With: community, family, home

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Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  1. Nomie says

    October 31, 2010 at 9:29 AM

    Yes we do celebrate Halloween. I have Irish and Scottish friends that have always done so, in their home countries and here. There is a lot of history linking the day to the Celts.People are so quick to say we don't celebrate that here we're no American, but the tradition is so much older than the USA. Besides, most of us embrace US culture every day in our TV, movie, clothing and food choices... why are we so resistant to Halloween?
    People do not all go to church, or claim to be Christian, but they celebrate Easter and Christmas.
    It is a community spirited event where we live. Families going together to neighbouring homes, chatting with each other, making connections with other people in the area.
    I love being part of it.
    We don't get trick or treaters to our door because we live on a dirt side road! But I am ready just incase.
  2. Michelle says

    October 31, 2010 at 10:05 AM

    No we don't celebrate it. The children who come to our door in the past haven't been joyful, or happy... just greedy (maybe that says something about our community) Now we have a fence and it's rare we have anyone come to the door on Halloween.
    Our porch is always open for children to come and ask for sponsorship, donations or to simply play with my children. I'd prefer to keep that the focus. And they do come through the day - which is lovely.
  3. Narelle Nettelbeck says

    October 31, 2010 at 10:19 AM

    I like your view on community and parents spending time with their children BUT for us Halloween is just something we don't believe in for religious reasons so no treats here I'm afraid.

    I tend to agree with Michelle too that many children don't have a clue why they are dressing up, it's all about the lollies!
  4. Christie - Childhood 101 says

    October 31, 2010 at 10:36 AM

    I am sitting here with the front door open and I can hear the children from three houses playing and laughing, the older ones keeping watch over the younger, which happens to include my 2 1/2 year old. I am glad my door is open, glad my family are involved in this moment of community. You never know whose life you might touch just by being open to being involved.
  5. amandab says

    October 31, 2010 at 10:43 AM

    Princess did go out Trick or Treating this year as we ha many ids knocking on the door last year that she was very taken with it. I would have to say that the kids that have come knocking have either gone to little effort and are just greedy, or have gone to a lot of effort and deserve a treat (and considering the weather in Melbourne at the moment even going outside is an effort in itself). Regardless, it makes their day when they get a handful of sweets, and my little Princess (who was dressed as a princess) was thrilled to knock on a handful of doors and bring home some sweets.

    We have talked about the Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations, which she was a bit concerned over but I thought it might interest her since we have looked at Mexican art, music and iconography before.
  6. Mimsie says

    October 31, 2010 at 11:00 AM

    Halloween is completely foreign to me and I don't think I even knew about it as a child. I am not sure if there is any religious connotation to it or not but I just don't like the horrible skeletons etc., associated with it. Have not had children to our door at all but then we lock our front gate each day at 5.30ish. I think I agree with lots of your readers that greed is unfortunately a large part of the trick and treat part of halloween.
    Our front porch used to be a wonderful place when friends and family used to frequently visit but few people come there now and we don't have what you would call the friendliest of neighbours these days and no young children in the street at all.
    I wish we once again had a sense of community but maybe we are just too old now.
  7. Becky says

    October 31, 2010 at 11:43 AM

    We don't celebrate Halloween, having been raised without it being a big deal in Australia. I never even noticed it starting to become something people were celebrating unril we moved here and had a little group of Trick or Treaters arrive at our door. They've come every year and we've never had anything to give them, mostly because I never knew when it was. This year, it seems to be much more popular. Our local Woolies has pumpkins for carving, decorations and special candy to buy. We didn't go all out, but did have lollipops to offer when the neighbourhood children arrived.
  8. Sarah says

    October 31, 2010 at 11:57 AM

    I love the image you've used - the pumpkin carved into the shape of a house rather than a scary looking skull.

    We don't do Halloween, because my eldest child is only four and is very sensitive to all things spooky. She's too little to dress up as a ghost or ghoul - I even find myself censoring fairy tales!
  9. Becky says

    October 31, 2010 at 2:10 PM

    Hello from North Carolina - We don't necessarily "celebrate" Halloween but we do participate. At my sons age (3) it is all about dressing up (this year as Batman) and getting candy. That's all I have ever thought it was about no matter it's other connotations. My feelings on the holiday are probably due to all the commercialization that has only grown over the years.

