The great thing about Halloween ...

Pumpkins when I was a kid my mum used to cut up a swede, and we had to have it for dinner.

I bloody hate swede.

No sweets, none of that, just bloody swede.

The great thing about Halloween is the whole neighborhood turns out to basically celebrate kids. I assume there are some cranks out there who worry about Halloween candy or how their neighbors decorate their yards, but for the most part all the parents are out there, they're all smiling at the children, it's a good time.

To my knowledge, the kids from my neighborhood are driven to more accessible, wealthier neighborhoods. Haven't had trick or treaters the whole 30 years I've been here. Not even one.

The insane thing is how prevalent the story is of booby trapping candy is, and how very, very rare it is.

The story is almost a holloween spook story on its own.

when I lived in NE, there was a guy in Omaha who gave away 1lb Hershey bars. People came in buses to get them. His neighbors sued to get him to stop and it the court threw it out. He claimed he gave away up to 10,000.

One of my favorite things is giving too much candy (and apples) to kids. We've lived in our condos for 16 years and not one kid has ever stopped by.

"Please sir, may I have another bowl of Swede?"

I think we sang a few songs at school and ate an apple hanging from a string but that was it.

No matter, it was just a run up to the main event five days later.

Guy Fawkes Day?

Bonfire Night, but yes fireworks, jacket potatoes and hot dogs.

It all conveniently ties in with Pagan tradition as well. Fires would be burned to fuel the Sun as the nights are getting shorter.

The gunpowder plot was timed perfectly.

Fawkes wasn't burned as is popularly believed. He was sentenced to be hung drawn and quartered, but escaped his fate by falling off the scaffolding and breaking his neck.