Halloween in the United States

Last night was Halloween. It's a time when children (and sometimes adults) dress up as fairies, princesses, super heros, animals, and creatures of the underworld and go door-to-door asking neighbors for candy. They call this, 'trick or treating'. My family doesn't play a major role in this particular holiday, as we are Christians and don't advocate the tennants of it. However, we don't mind at all when a child comes knocking on our door and asks us for a treat. We welcome it. It's nice to see the neighborhood children out having a good time.

Halloween isn't a national holiday per se. It is recognized every Oct. 31 in the country, but schools are still in session and businesses are still open for business....as usual. It's one of the ways we track time in the United States. Without Halloween, most of us wouldn't realize fall was upon us. We probably wouldn't notice that the leaves were changing and falling off the trees until they were on the ground and begging to be raked in a huge pile for children to jump into them. Halloween gets us to notice the season. It tells us that winter is just around the corner. I wonder, do other countries celebrate a holiday similar to Halloween? Let me know.