Well, friends, just in case you haven’t yet geared up for the occasion, I would remind you that this Sunday all those terrifying, unholy creatures of ancient folklore will once again stagger, float and crawl across our fields and streets.

With joyful anticipation, young and old alike will await that poltergeist rapping on the front door and that high-pitched squeal of delight from those pint-sized ghosts and goblins – let’s hear it now in unison – “Trick or treat!” (On second thought, they’re not always repulsive spirits; here and there you could spot a beautiful, little fairy princess or two.) If you happen to be in downtown Enumclaw or Buckley between 4 and 6 o’clock in the afternoon, you might find them darting about from store to store.

Later in the evening when the ghosts and goblins take a more mature turn, if “mature” is the right word, the greeting becomes, “Trick or drink!” Since it’s a Sunday, I suspect the local gin mills will be especially crowded with all sorts of unspeakables. (Let’s hope none of the costumes become so erotic they get people thrown in the slammer, as has happened in Federal Way.)

Excluding Christmas, of course, Halloween has become the most popular celebration of the year. Indeed, visit most any store in any Plateau mall or community and you immediately realize what a retail bonanza it is.

Private parties often continue into the wee hours, so Monday morning may find more than a few of us plodding off to work with horrendous hangovers. However, at the close of the day, exhausted though you may be, instead of falling asleep on the couch during the evening news, let me suggest you visit the Krain cemetery an hour before sunset, rain or shine. There you’ll find a rather solemn, peaceful little wake being enacted, just as it has been every All Saints’ Day for more than 100 years. From a distance, there’s a certain medieval air about it, like a gathering of Druids. But make no mistake, these are Christian folks. You might also assume, understandably, it’s a Mexican celebration of “Dias del Muertos,” the Day of the Dead. But this is an Austrian and/or Yugoslavian practice though, strange enough, it has many striking similarities to the Mexican festival; for example, the practitioners often leave food and gifts at the gravestones. Last year, someone had left a Baby Ruth candy bar; another site had a can of Rainier beer. And in front of yet another headstone, there was an ashtray and a package of Marlboros.

After the previous night’s drunken brawl, such a tranquil setting is sure to do wonders for your soul and polluted neurons.