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| Time to collect treats! |
By: MAGGIE LEE, Staff Writer
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Posted: Friday, October 30, 2009 10:40 pm
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As I grew up in Northfield (I was born here in 1921), there were two times a year that I visited all the homes in several blocks near my home — May Day and Halloween. On the first of May I passed out treats; on Halloween, I received them.
I continued to live in the house that I came to from the hospital in 1921 — with the exception of the years I attended business college and held my first job in Minneapolis — until I sold the house in 1991. My father, a carpenter, had built that house in 1913 and through the years had added things that my mother and I dreamed up. So it was a wrench to leave it, but for various reasons it seemed like the thing to do.
I guess it was summer when I moved to a downtown apartment. As Oct. 31 approached, I laid in a supply of goodies. I made sure I was home that evening and I eagerly awaited the ringing of my doorbell. But it never rang. Halloween was not celebrated downtown; at least not on the second and third floors.
Now I am once again living in the residential area, having moved last December. I don’t remember that anything happened on May Day. Maybe that isn’t celebrated any more, or maybe I wasn’t home. But suddenly the other day I realized that I would likely hear “tricks or treats” at my door Saturday night and I’d better be ready. I hope it will not be raining buckets, or worse yet, snowing.
I didn’t go very far from home when I was a little kid. Accompanied by my dad, I stuck to our block. I think I had a papier mache jack-o-lantern to start with, but then graduated to a small pumpkin jack that Dad carved. It was lighted by a candle. When I got old enough to be out by myself, it was decided that my larger pumpkin should be lighted by a small flashlight rather than a candle. I don’t think I ever carved my own jack-o-lantern, however.
Although my dad was not diabetic, his father was and my parents were always concerned about how much candy I was eating. Therefore when I got home on Halloween, my candy was put away and issued to me, so much at a time.
When I was real little, I had masks on Halloween. They were flat, made of cardboard, held in place by a rubber band. Come to think of it, I had masks when I got older too. They were shaped to fit the face, going from ear to ear and under the chin. I can’t remember what they were made of. I think some kind of cloth, but they were stiff, held their shape.
It must have been May Day when I ran into Neil “Chris” Christian somewhere in my block. The same age as I was, he lived a block from me. I hadn’t intended to go that direction, but as long as he was right there, I figured we might as well exchange goodies. “Well, let’s see what you have,” he said. He wasn’t about to trade for something he didn’t like. I guess he approved, because I remember we did exchange. I normally carried home-made fudge and divinity.
Dad and I had another kind of walk together for several years. We lived near what was then the east edge of town and a farmer owned a square block near us and pastured a group of cows. Every night, Dad and I walked over there, carrying a small covered metal pail in which we obtained milk.
Goodness, every day Mother put a card out on a front porch window that told the ice man how big a chunk of ice was needed for our refrigerator. Originally our refrigerator was on the back porch, but then my parents bought a new one that had a back door to the ice compartment. The refrig was then placed in the kitchen and Dad built a passage from the ice compartment door to the outdoors complete with stairway to bring the ice man to the proper level. The melted ice drained into a pan under the refrigerator. We had to remember to empty that pan periodically or we would be in trouble.
To get back to Halloween, I think some years I had a costume too. It would have been home made, created from a dress that was ready to be discarded. I even had a black witch’s hat in my early teen years, a tall peaky thing. I wonder what ever happened to that!
Finally I decided I was too old to be out collecting candy and took over the job of dispensing candy at our house. I remember being shocked when some of the visitors appeared to be older than I was.
— Reach Maggie Lee at 507-645-1119. |
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