Halloween in High Park

This Monday, you will be able to find various extraordinary characters and creatures walking the streets of the High Park community. There will be many of them. They will be of different ages and sizes. There will be much laughter and shrieking. Of course, from every corner, you’ll be able to hear the classic “Trick or treat.”

We’re hoping to go out for a walk and take a little part in this event. Every year, we meet our neighbours and their kids, who, over the years, have passed through various costume phases, from ladybugs, to Harry Potter characters, to pirates. These days, there is a considerable increase in the number of vampires.

The year before our daughter had passed from the age of the participant to the age of the observer, she got to go trick-or-treating as a Frenchman, and, another time, as a shepherdess.

The shepherdess has pink cheeks, a straw hat, a staff, and a long, wide skirt which I had sewn from an old curtain. When people asked “Where is your sheep?” she would take out a small stuffed sheep from her pocket.

The Frenchman wore a beret, a striped sweater, and a red scarf, while carrying a baguette. By the end of the evening, the baguette was considerably smaller.

For some kids, this holiday is a matter of business. They go out with a pillowcase, which they take effort to fill up by the end of the evening. These kids dart from house to house with one goal only – to gather as many treats as possible.

It’s always interesting to see the kids who appear small enough to be taking part in trick or treating for the first time. Last year, I saw this one little tiger. The cheerleaders – mom, dad, and grandma – took so long to convince him to go up to the door and say “Trick or treat”. Finally, he gathered up the courage, and walked on, with his tail dragging behind him, climbed the steps, uttered the magic words, and received the candy.

A magical transformation occurred at that moment. The tiger ran towards the next door as fast as he could.