Atmosphere makes Halloween a hoot

Are you ready? Halloween is Wednesday and all the little (and larger) ghosts and goblins will be out and about.

Can’t wait. I love Halloween, in all its pagan glory and ancient tradition. It’s a time that spurs and excites the imagination, and not just for kiddies, either.

I had a note from a friend the other day who remarked on the atmosphere of a nocturnal foray up the Valley and its power to charm the senses. A combination of lunar, physical and elemental forces made quite an impression. Small wonder, I say.

The weather lately has been remarkably good considering the bitter cold we’ve experienced on Halloween in the last couple of years. The leaves are rich and colorful, the days bright, and the morning and evening skies are tinged with fire as the sun rises and sets.

I was on the road Saturday night and shared the experience. The moon was full, its glimmer slivered by denuded trees. The light evoked shadows full of life and ambition if one wished to look long and hard enough to witness their furtive movement.

The wind was lusty and warm, a kiss of moisture in it as it whipped leaves with wild abandon. The headlights caught the constant swirl time and again. Airborne objects dipped toward the windshield and then disappeared as quickly as they were captured in the glow.

Safe and secure in a locked car, I imagined lupine figures pacing the vehicle as it left the subdivision. In town, who could be sure that I didn’t see cloaked and hooded creatures cleave to the angled darkness of this building or that as I rolled by?

It was wicked! And Oct. 31 will be the icing on the proverbial cake.

I’ll take my two young friends for a ghoulish jaunt around the neighbourhood, celebrate the season in an electric evening of activity, and then sigh deeply. Done for another year.

What’s beautiful is how they take me back. Me and my peeps in Scarborough half a million years ago would chase the moon on Halloween night. The streets would bristle with kids running, waving, hooting and hollering.

Alleys would echo with the perennial refrain: “Trick or treat, smell my feet; give me something good to eat.” Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Old Mr. Ryan would give us something from the shelf at his convenience store; my mom would wear a witch’s costume and shriek, “Shell out! Shell out! The witches are out!”

We’d dart up and down steps and porches, bedsheets flapping at our legs, fingers tugging eyeholes that never seemed to stay in place.

Some costumes were so good it was impossible not to marvel at their intricacy and scare factor. Others were so bad we had no choice but to dis them out and wonder why anyone would dare to be so lame on such an august occasion.

It was the sum of the parts that made the whole, and it happens again Wednesday. Dress warm, dress up, have fun, be safe.

That’s what Halloween’s all about, kids. It’s one last time to howl before the propriety of Christmas and I, for one, plan to revel in the celebration and do my best to share the feeling.