OPINION
Wallowa County Chieftain
A4
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
VOICE of the CHIEFTAIN
Halloween: Taming our fears and honoring our ghosts
I
t’s a scary time of the year. We
don’t just mean Halloween. This
year there’s everything from our
recently–arrived property tax bills to
the folderols ongoing in the nation’s
capitol. If that’s not enough, there’s
the angst of fi nding (or not fi nding)
things in Safeway (Thank you, Jon
Rombach), getting tires changed, and
living with kids on a sugar high for a
week.
But if you are going to be scared
of something right now, it might as
well be sort of fun. Laughing at our
fears is one way of addressing them,
although perhaps not the most effec-
tive in the long run.
As psychologist Alex Lickerman
has noted in Psychology Today, fear-
ful laughter actually represents a
denial of fear. He notes that “being
able to laugh at a trauma at the
moment it occurs, or soon after, sig-
nals both to ourselves and others that
we believe in our ability to endure
it.”
Whether chuckling at the gob-
lins that arrive on our porches or at
Trunk or Treat, or reveling at Hal-
loween parties where we make merry
while often costumed as fearsome
unworldly beings, we would seem to
be making merry amidst our fears,
and in a way, fortifying ourselves
against them.
Halloween’s origins are obscure,
but likely come from 10th century
Britain and Ireland. Most schol-
ars and folklorists point to ancient
Celtic rituals: the Festival of Sam-
hain, which, in Old Irish is the name
for the end of summer, and Calan
Gaeaf, an archaic Welsh name for the
arrival of winter. While the Irish were
mourning the passage of summer on
or about Oct. 30, across the Irish Sea
the Welsh and Britons were celebrat-
ing the arrival of winter on or about
Nov. 1, a date which is about halfway
between the solstice and equinox.
To these cultures, says University of
Bristol historian Robert Hutton, this
Orange.biz
date marked the boundary between a
world of light and productivity (sum-
mer), and a time of gloom and dis-
comfort and often death (winter). It
seemed a time when the boundar-
ies between the here and the hereaf-
ter blurred, when darkness invaded
the light, and when the souls of the
departed might cross into the world
of the living for however brief a time.
These medieval customs gradually
morphed into Christian traditions
known as All Hallow’s Eve or All
Hallow’s Tide.
To forestall the migration of spir-
its into the world of the living, to
Another Pendelton Roundup in the books
or the fi rst time ever, I failed to
last the full week of the Pendleton
Roundup. I arrived Tuesday morn-
ing for slack but by Thursday afternoon I
had ruined my health and was headed for
home. While there I ran into John Miller,
now living in Arizona, who I hadn’t seen
since college days. We were having a good
visit and I asked him about George Car-
ter who had gone to college with us. John
replied that George, who lives in Okla-
homa, was at the Roundup to watch his
son in the team roping. So we called
him to fi nd out where he was sitting. We
located George who was sitting with Pake
MacIntyre, Reba’s brother, and we had
quite a reunion.
In 1960 John and George and Char-
lie Whitehorn abandoned life in Pawhuska
Oklahoma and headed west to Oakdale
California. John’s uncle, Ben Johnson the
movie star, owned a ranch there and told
the trio they could stay there while they
went to college. We referred to the ranch
as the reservation, George and Charlie
were purebred Osage, John was half Cher-
okee and Ace Berry, whose Dad ran the
ranch, was half Delaware. They arrived
driving a 1941 buick that looked more like
a tuna boat than a car. George referred to
it as the beast that wouldn’t die. They had
pooled their money and paid $75 for it and
over the years it carried them back and
forth to Oklahoma seven times. I recalled
that it was like the latter day Grapes of
F
OPEN
RANGE
Barrie Qualle
Wrath. While in college we became friends
and I remember the boys doctoring year-
lings for fi ve bucks a day which kept them
alive through the school year. The follow-
ing spring John and Ace Berry scraped
together enough money to enter the team
roping at the Salinas Rodeo. John was 18
and Ace was 13 and they won a go round
that paid $1300 a man. This was a fortune
in 1960. John went on to become a world
champion like his uncle Ben and Ace is
one of two people who have won the aver-
age at both ends of the arena at the NFR.
George Carter returned to Oklahoma,
became successful and served on the
Osage tribal council for years. I mentioned
to George I had recently read a book , Kill-
ers of the Flower Moon, about the Osage.
It appears that when the government gave
the Osage their reservation they slipped
up and let them have the mineral rights.
About 1920 the Osage hit oil and for a
while the Osage were the richest people in
the world per capita. It didn’t take long for
a number of them to be killed in order for
others to acquire those rights. George and
John recalled working on the ranch of one
of the killers. They found out years later
that the old guy that used to turn out calves
for them when they practiced had spent 30
years in prison for some of the killings. I
recommend the book.
I want to congratulate the parents in this
county for doing such a great job in rais-
ing some of the greatest kids and young
people. I know a lot of these young guys
and there isn’t a cull among them. They
are polite, will look you in the eye, have
a sense of humor and you could let them
play in your money vault and not have
to count it afterwards. Not only that, but
they are a good looking bunch, girls and
boys. Tragically we recently lost one and
another was severely injured. The whole
county has been in shock and mourning.
To the rest of you young people, please
be careful. You have no idea how dear
you are to all of us, even people you don’t
know well.
