When I was a little tyke I thought the day was great!  In school we made lots of jack-o-lanterns out of the pumpkins a farmer or two brought a day or so before, and we made ghosts and goblins out of construction paper. In the evening,we had a party with games and doing what I liked the best, bobbing for apples. I still believe Halloween is really for kids, except for the teenage boys who tipped over the backhouses! People say,”The boys didn’t really do that, did they? Oh boy, I’ll say they did! In our little town you could see fathers out trying to make right, the wrongs the boys did on Halloween night.

Halloween has changed though, and I’m not at all sure the change was good. I am not sure when “trick or treat” began, but I joined in with the other mothers, making outfits out of old clothes and then letting them go out and get candy which was not at all good for the teeth! That custom seems to be going away though. It just isn’t safe for children to be running around after dark these days!

What I’m really upset about is the cost. Little kids aren’t satisfied unless they can get a new outfit every year! And the merchants are anxious to help them. The kids shop right along with the adults, who are looking to find the right thing to wear to the grown up parties held on Halloween night. And grown up parties are taking the place of the simple things children used to do.

Maybe we should be remembering that October 30th is the day Martin Luther posted the 98th thesis on the door of the Church 500 years ago. Everything has changed since then. The Catholics have changed much of their former doctrine and the whole Evangelical movement has grown up to believe the way God intended, Faith, not works, should be the norm for all of us. Wouldn’t that be a holiday? It wouldn’t cost very much either, the change would be on the inside rather than our outside costumes. Happy Martin Luther Day, everyone!