Halloween? What does it mean?!

Halloween, Halloween, oh what does it mean?  Lots and lots of tales and stories.  Stories of monsters, vampires, werewolves, demons, and signs of woe, black raves and black cats.  People tell stories from years ago before anyone called it Halloween.  People decorate their houses with evil and dark things, zombies, big black spiders, webs and graves.  Spooky orange lights.  Children and candy, trick or treating.  What does it mean, Bugzy, what does it mean?!  I'm so confused,  you say!  B is here to help!

What is the true meaning of Halloween that I promised you?    I'll ask  Chip.  He's younger than me, but he reads lots of books, like me.   He told me he knew.

Bugzy:  Hey, Chip, come over here please.
Chip:  Yes, Bugzy, what is it?
Bugzy:  What is the true meaning of Halloween?  I've so many stories of some people called Druids, black cats, bats, vampires and such.  What does it mean?
Chip:  It probably started out as a simple feast of the harvest, in the fall when the crops were in and the weather was turning cold.  People probably danced and had fun.

Halloween is a day of role-reversal, according to some books I have read.  It's simple.  What do kids do?  They dress up in masks.  They never do that.  They go to strangers houses.  They never ever do that.  Kids ask strangers for candy, then they eat it.  They never EVER do that.  Adults tell children stories of bad things to scare them. Children play "tricks" on adults who don't give them what they want.   They never do that.  It's a day of role-reversal.  Simple.

Bugzy:  That is very interesting.   Kids taking candy from strangers and such.

Chip:  I have read books about Halloween.  It's history is very complicated.  It seems we've taken parts from various European and Catholic cultures, as well as popular culture in America.  But it's still role reversal.

Bugzy:  When did you get so smart, little brother?!

Chip:  Reading every day.  Everything I can.

Bugzy:  I KNOW HOW,  you love to read like I do.  I mean "when."

Chip:  OK, my bad.  I love to sit in a quiet place outdoors and read, in the car, or somewhere when I have to wait, at night before bed.  That's a great time to read about Halloween!

Bugzy:  Enough of that, LET'S GO GET SOME CANDY!  AND SCARE MOM!!

Chip:  How can we scare her a good one?  Vampire masks?

Bugzy:  Not good enough.  Let's go tell her how much money it'll take to send us to college.  That should do it!!

Chip:  Naahhh, too mean.

Bugzy:  OK vampire masks it is.

Happy Halloween!

Bugzy