I have long believed the fall semester to be the best season of the year. In earlier years the farming community's work was complete and the spoils of the endeavour enjoyed. With a harvest festival to celebrate, locals were then off to enjoy the pursuits of the hunting season. As youngsters, we looked forward to Halloween and an evening of trick-or-treating.
November hosted civic elections, which at one time were a yearly event, but now lengthened to fouryear terms. These comments arrive on your doorstep on Halloween, providing the only opportunity to comment on that celebration and local politics before the municipal election on Nov. 15.
Where and when did this popular October custom begin? It started back in medieval times as early as the seventh century. Ancient Celts and Gaels in Britain and Ireland
celebrated the end of harvest season. The celebration of "All Hallows Day" was mainly confined to small Irish Catholic settlements. It had roots in paganism and honouring their Gods.
Over time these festivals acquired sinister implications of ghosts, goblins and witches roaming about. A Catholic pope took note and countered "All Hallows Day" of Oct. 31 with "All Saints Day" on Nov. 1 as a religious celebration.
Early "All Hallows" celebrants were nervous walking home in the dark and wore costumes and scary facemasks to ward off roaming evil spirits. Ireland is still the only country where Halloween is celebrated as a national holiday. Thousands of Irish fled their country during the great potato famine and settled in the United States and Canada, bringing their celebration of "All Hallows" with them. For many, Halloween remains the scariest and most fun nighttime celebration of the year. Beware in your travels of ghosts, goblins, witches and scary faces.
Local elections are fast approaching. In some countries, participation in the right to vote is at an all-time high, where participation in our federal, provincial and civic elections is at an all-time low. Delta's turnout will be impacted as there is no challenge to the mayor's chair.
Let me be the first to publicly congratulate Lois Jackson, a very astute and intuitive politician, on a long and successful political career.
There are 13 candidates seeking six council seats and 16 running for seven school board seats. Credit must go to these 29 citizens for undertaking a daunting election process and those 13 successful candidates for agreeing to a four-year commitment, which is hard to explain or anticipate until immersed in public service.
One way to increase voter turnout is to allow ballots to be cast online, from the comfort of home or office. Surely Elections Canada can design a safe, secure system.
Speaking of security, Canada Post recently left our neighbourhood feeling insecure. The neighbourhood post box was left unlocked following a delivery and 15 boxes containing mail were left unsecured for five days despite numerous phone calls to Canada Post. "Sorry for the inconvenience," was the only official response following a routine lock up.
And a good night to you, Rose.
