“When the frost is on the punkin…”
The onset of fall weather turns our minds to the premier autumn holiday, Halloween. The holiday as we know it evolved from ancient Celtic harvest festivals, which in northern Europe were eventually replaced by the early Christian celebration of All Souls’ Day, a time to honor the dead. In Johnson County, as elsewhere in the United States, this holiday has for decades been the occasion for secular fun and frolic.
Foods associated with the fall harvest, including pumpkins and apples; continue to play a role in Halloween entertainments, although candy for young trick-or-treaters now dominates the menu. Before 1900, night-time pranks were the primary Halloween diversion. On November 1, 1877, the Olathe Register chided its readers—“ Boys! Boys!!! We are very much surprised to learn that you carried off everybodies gate last night. Take them all back like good boys, Hollowe’en is over.” After the turn of the century, Halloween parties became more popular, especially for young people. The museum collection includes a preprinted postcard invitation to a Halloween social to be held at a local Baptist Church. Such parties would typically include games, songs, refreshments and ghost stories told in darkened rooms. In the years following World War I, costumes and trick or treating for children gradually became the most important feature of Halloween festivities.
--ALBUM vol. 14, no. 4 (fall 2001)