The sleepy town of Marlon, Ohio has cancelled the celebration of Halloween, local politicians believing its richly diverse population (or at least, the one they hope to some day have) are not sufficiently represented by a traditionally Celtic holiday that involved transporting the spirits of deceased relatives in hollowed-out gourds or turnips to a resting place.

Ancient Celts believed that the barrier between our world and that of the spirits was permeable on the night of October 31 and terrified residents would leave food and drink on their porch to appease the spirits and the Covid-19. This tradition evolved into the “Trick-or-Treat” custom enjoyed by today’s Celtic children.

Celts who needed to venture outside after dark did so in costume to confuse the evil spirits, lest they be whisked away or infected with pandemic should they be recognized.

This was also a time of great predictions, the thinned barrier between the worlds of the living and the dead allowing for increased accuracy in forecasting the future. Sadly, however, weather forecasting specifically seemed unaffected by this, remaining just as inaccurate on October 31 as any other day of the year.

Especially disappointed are the children of the town’s Roman residents, attracted from the Empire by Marlon’s cosmopolitan reputation. Their Pomona Festival, celebrating the Roman goddess of the orchards, had evolved into the modern Halloween activity of bobbing for apples. And while the town council is ostensibly still allowing people to bob for apples, to reduce the spread of Covid worms in the apples there will be no traditional giant communal barrels. Instead, participants will each receive one thoroughly disinfected apple in a small soup bowl. This will be cut up into thin slices, to reduce the risk of choking; there will be no water involved, to reduce the risk of drowning; and hands are to be used to pick up the apples from the bowl as bobbing with one’s face may release saliva droplets into the air.

The town council has reiterated that traditional Halloween pranks (or “tricks”) from past centuries, which include – but are not limited to – tipping over out-houses, lighting cabbage stalks at keyholes to fill houses with terrible smells, taking gates off their hinges, and leaving livestock on barn roofs, all remain strictly prohibited this year.

Of a piece with all the above, Marlon’s town council has not yet decided on the fate of Independence Day, July 4 – “the nation’s birthday” – seen now as possibly non-inclusive to those whose birthdays are on other days.

Image Credits – 3 Lanterns: Teo (cc by-sa 2.0); Old Irish turnip: Rannpháirtí anaithnid (cc-by-sa-3.0); Trick-or-Treaters: Sarah777; apple bobbing: Rob Swystun (cc-by-sa-2.0)