Page 5 - Sentinel October 2017

LARKSPUR TOWN HALL VANDALIZED means Holy Day—the day after the Holy Evening. Word roots
Walt Korinke... are important!

Larkspur’s new I-25/Spruce But, like all internationally popular celebrations, All-Hallows
Mountain Road Travel Center Eve acquired customs from many cultures and over time. How
has been a “hot topic” with sev- you spent the Holy Evening depended on where you lived. In
eral heated discussion at Larkspur some cultures it was a solemn affair, spent praying for the souls
Town Council meetings. About a of the dead. Others held special suppers, not unlike the Jew-
dozen area residents, some town ish Seders with traditional food and prayers. And some cultures
and some surrounding, have made created a night of the dead, saw All-Hallow’s Eve as a time
their opinions heard, sometimes when souls returned to earth, moaning and wailing like the lost
with verbal responses on both sides souls they were.
becoming quite boisterous. As is
typical of these meeting, seldom It was the Celts in Ireland, Scotland and Wales who celebrated
do those in favor of a project actu- All-Hallows Eve with merriment. In England it became a secu-
lar holiday because, with the overthrow of the Roman Catho-
ally attend unless they are lic Church in the 16th century, the week was no longer “holy.”
actually involved with the Indeed it was actually outlawed by Queen Elizabeth as being
project itself – this is just “too Roman” in its religiosity. But the people carried on the
the way it works. No matter traditions anyhow. Children still begged at neighbors’ doors
which side of the fence (or for “soul cakes.”
neutral) you are on, growth
of a community is always Traditions from the Celtic celebration of the end of the harvest,
contentious – and should Samhain, also made up the celebration of Halloween in Great
always be approached by Britain. Pumpkins and scarecrows clearly mark it as a harvest
all with respect and open festival. Masks and monsters and ghosts—the whole idea of
minds to all concerns and lost souls—linger from early Christianity. Maybe an anony-
opinions. mous Scottish poem expresses the supernatural aspects best:
From ghoulies and ghosties / And long-leggedy beasties / And
things that go bump in the night, / Good Lord, deliver us!

Unfortunately, a very juvenile And trick or treat? Well, obviously that grew out of begging
effort by someone opposed for soul cakes, but it acquired its present form of children going
was recently experience with door to door demanding candy in the United States in the 1920s.
VANDALISM to the Town Give us a treat or we’ll do you a trick! An entirely American
Center. The spray painting of invention based on bargaining and profit! ~KD
slogans on the windows is not
only disrespectful to the town,
but reflects a criminal effort to
impose an individual’s desires
upon the community. Protest,
but do it peacefully. Support is also acceptable – do it if you be-
lieve in it. It is the Council’s responsibility to gather the com-
munity input and then make the best decision for its citizens.
Yea or nay, grow up!

Halloween Feel and look your best with
is a medieval
contraction of the help from Full Circle Larkspur
name All-Hallows
Eve and simply
means Holy Eve- fc
ning linguistical-
ly. In the Roman
Catholic calendar pilates • yoga • massage
after the eighth
century, it was the www.fullcirclelarkspur.com
eve of All-Saints Day or All-Hallows Day. Holiday of course
Perry Park Sentinel October 2017 - Page 5