Apples and Homemade Brownies

Hallowe'en 1951

Remember back when we filled our bags with apples and homemade cookies and brownies and popcorn balls?

Well, that was my introduction to Halloween in 1951, as a ten-year-old newcomer to Canada. I’d never heard of Halloween before then. It simply didn’t exist in Iceland, which is surprising enough – even adults there believe in people that live in the rocks and hillsides, and their 13 Yuletide visitors are all wee sprites.

My mom made my first Halloween costume – I was one of a pair of dice. My sister, almost 6 years younger, was a little die, I was a big one. A point of pride. Underneath the dice, we were well padded for the cold weather. Our shoes were warm boots. Our hands were warmed by hand-knit mittens. Yes, it was COLD! Late October in Winnipeg, Canada is generally cold, often snowy, as it was that year.

At home, my mom waited for hobgoblins and monsters, well-stocked with bags of fresh McIntosh apples bought that day. Tailing behind us, as we started out, was my dad, more to make sure we didn’t leave the neighborhood and get lost than for safety. Halloween was safe back then.

"Trick or treat!" we called out in unison, as we knocked on doors and rang doorbells. Our bags filled with apples, oranges, lots of popcorn balls, cookies, brownies, and hardly any store-bought candy. At one house we tried to dunk for apples, quite the impossible task with the boxes around our bodies. Loa, my sister, broke into tears because she thought we’d not get any treats there. We did.

A couple of hours later, having returned home at least once for an empty bag, we came back home, chilled to the bone, our mouths watering for the candy and treats we’d collected. Instead, after unbundling, and warming up with hot chocolate, we fell asleep, right at the table, our cups still half full, and bags of treats untouched!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!