As you drive down the streets of the neighborhoods and observe all the homes decorated in spider webs, scary ghouls and pumpkins with faces, have you ever wondered where and how it all began?

Like many things, it started out as a very different custom, where October 31 marked the eve of a new year, and also loosened the boundaries between the living the and the dead.

Original traditions of trick and treating did not come about until the 1930s, as a petty crime deterrent. A few evolutions later and we have the current-day Halloween.

I certainly favor this holiday over most, and especially over Christmas. Maybe it is because I get to dress up as something completely different and completely immortal, if I so choose. The candy isn’t a bad deal either.