We have finally arrived! the day we celebrate Halloween, I say “finally”, because the preparations are almost over, and the nerves that cause us the uncertainty of thinking about whether we will have everything ready. Now we just have to enjoy.
I also say "finally" because We usually celebrate Halloween without having any idea what its true meaning is, and I don't like to disconnect the festivities from its root. For this reason, I am sometimes overwhelmed by the commercial wrap that is given to the “night of the dead” (as some Mexicans call it), and I feel like an empty habit, that of strolling through the streets in order to show off the Better disguise and get a huge amount of goodies that we won't even let our children eat.
Later I will tell you very briefly where Halloween comes from, although I know that many of you know it. But this entry is not intended to be agoress, but offer the last part of those tips to celebrate Halloween safely, which began with the costumes, continued with the recommendations for parents of children who already leave alone, and will end up with a series of important things to consider if you are going to party at home.
That it's Halloween is no excuse for
At home healthy foods are neglected and replace with other calorie gaps. That everyone eats candy ?, Yes, but if you worry that children snack well, they won't want to alleviate hunger with jelly beans or salty snacks.
The same goes for dinner, it is normal for us to get out of the norm a bit, although if you are going to make a dessert with chocolate, your friend will bring pizzas, the neighbor cocoa cream sandwiches, and the father of your daughter's partner soda ... ask the last person to sign up, bring some fresh fruit.
Remember that you can also prepare sweet foods other than sweets to give as gifts To those who call the tremor to ask (dates, figs or dried plums, etc.), surely being innovative they accept it easily, and if not, you already have snack for your children for a few days.
For the Celts it was tradition to leave food for the dead, on a day that symbolized (among other things) the transit between the old year (the summer was over, the crops were collected) and the New: the cold arrives accompanied by the gathering. What better date to open the doors that communicate the world of the dead with the living! Tradition has been converted to trick or treat, so that children (and adults) dressed as zombies, witches, skeletons, mummies, etc. They are dead for a few hours, looking for food in the houses
Stays free of danger
In order to avoid annoyance, the lights we want to use to set the garage, the living room or the kitchen should be preferably electric (flashlights, or the like), and if we are going to put candles anyway, we must ensure that they are not close to curtains, sofa, tea towels, dried floral ornaments, papers, or any material that is flammable. And please, even fulfilling these conditions, let's not leave the candles (which will be placed on stable tables) unattended.
If you live in a place where it is cold, and you are going to heat the house with some system that uses gas, make sure there will be enough ventilation.
By the way, the use of fire comes from the fires that the Celts lit during the night of Samhain (which the Americans transformed into Halloween) to scare away evil spirits. Since they just wanted to receive the spirits of their loved ones
Watch outside
If you are lucky enough to live in a house with a garden or near outdoor spaces, it is important that you check that the lighting lamps work well, so children don't have to play in the dark, with the danger that that entails.
Worry about remove objects that hinder the places of passage, or worse, that can cause some fall: hoses, buckets, sacks with pruning remains, etc. Also keep tools and other things that have a sharp point, edge, saw, etc ... it will not be that your little guests give them to play with those gadgets that I had never seen before, and cause a cut.
You are also responsible for
On the way to your house by car, or when you go to pick up your children, you are also responsible for the safety of other children who travel the streets, they must be careful and visible, but tonight is not allowed to rush, and it is mandatory to drive slowly and "with a thousand eyes."
This ancestral festival was celebrated not only to celebrate the end of the harvest, and wait for the spirits of loved ones, but to symbolize that the days were going to be shorter (only that they did not change the time artificially like us). It is not a party they have invented in North America, but before the great commercial invention of Halloween, the Irish emigrated to the New Continent carried their own traditions in their suitcases
Finally: do not forget to moderate the consumption of sweets, nor to discard all the sweets that children carry in their baskets, and they look bad or the packaging damaged. Have fun, for sure.
Images | markow76, José Antonio Gil Martínez In Peques and More | Halloween is coming, why don't we have a party at home? A review of children's books with Halloween themes
