Is it because it’s in the Fall, when things are dying and returning to the earth? Is it the stormy weather that accompanies the changing of the season? Where did this spooky holiday come from anyway?
It has its origins, no doubt, in some medieval tradition. I don’t know, I haven’t looked it up, but seems kind of medieval, gothic atleast.
My neighbors across the street have set up a graveyard on their front lawn . . .
. . . simulating dead people lying under the ground. But with the possibility that they might come out and start walking around, go door to door Trick or Treating, looking for candy.
It’s one of the most popular costumes, if not the most popular, among the kids: the ghoul, the ghost, the zombie, the skeleton.
Do we need to be reminded? Do we need to be scared? Thrilled maybe? Michael Jackson’s 1982 hit ‘Thriller’ was on top of the charts for a record 37 weeks and transformed music videos forever. I remember when I first saw the video, it was like a seminal event. I was in the appliance department of Sears, out at the mall, and it was playing on the demo TV sitting in the display. Stopped me in my tracks, transfixed.
I asked Katie, from Rose Hip Market who was hanging out with her friend at oneanother coffee, “Why are we fascinated with the undead, the ghouls and the ghosts and the goblins?” “Because we want to feel alive.” she replied. That sounds right.
“It’s fun because it’s spooky” explained Chelsea, the barista at oneanother when I queried her about it. I suspect that is true too and about as good of an explanation as you’re likely to find anywhere. Kids like to be scared. A little bit.
The Mexican celebration of Halloween is called “Day of the Dead” and it features a picnic in the graveyard with your deceased family members. They come back to visit. It’s not really a spooky occasion but a pleasant time, a party. This tradition is married to the Western spooky version of halloween in my city which is about equally split between Hispanic and non-Hispanic, so we see both cultures.
There will be skulls and altars and skeleton people all over town soon. There will also be spider webs and scary monsters, vampires and ghosts made out of bed sheets popping up on the front lawns of my otherwise good and gentle neighbors everywhere too. Halloween for me will be riding around on my bike checking them out. Some are very creative.
“Kids see ghosts.” was Jordan’s comment, the barista at Philo’s. “They have a strong imagination.” No doubt about that. She is Hispanic so she believes that people pass over from the dead to the living. That’s what I think.
When I asked my friend Marla, the manager at Royal Blue, she said it’s about “the dead being alive and the alive being dead”.
“Whoa.” I interjected, “The alive being dead? That’s us.”
“Yeah I know.” she said at looked at me straight in the face.
So it’s a pretty interesting holiday. If you want to self-reflect or if you want to dress up in a zombie costume and go to a party. The ancient Celtics celebrated Samhain, marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, on this date. They danced around and carried torches, trying to scare off the evil dark spirit of winter. It was a time when the boundary between this world and the other was porous and the spirits were able to cross over. That’s what they believed.
Then the Catholic Church got a hold of it and turned it into All Hallows Day. To pray for the dearly departed saints and martyrs. They lit candles the night before, Hallows Eve, get it, Halloween, and baked cakes for the people who would come later door to door offering to pray for the dearly departed along with the saints and the martyrs as was their custom. Trick or treat. Yummy treats in exchange for a prayer. Cool Halloween.
I just made a small fire in the backyard to celebrate the changing of the season.
Happy Friday the 13th. Mwah ha ha ha ha.
Halloween, the spooky season