Date:  Tue, 1 Nov 1994 09:10:19 -0800

From:  David Harnick-Shapiro <david[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]BUCKAROO.ICS.UCI.EDU>

Subject: Hallowe'en greetings?



Last night was my first Hallowe'en as a homeowner. Apart from a

disappointingly low turnout (anyone want several pounds of left-

over candy? :-) it all went quite well. I was struck, though,

by one thing: in addition to the recitation of "Trick or treat!"

and "Thank you!", a number of children (more toward the 8-10 age

range?) shouted out "Happy Hallowe'en!" as they left our door.



Is saying "Happy Hallowe'en" customary in other parts of the

country? (I grew up here, so I'm disinclined to think it a

local custom of which I was unaware.) Maybe I just got a

bunch of polite trick-or-treaters.



(For some reason I still can't put my finger on, the way these

kids said "Happy Hallowe'en!" reminded me of people shouting

"Merry Christmas!" as they left a Christmas celebration. Maybe

the September onset of Christmas advertising is having an effect...)



--------

      David Harnick-Shapiro   david[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ics.uci.edu

Information and Computer Science

University of California, Irvine