    Today we will go get the candy we have put off buying (so we didn't eat it!) while we are out doing our other errands. Then get ready for tonight. My crime fighter will be so happy to be in his costume so we will snap a few pictures then off to some neighbors who will be happy to see him (and give him candy)! Then we will come home and give out candy while chatting up all the kids and parents who will be out roaming the neighborhood. Last year little boy had a great time talking to everyone.
  10. DQ Mountain Girl says

    October 31, 2010 at 4:01 PM

    We celebrate Halloween. We love it. In my little mountain town in the rocky mountains of Colorado (small population) the town closes down main street and everyone heads downtown. Families dress up in matching costumes, my favorite one from last year was the smurf family complete with papa smurf and baby smurf. Teenagers dress up in matching group costumes... my little preschool meets at my house ahead of time and has a little party with dinner and then we head out in a bunch. We go from shop door to shop door trick or treating. The fire department has fire trucks in the middle of the street that kids can climb through. People sit in restauraunts and watch the parade. Everyone brings their carved pumpkins to the courthouse lawn to light a big display of pumpkins. The bookstore gives out small books to kids, one restaurant always hands out small bags of homemade french fries. The candy is actually a very small part of the celebration. The costumes, the dress-up... especially when the adults dress up (which is so fun for children to see) is where the fun is for us. Many of my preschool kiddos (who are 3,4, and 5) say that it is their favorite holiday. If you want to look at the commercialization of the holiday, you could. But it is that way with every holiday. In our town it is definitly the only event that brings everyone together and Halloween is the major social event of the year. It's when you see everybody and laugh and have fun. We usually walk up one side of main street, go to our favorite restaurant and have dinner and then walk down the other side of the street back home.
  11. Fatima says

    October 31, 2010 at 6:28 PM

    Halloween has gotten a bit crazy here in the states. Some kids trick or treat 3 or 4 nights in different towns. They end up with bags full of candy they can't or at least shouldn't eat.
    Folks spend a lot of money on decorations, too. One house in town has at least 100 signs/inflatables in their yard. It's a bit much in my opinion. I really dislike some of the morbid and scary scenes people put up in their yard, scaring my littles as we drive to the grocery.
    We do dress-up (cute, not scary) and carve a pumpkin. We visit people we know well (3-4 friends and the grandparents) and that's it. We haven't made the kids "miss out," but we haven't let become a big holiday either.
    Still, I am less excited about it each year. I say this as I am preparing to get the kids dressed up (two cheerleaders and two football players) to go visit the grandparents who would be crushed if we didn't at least do this much.
    I wish it was just a day to dress silly and we could avoid the candy and the scary stuff.
  12. Tricia at Mom is the Only Girl says

    November 2, 2010 at 12:44 AM

    I don't like halloween, as growing up a group of satanists met up the country road from me and there was evidence of sacrificing, so I tend to think of that when halloween rolls around. I even considered not doing it with my kiddos (giving out candy or dressing up). However, it is so commercialized here in America, that it is difficult to just bypass it without having to explain it to some degree and to keep my kiddos from NOT wanting to participate in some fashion. We are Christians, and sometimes feel judged by other Christians for participating, even to the small degree we do.

    My hubby and I decided to go with the innocent approach since my kids are both under the age of 4. They now believe it is a day that everyone in America can pretend to be someone they are not, but that some people choose to think of scary things and decorate that way, too. They also think they are being 'treated' because they dressed up, and not all people do, so trick or treaters are special.

    We did go out 'to let our neighbors see what we like and pretend to be', the kids were dressed as dinosaurs, but only went to our neighbors, maybe 4 houses. Unfortunately, it is one of the only times we see others in our neighborhood as families going from house to house.

    If we still lived in our favorite place, we would have just gone to our old church's Trunk or Treat. Every car is pulled into a parking space, the trunks are opened and decorated, and the cars' owners hand out candy. Inside the church they had food, cider, a gospel presentation, information about the church and someone to talk with. Very innocent, and much safer than some areas of town to be out in after dark.
  13. Aussie Mum says

    November 2, 2010 at 4:02 AM

    We never used celebrate Halloween but we seem to have more and more children knocking on the door each year so now I do have a bowl of treats for when they come to visit. We don't take the boys door knocking but Junior loves to see all the costumes and stand at the door with a bowl of goodies to share whith everyone.
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