I found a poem that I think applies to
this time of year here in Wallowa County.
Autumn
Autumn is an old brave, loping along
In beaded moccasins.
The mischievous winds
are tearing down his painted teepee;
but he is headed south,
long braids fl ying
and the sun glinting on his gaudy
head feathers.
WHERE TO WRITE
WASHINGTON, D.C.
202-456-1414.
The White House — 1600
Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20500;
Phone-comments: 202-
456-1111; Switchboard:
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D —
516 Hart Senate Offi ce Build-
ing, Washington D.C. 20510.
Phone: 202-224-5244. E-mail:
wayne_kinney@wyden.sen-
ate.gov Web site: http://
wyden.senate.gov Fax:
202-228-2717.
Phone: 202-224-3753. E-mail:
senator@merkley.senate.gov.
Fax: 202-228-3997.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D —
313 Hart Senate Offi ce Build-
ing, Washington D.C. 20510.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R
(Second District) — 1404
Longworth Building, Wash-
ington D.C. 20515. Phone:
202-225-6730. No direct
e-mail because of spam. Web
site: www.walden.house.
gov Fax: 202-225-5774. Med-
ford offi ce: 14 North Central,
Suite 112, Medford, OR 97501.
Phone: 541-776-4646. Fax:
541-779-0204.
Pending Bills — For infor-
mation on bills in Congress,
Phone 202-225-1772.
Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884
M EMBER O REGON N EWSPAPER P UBLISHERS A SSOCIATION
Published every Wednesday by: EO Media Group
VOLUME 134
USPS No. 665-100
P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828
Offi ce: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore.
Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921
Contents copyright © 2019. All rights reserved.
Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
General manager, Jennifer Cooney, jcooney@wallowa.com
Editor, Ellen Morris Bishop, editor@wallowa.com
Publisher, Chris Rush, crush@eomediagroup.com
Reporter, Stephen Tool, steve@wallowa.com
Reporter, Bill Bradshaw, bbradshaw@wallowa.com
Administrative Assistant, Amber Mock, amock@wallowa.com
Advertising Assistant, Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com
ensure an abundance of Christian
prayers for lost souls, and also to ante
up a bit of food if you were among
the multitudes of impoverished Brit-
ons, the tradition of “souling” arose
in the early 15th century. Households
baked “soul cakes” and when a group
of callers arrived at the door, they
were given the cakes in an exchange
for prayers for the departed who
might, that evening, return briefl y
and invisibly to the dinner places set
for them. Hutton also notes that soul
cakes would also be offered for the
souls themselves to eat, or the ‘soul-
ers’ would act as their representatives
when they ate the cakes.
The very old and plaintive English
folk song “a Soulin’” made popu-
lar in the 1960’s by Peter, Paul and
Mary was actually sung by “soul-
ers” making their rounds on All Hal-
lows eve (not Christmas eve) in Brit-
ain. (https://video.search.yahoo.com/
yhs/search?fr=yhs-Lkry-SF01&h-
simp=yhs-SF01&hspart=Lkry&p=-
peter+paul+and+mary+soul+-
cake+song#id=1&vid=aab51eb73d-
c5dfeeb10bdcfb2c911ecc&action=-
click)
It is said that British “guising, or
trick or treating evolved from soul-
ing. Yet despite the long, storied his-
tory of Halloween, souling, and guis-
ing across the pond, trick or treating
did not begin in the U.S. until about
1911, and did not become completely
candy-sodden until about 30 years
ago.
As we reach that tipping point
when summer is fi nally overtaken by
winter, and souls are unfettered for
a brief romp through the summery
world of the living this Halloween,
remember to make merry and laugh
at or with those outrageous and fear-
ful costumes. And as your youngsters
dive into their seemingly bottomless
bags of sugar-powered energy, con-
sider the candy bars and other treats
as the soul cakes of the modern era,
with good will for spirits everywhere.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Oppose permitting ATVs on
Enterprise streets
Dear Editor:
“It is unlawful for any person to create,
assist in creating, permit, continue, or per-
mit the continuance of any loud, disturbing,
or UNNECESSARY noise in the city of
Enterprise (emphasis added).”
So states the existing city noise ordi-
nance. I grudgingly condone the use of
ATVs for such ”necessary” tasks as “plow-
ing snow or mowing lawns”, be they oper-
ated by teenagers or chimpanzees.
What I can’t – and won’t – abide is the
UNNECESSARY noise of ATVs joy-riding
thru residential streets and roaring around
backyard racetracks, destroying the tran-
quility of my Sunday afternoons.
If you agree that ear-splitting gas-pow-
ered boy-toys belong in the woods and not
in our neighborhoods, join me at City Hall
on Wed., Nov. 6, 6 p.m. and take a stand for
civility.
C.M. Sterbentz
Enterprise
CORRECTIONS
The Chieftain’s Oct. 23 story about the
upcoming city ordinance governing ATV
operation within city limits, incorrectly
reported that City Recorder Lacey McQuead
would read only three letters into the record.
She plans to read all letters into the record.
Also, in the story on the city helping to fund
the new clock on the courthouse grounds,
Councilman David Elliot was incorrectly
identifi ed as Public Works Director Ronnie
Neil.
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Wallowa County Chieftain
P.O. Box 338
Enterprise, OR 97828