Growing up in Hong Kong, Halloween was not celebrated as it is in North America, at least it wasn't in the 1990s. I never went from apartment-to-apartment trick or treating nor I do not ever recall any kids getting dressed to collect or hand out candy. In fact, I did not realize the reality of trick or treating until I made a few friends from North America. And while I enjoyed my scary movies like Freddy Krueger, Chucky, Poltergeist, and the Shining - Halloween was never a thing in my circle.I was well in my late teens before I even heard a Halloween related story in Hong Kong. And it was a good one - in the late 1990s a group of folks dressed in costumes went to Lai Kwai Fong to bar hop and celebrate Halloween. One of the individuals was dressed like a local prisoner - the local police monitoring the area thought it was a prisoner that had escaped and arrested the individual. Hilarious and ridiculous all at once... it even made it on the evening news!
Halloween 2023- Left: My youngest breaking for a photo op. Right: My oldest parading around the house in his costume.
Since being in North American and having my North American babies, I have come to experience Halloween as it is depicted in the Hollywood movies. And I have come to love the 31st of October. It is such a fun evening, even for a grown middle-aged adult like me! The sights and lights (all the decorations, lights, and candy) make me feel young again. It is admittedly the only time of year we allow our young kids to knock on the doors of strangers, talk to strangers, and take candy from strangers – that in and of itself is a horror story for most any other day of the year!
I especially love Halloween in my small Mid-Atlantic town of 5000ish residents. The 18th Century Victorian homes on main street decorate for the occasion - skeletons climbing up houses and over the roofs, witches protruding from the earth in front yards, and pumpkins carved in every style. The neighborhoods in my town don’t skimp either, the impressive decorations make me feel like I am in a Halloween rendition of Christmas with the Kranks. Neighbors separately but together bring their neighborhoods alive for this one evening. Adults and kids all engage with one another to make the evening spooktacular.
Though, I am particularly sentimental about Halloween this year. My oldest is 14 and yes, he is going trick or treating, but I recognize that as he gets older his trick or treat walks become short numbered and I can’t help but reminisce over the Halloweens from his younger years. For example, when he was 6 months old he dressed like in a furry monkey suit, and we sat at the door to hand out candy. We lived in a rental duplex that year and got just one trick or treater. Or the year he was 2 years old, and we were living in our first home, he dressed like a police man. He was terrified of Halloween that year, but he bravely decided to go trick or treating, only to make it down to the driveway before he came running back home. Fast forward to the past couple of years when he went trick or treating with his friends, a group of about a dozen of his amigos, walking together around the neighborhood for about three hours collecting candy, laughing, joking, and being downright silly.
I am grateful my kids have the experience I long thought was just a scene out of a Hollywood movie. And even though I am physically exhausted and would rather call it an early evening, my husband and I will be dropping our oldest off with his friends while we walk with our youngest. And I will relish the time with my younger one as I snoop on my older one. I will appreciate the simultaneous fun and chaos of the sights & sounds, and may even sneak some candy from my youngest’s candy bag, which either my husband or I will inevitably have to carry as the evening goes on.
So. on that note, I close out this post as I get ready to join in on the spookiness of Halloween 2024!