Halloweeen

Happy Halloween! Today, as this newsletter goes out, it's officially the day of Halloween, or All Hallow's Eve, though, as I write this, in my neighbourhood, children are expected at my door this evening (Sunday).

Halloween celebrations haven't been around that long in Aotearoa/New Zealand - at least when I grew up they weren't a thing - but seem to have been imported (like a lot of our culture) directly from American media influences, such as movies and TV programmes.

And, as with many things, Halloween is promoted by retailers as a way to sell stuff - from costumes and decorations, to confectionery and special foods. Indeed, I have a couple of bags of treat-sized chocolate bars at the ready for visitors at my door this evening. (Though, part of me secretly hopes there'll be a few left over for me afterwards!) I particularly liked this decoration from my local neighbourhood.

Trick or Treating, thankfully, doesn't often involve the “trick” part here.

The history of Halloween dates back to the Celts, nearly 2000 years ago. They believed that October 31st was the night before the new year, and that the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred, allowing the ghosts to return to earth in search of the living to possess. Folk would dress up in costume and parade around their village, being noisy and destructive to frighten away the spirits looking to possess them.

Of course, for the skeptic, we're unlikely to believe in an afterlife due to lack of evidence. Thankfully, the ancient reasons for the celebration seem to be mostly ignored by modern people.

But, over the years, various concerns about Halloween have been raised, both legitimate and less so. Children wandering the streets and visiting strangers' houses raises the potential for danger - but realistically, most people are harmless and I've not seen good evidence of trick or treaters actually being in danger. Still, for parents, it's better to be safe than sorry, and young children, particularly, should be accompanied.

Of the less legitimate concerns that have arisen over the years are objections raised by fundamentalist Christians about association with the occult, and seemingly bogus concerns about treats (candy in American lingo) being laced with drugs or needles or razor blades!

There have been actual cases of this happening, but they're few and far between as Snopes points out, and they're more likely to be hoaxes than real incidents. But, things have happened - such as the 1959 case of a dentist in California who gave out laxative pills disguised as candy.

Source

And, last year, in Ohio, sewing needles were found in Kit Kat bars given out at Halloween. But such incidents are super unlikely, and unlikely to cause any real harm - a needle in a chocolate bar is likely to be discovered before being swallowed.

These incidents have prompted some politicians in the US to start promoting the wild idea that “Rainbow Fentanyl” pills will be given out to children at Halloween. There's no evidence for this, and it seems particularly unlikely that Fentanyl pills, with a reported street price of $25 - $50 USD would be being given out randomly!