But there is one thing that has always been a mystery to us. All sane and righteous parts of the Western world celebrate, if I may so describe the activities involved, a thing called "Halloween". This thing called "Halloween" is fixed, by traditions of century-long – nay, millenia-long – standing; it is All Hallows' Eve, the night before All Saint's day, November first. Ergo, Halloween is the evening of October 31st, no ifs, ands, or buts.
But. For some reason, here in central Iowa, Halloween is Not Allowed. Poof! Just like that, by some mysterious community decree, the thing has vanished. What is allowed is some pale imitation called "Beggar's Night", which is 'celebrated', in anemic fashion, on the night before Halloween, or maybe the weekend before, or whenever the meddling civic leaders decree it to be so. Oh, and the city clamps a draconian curfew upon activities also, which better be wrapped up by 7:30pm.
I've asked locals what the meaning of all this is. No one can really say, other than to mumble something about it being necessary for public safety, the implication being that hordes of drunken high school kids would rampage through the town if this heavy-handed interference were not in place. Or maybe it's hordes of drunken college kids. (That at least would have some precedent.) But I've lived in other towns with both high schools and colleges, and none seemed to have this problem. Perhaps there is some dark impulse hidden deep in the Norwegian soul that goes on a rampage if given the chance on late October nights. Perhaps. But nobody seems to offer any evidence that said drunken rampaging is likely to occur; perhaps the adults just got together and decided that Halloween was just a little too rich, a little too wild, and dealing with young people was just too much of a burden, so they decided to clamp down.
Elsewhere: the ranting kid opines.
UPDATE (10/31): The heavy hand of the State adds insult to injury.