Dear Umbra,
What do you recommend handing out to the trick-or-treaters this Halloween? I would like to avoid the wasteful packaging and additives found in store-bought goodies. I'd bake my own treats, but I doubt parents would let their kids eat anything that's not individually sealed. How can I have an environmentally friendly Halloween?
Robin
Walla Walla, Wash.
Dearest Robin,
We are on the cusp of a most intriguing holiday, so I'm happy to take a break from preparing my costume (can't tell you what it is, you'll just have to guess) to pipe up with some Hallo-green advice.
And don't forget to compost your pumpkin.
Yes, I know there are those who regard this spook-filled night as the work of the devil, and it seems that the people who do participate increasingly end up trick-or-treating at a mall somewhere. But Halloween finds its true origins in the land, like so many of our holidays: it was originally a Celtic harvest festival, directly tied to agricultural practices and the changing of the seasons. Whatever your beliefs, I say it's a chance to get out into the fresh autumn air, kick some leaves around, and become someone or something else for a few hours. We could all use a dose of that.
I'm delighted to know that you still get little ghosts and goblins -- or, I suppose, Potters and Idols -- at your door. And it's frightfully thoughtful of you to worry about packaging, not to mention your trick-or-treaters' health. I do have a few ideas for you, and I hope readers will chime in with others in Gristmill.
The first idea is the worst, so let's get it out of the way: you could turn off all your lights, sit inside in the dark, and bemoan the fate of the world as you listen to the far-off sound of laughter waft up to your windows. Tempting for some, maybe -- and think of the energy you'd conserve -- but I sense that you have more optimism and ambition than that. So let's proceed.
If you'd like to stick with edible treats, there are several options to think about. You might buy fair-trade, organic chocolate or small boxes of organic raisins. Perhaps some cute little boxes of healthy cookies or crackers, or even packets of organic cocoa or all-natural juice boxes. Usually companies that make healthier food are also thoughtful about their choice of packaging materials. And while it's possible that these goodies might not be a hit with the kids, I bet their parents will thank you.
Perhaps you'd rather avoid sweet treats altogether. Then you might consider handing out quarters, dimes, pennies, or even dollars -- but be sure they're not grungy, as you know how the current anti-bacterial fetish makes parents anxious. You could give out small, non-plastic toys. Or how about seed packets, which would pay tribute to the holiday's history, and give kids and parents something to do together? Or maybe recyclable toothbrushes? They'd certainly come in handy.
If you have time (and maybe this is an idea to tuck away for next year), you could reuse paper to make coupon books full of small things that kids can do to help make this planet a better place, like turning off the water when they brush their teeth, or recycling pop cans. Here's one more idea along the reuse lines: make a collection of things that you own and are ready to get rid of, like CDs, books, jewelry, trophies, trinkets, and the like. Put them in a treasure chest of your own devising and let the children choose one item each. Ooh, sparkly. Makes me wish I were a kid again.
Longingly,
Umbra
Ask Umbra’s video advice on composting
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This Friday, don’t just Buy Nothing—use nothing!
Comments
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caniscandida Posted 6:06 am
30 Oct 2006
The Web has all sorts of stuff about the origins of Halloween, and, as is usually the case with the Web, who knows what to believe? Some people with Irish or Scottish connexions seem somehow to have remembered an ancient Gaelic festival (unclear if they think it was common to all Celts, including the Welsh and the Bretons and the Galicians and the ancient Gauls) called Samhain, pronounced something like Soo-wen. And they do indeed claim it had something to do with honoring and remembering the dead. That makes sense, because fairly early on, the Catholic Church "baptized" a traditional northern European pagan memorial of the dead which was celebrated around 11/1 by creating the Feast of All Saints on 11/1 and the Feast of All Souls on 11/2, perhaps most spectacularly celebrated in Mexico as los Dias de los Muertos, the Days of the Dead.
I like the following explanation of Samhain, though I have no way of proving it is true: During the year, which according to the Celtic calendar (?!) began on 11/1, when people die, their souls do not go at once into the underworld, but they hang about the surface of the earth. On the last day of the year, 10/31, the Queen of the Dead rides up from the underworld on a great ghostly horse, accompanied by a vast cavalcade of the dead, and they sweep across the earth, gathering into their number all who have died in the course of the year, and just before dawn on 11/1, they at last descend all together into the underworld.
Meanwhile, since the dead naturally envy and resent the living (?!), it is dangerous to risk encountering them during their ride. To frighten them from your house, it is prudent to carve a scary face out of a large vegetable with a hard rind, and put it in your window or on your doorstep. If nevertheless you encounter any of them face-to-face, it is possible to appease them with an offering of something sweet to eat.
Another suggestion that a couple of bright students told me about: It is advisable to dress in a creepy costume, so you will not be recognized as one of the living. Hmmm ... well, perhaps. At least it is nice to know they are thinking.
Anyway, it looks like the offering of sweets is pretty fundamental.
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Kiera Posted 7:46 am
30 Oct 2006
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caniscandida Posted 9:04 am
30 Oct 2006
On the earlier subject of veggies + death = X (what?; Halloween joy?): First, it is very possible that back in the "Dark Ages," Northern Europeans were celebrating some sort of harvest feast in the Autumn, with polytheistic associations, as well as with underworld associations; and the horror of all that was what inspired those pure priests down in Rome to come with All Saints and All Souls. Remember, "Hallowe'en" is "All Hallows' Eve," the night before the feast of All Hallows, aka All Saints.
Another famous autumnal harvest feast, which pins down the dating of the year's beginning, is Rosh HaShannah, of the ancient Israelites. Of course, the Jews, being a very complicated and constitutionally self-questioning people, also celebrate a sort of New Year soon after the Spring equinox, at Passover.
Secondly, the connexion of agriculture, i.e. harvesting the fruits of the earth, with death and the dead, is common to a number of cultures. Cf. the very ancient Greek myth of the Rape of Persephone by Hades, king of the underworld, and the search for her by her mother Demeter, goddess of all growing things, as told in that archaic masterpiece, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. A favorite among feminists, by the way. The Roman god who was later associated with the Greek Hades is Pluto; but his name is in fact Greek in origin, derived from the Greek name for the secondary underworld divinity Ploutos. But "ploutos" means "wealth." So here we see the connexion: farmers put their "wealth," their reserved seeds, into the earth at planting time -- a sort of sacrifice, because they can now no longer eat those seeds -- ; but the bodies of the dead are also planted in the earth.
So if Umbra and her disciples wish to distribute seeds to trick-or-treaters, regardless of whether the Celts actually thought through the matter this far, good for them!, they will surely be remembered favorably by Persephone.
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Roz Cummins Posted 12:15 am
01 Nov 2006
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willa Posted 1:11 am
01 Nov 2006
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susannoerothman Posted 3:25 am
01 Nov 2006
Since then we've given out gently used children's magazines, and the tons of stickers that are sent out by every organization that ever heard of the word sticker - small toys that are in perfect - a la unused condition - work well, and I keep my eyes open in doller shops etc throughout the year for inexpensive goodies - we have been candy free for years! I make sure I have decorated pencils and other treats for the older kids for whom a coloring book would be an invitation to trick us in return.
We only get 20 or 30 trick-or-treaters so my years worth of saving lends to generous handfuls in the trick or treat bag.
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sufpnancy Posted 2:45 pm
29 Apr 2007
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sailbeb Posted 6:20 am
22 Oct 2007
made from recycled newspaper.. with all kinds of neat scents.
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