Trick or treat. Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat!

Thankfully, now that I’m grown up with a home of my own, there really isn’t much of a threat of being “tricked” by kids on Halloween. I’ve never had to smell any feet either, for that matter.

My children don’t have to wear stiff character masks that have huge holes to see through and a tiny slit for air, like I did as a kid. Remember those masks with rubber bands that always snapped and the matching plastic smocks?

My children don’t have the same freedom to wander the streets after dark, knocking on strangers’ doors, and eating homemade Rice Krispies treats and other goodies. At least not without fear for their safety.

Times really have changed, haven’t they?

I don’t just mean in the last 30 years or so. Even 100 years ago, the holiday was celebrated completely differently. It has become much more commercialized with money-making additions such as mass-produced costumes and haunted houses.

However, if we go back to the origins of Halloween, there are some interesting starts to this sugary, scary holiday. Trick-or-treating, for instance, began when poor children went door-to-door begging for cakes. In exchange for the treat, they’d pray for the souls of loved ones.

The first jack o’ lanterns were made with turnips. Pumpkins weren’t used until Irish immigrants came to America and tried to continue the old tradition. They found that pumpkins were more plentiful here and much easier to carve.

The jack o’ lantern has an interesting legend, related to a man known as Stingy Jack. Jack apparently trapped the devil several times. He’d let him free on the condition that the devil did not take revenge on Jack or claim his soul when he died. However, when Stingy Jack died, God would not allow his soul into heaven, and the devil, true to his word, rejected Jack’s soul as well. The legend states that the devil gave Jack a single piece of burning coal and sent him off to “find his own hell.” Jack placed the coal in a carved-out turnip and roamed the countryside with his lantern. Hence the term Jack O’Lantern, or Jack of the Lantern.

Halloween has become a bit commercialized. I won’t reveal how much I spent on the three costumes that I bought, not to mention the accessories for my own costume and the plush crown for our royal dog.

Yet Halloween still holds an appeal to the kid in me. I like dressing up and playing the part. I like feeling the goo of pumpkin guts on my hands. I enjoy going door-to-door and talking to neighbors that I wouldn’t normally see, let alone speak to.

I adore the wonder in my children’s eyes as they, too, experience the mystical wonder of the holiday. They struggle to find the perfect face to carve into their pumpkin. They ponder for months to decide just what to dress as. And after they have their loot, they spend days sorting, trading, and eating their treats.

This year, Halloween falls on a Friday. Most cities, Warren included, will hold trick-or-treating on Thursday, Oct. 30. However, other places, such as Girard and Liberty, have scheduled trick-or-treating for Friday. Many parents are dismayed to discover that they have older children in football, cheerleading or band, and younger children who wish to take part in trick-or-treating.

Thankfully, some schools, including Girard, have come up with a brilliant solution to this dilemma. From 6 to 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, the Teen Institute, NHS, and Key Club students will hold trick-or-treating at the high school on Shannon Road for Girard students who will be unable to attend the city event because of the football game. All costumes must follow the dress code for school parties (no weapons) and the children will be chaperoned by the high school students.

This Halloween, I will be riding my lime green broom as I venture into the night with a Transformer, a Greek goddess, and Elsa in search of delectable goodies. We won’t be carrying a lit turnip. We won’t ask you to smell our feet. But we will yell “Trick or treat!”

columns@tribtoday.com