For what age range(s) is this celebration most appropriate?
Preschool and Younger
Elementary School
Middle School
High School & Beyond

This Halloween celebration is:
Religious/spiritual

This Halloween celebration can be done:
Outdoors

How much time does it take to prepare for this celebration?
It depends on how elaborate you want to make it

How much does this celebration cost?
$1.00 - $25.00

Describe your Halloween celebration idea:
It's hard to pick a dollar amount, because while generally inexpensive, there could be added cost! And the location, too is variable.

What it amounts to is talking with children about your ancestors, extended family, and/or the people who created their community.

Seasons come and go, and people in our lives come and go, too. Autumn is a natural time of reflection about the Seasons of our lives, and our non-permanence on the planet.
Accepting this reality is a natural part of maturity. Sharing history, of families and places, keeps it alive.

The focus of the Activity varies according to what you can offer in terms of Experiences and knowledge. If you can visit a cemetary of your ancestors, and have stories to tell, it can be interesting to see those names inscribed in stone, and walk the places where these people lived. If children do not visit such places, they will not even know of their existence, and it's their history, too. Tie these family stories into events in the history of the nation.

If that kind of experience won't work right now, just share family Stories, as many as you can, as well as you can. Write them down, if they have not been recorded. Family dinners are a great time to talk, and a great time to Listen. Tape recorders and video cameras can gently roll along as tools in recording history for your children. Share both sad stories, and stories of triumph and joy.

Sometimes, you have the honor of being able to honor the people who settled your community. Perhaps they are in a nursing home, with stories to tell, but few people stopping by to listen. Step further back in time by going a cemetery and cutting away brambles, raking, cleaning monuments, pulling weeds, cutting grass, and planting flowers in an organized way. Those who have connections to the history of that place will have definite ideas of how to respectfully do this; it requires their approval or invitation. At the conclusion, when people are tired from the work they have done, it's a time of celebration, reflection, sharing, and learning. Yes, such things could be done any time of the year; sometimes one just needs the courage to begin.

What steps should be taken to organize this celebration?
Once you decide what you would like to do as a community or family, and how to best achieve it, budget time and money for it, and enlist the help of others where appropriate. Because each person and family has unique history, and many individual stories and gifts to share, it would be impossible to map out all the ways to do this.

Additional comments:
For me, driving out to the land that was once farmed by my grandparents and great grandparents is a spiritual feeling. Taking the old silk flowers out of the bronze vases at the cemetery and replacing them with New, with the help of my children, is just a small part of sharing my history with them. I talk about my parents and their parents, their town, homes, school, and church, and we visit as many of these places as possible. The wheat fields rustle in shades of gold, the mosquitoes bite, the cicadas sing at nightfall...so many things take me back...and I have to share a little bit of it with my kids. I like to think they listen at least a little bit!