Viv's Halloween Blog - Halloween Carnivals
Oct. 5th, 2009 08:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivien[ppppppp,mkl
That is what Pig says about Mondays. *moves cat from keyboard*
Okay, back on topic!
I didn't go trick-or-treating as much as a kid because I went to carnivals instead! Back in the olden days, they were full scale Halloween carnivals at schools and churches. I guess it wasn't considered Satanic back then. Or something. *wry*
One of the very best haunted houses I went to as a kid was at the Methodist church's Halloween carnival. My second grade carnival was at my school, and there was the classic "stick your hand into the eyeballs" room with all the creepy icky things to touch. I loved that even as I squealed. I remember doing the whole bobbing for apples thing at these carnivals (and yeah, ew, icky germs). And the cake walk - oh, the cake walk, in which I never won a damn cake. Those drove me insane. I had a lot of fun at these carnivals. Watching the other kids' costumes, playing the games, winning little trinkets, eating those germy apples from the apple bobbing... GOOD TIMES.
By the time I was in college in the early 90's, there was a strong backlash against all things Halloween, at least in my part of the country. That bummed me out like crazy, although I ended up in private preschools where Halloween was a big deal. I was lucky enough to teach two years in a school where they had the traditional Halloween parade and party. That was done away with a couple of years after I left since there was a lot of grumbling about the Halloween aspects as well the "waste" of instructional time on something frivolous like that.
I think it's fortunate that there are a lot of neat carnival-type things for kids to go to these days, from Boo at the Zoo to museum events to more traditional carnivals. Of all the holidays, Halloween is the one, for me, that is most for kids. We adults just get to borrow the joy for a night.
That is what Pig says about Mondays. *moves cat from keyboard*
Okay, back on topic!
I didn't go trick-or-treating as much as a kid because I went to carnivals instead! Back in the olden days, they were full scale Halloween carnivals at schools and churches. I guess it wasn't considered Satanic back then. Or something. *wry*
One of the very best haunted houses I went to as a kid was at the Methodist church's Halloween carnival. My second grade carnival was at my school, and there was the classic "stick your hand into the eyeballs" room with all the creepy icky things to touch. I loved that even as I squealed. I remember doing the whole bobbing for apples thing at these carnivals (and yeah, ew, icky germs). And the cake walk - oh, the cake walk, in which I never won a damn cake. Those drove me insane. I had a lot of fun at these carnivals. Watching the other kids' costumes, playing the games, winning little trinkets, eating those germy apples from the apple bobbing... GOOD TIMES.
By the time I was in college in the early 90's, there was a strong backlash against all things Halloween, at least in my part of the country. That bummed me out like crazy, although I ended up in private preschools where Halloween was a big deal. I was lucky enough to teach two years in a school where they had the traditional Halloween parade and party. That was done away with a couple of years after I left since there was a lot of grumbling about the Halloween aspects as well the "waste" of instructional time on something frivolous like that.
I think it's fortunate that there are a lot of neat carnival-type things for kids to go to these days, from Boo at the Zoo to museum events to more traditional carnivals. Of all the holidays, Halloween is the one, for me, that is most for kids. We adults just get to borrow the joy for a night.
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Date: 2009-10-06 02:52 pm (UTC)It had all of the things you are describing and lots of local crafts for the adults too. I really miss those days.