Secret Squirrel looks at developments in Halloween, and is stunned to see that some rather puritanical and dictatorial governments of some cities in America, have set limits on the times, and particularly the age at which one can go out on Halloween.Let's look at this problem and consider things, and we'll start at the very beginning of it all.
The best clue for how trick or treat got started comes to us from the Middle, or Dark Ages, when the Catholic church approved the act of "souling". This event was devised so that beggars could go around asking for food, usually barley or oat cakes, in exchange for prayers. The Catholic church said the prayers were an extra bit of "insurance" that a dead person's spirit would be given entry into heaven. Soul Cake day is no longer in common practice in England, but it is still rather popular in Scotland and Ireland and from this, it is believed, the concept of trick or treat arose.Another theory on the evolution of this grand yearly event is that Trick-or-treating evolved out of the late medieval custom of children asking for treats in exchange for praying for the dead of the household, according to Hans Broedel, a University of North Dakota history professor and expert on early traditions.Tricks--usually vandalism and other debauchery by teens and young adults--were a big part of Halloween for a time until a conscious effort in the 19th and early 20th centuries to shift the celebration toward children, Broedel said.
,Trick or treating didn't start happening in America until sometime in the early part of the 20th century. It was first found in magazines and papers in the latter part of the 1930's. Throughout the 1940's trick or treat started to get into full swing due to many of the children's books and TV shows. In 1952, Walt Disney permanently burned it into the minds and hearts of America when his cartoon, Trick or Treat debuted. Trick or treat was here to stay.
Teenagers who trick-or-treat in some cities face something more threatening than any costumed zombie or ghost -- like the long arm of the law...some cities (Virginia State)even yet class it as a class 4 misdemeanour.......maximum $250 fine....these were brought about in Virginia in the 1970's.
In Virginia, several cities have had trick-or-treating age limits on the books since the 1970s. City officials from Meridian, Miss., to Bishopville, S.C., and Boonsboro, Md., have cut off the trick-or-treat age at 12,and limit time to no later than 8PM. Other cities,Chesapeake,Hampton,Newport News,Norfolk,Portsmouth,Smithfield,Virginia Beach,
Williamsburg.Still, officials cannot recall anyone ever being arrested or fined for being too old to trick-or-treat.If anything, officers will let teens off with a warning or a call to their parents.Even if they wanted to, officials acknowledge the laws are difficult to enforce. Still, they say putting the word out about the laws every year keeps too many teens from violating the bans. How is it even possible to make laws stating that you can't go ring someone's doorbell past a certain age? If someone isn't comfortable with the trick-or-treaters, they can just not go to the door, just like with anyone else. What about the kids that develop early? You get boobs and you aren't allowed to go?Twelve seems really young to set as a limit,kids need something innocent to do for fun - especially on holidays like Halloween.
The last time I went was when I was 16.No word on whether they believe it should be government’s responsibility or that of parents to give kids the talk about Santa Claus.
You know what's generally said about politicians......
"If a rabbit defined intelligence the way man does, then the most intelligent animal would be a rabbit, followed by the animal most willing to obey the commands of a rabbit."
-Robert Brault
If you wish to limit the age for trick or treat, how about 90.Thank heavens, then,there's no age limit on trick-or-treating at Mickey's Halloween Party ... at Disneyland, where kids of any age can continue to trick-or-treat.The choice is yours, have a lit pumpkin or not,open the door or not, but the politicians in some places think not.
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