A week ago, I watched my six-year-old (the butterfly) lead my two-year-old (the frog) from house to house to collect candy. They worked as a team: the older child directing the younger, the younger using his chubby-faced charm to score some extra sweets, and the big sister gently reminding her brother to say “thank you.” It was beautiful, and will surely be a good memory for many years to come.
It reminded me of another warm Halloween memory--from last year, when we introduced my husband’s aunt from China to this American holiday. Our house was the last stop on her whirlwind trip around the United States, and instead of showing her the top tourist sites in our hometown, we carved pumpkins, shopped for the perfect costume at a Halloween superstore, and took her trick-or-treating around our neighborhood.
Halloween is not celebrated in China, so mock graveyards in the front yard, jack-o-lanterns, and goofy costumes were all new concepts to her, but my husband’s 71-year-old aunt (who also wears high heels and totes designer handbags on a daily basis) dove into the festivities with joy.
She spent hours carving her pumpkin, employing skills undoubtedly gained from years as a plastic surgeon. At the costume store, she carefully selected a fabulous witch costume, complete with a magenta silk hat and waistband. And then she donned the costume with matching magenta lipstick and went trick-or-treating with us.
This year, as I reflect on these memories, I hope that my children and I receive Chinese cultural and family traditions with the same joy and eagerness my husband's aunt, our Dayima (below), showed us.
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