Why We Need Halloween

Well said as usual, Celestina! Though my costume this year is anything but scary (Mr Hanky the Christmas Poo), That said I have no doubt that my 2 1/2 year old son will T-or-T for what is really the first time will undoubtedly get scared and want to go home. I know this but still know he should go out and experience it as well.

Thanks for this.

Many of the more devout Christians don't like it because it's a pagan holiday.

Our pastor just yesterday gave a sermon on why there's nothing wrong with Halloween. It was very interesting and informative.

Even outside the church, there are concerns that it promotes unhealthy food choices.

People need to learn to live a little.

So this year please don't water down your Halloween presentations.

Most humans in western society spend much of their time wandering in a vague, uncertain unease. We are surrounded by conflicting signals which tell us to eat our spinach, and then tell us that spinach will cause cancer, and then tell us to beware of the genetically-modified spinach because it will eat us.

But one of the many interesting points raised in your article.

Gah, it seems you are one of the Halloween conspirators. Won't somebody think of the children?

encouraging scantily-clad sorority chicks to take free drinks from strangers

Wait a minute, we've missed out on this part in Ireland. Send a brochure immediately.

I agree completely.

Also, like most holidays that we have (including Christmas) it has pagan roots, but was altered by Christians when they spread westward. Originally referred to as all hallows eve, (hallowed meaning venerated), they tried to replace it with All Saints Day in the 9th century. It was supposed to become a feast to honor saints.

Though they were able to get many of the locals to convert, many of the old celtic traditions lived on, and even spread under the Christians into new areas. The desire to honor the dead and spirits of the land wasn't easily subverted.

Really, saying that Halloween is a pagan holiday is rather silly, because both Easter and Christmas are both equally pagan. Christianity has essentially absorbed all sorts of other customs and they are a part of what we do now.

The name Christmas simply means a mass for Christ, honoring his death. But the tree that we gather around at Christmas is a pagan tradition, as is the giving of gifts. At one time it was a large tree in the center of town, since not everyone could afford one in their home, or could take the fire risk of lighting candles and setting them on the heavier branches, which is one of the things people did before they could make ornaments.

And now I hope you won't mind if I link to a relevant article.... Sorry couldn't help myself.

Drop the rules, make yourself sick with the vice of your choice, but most importantly go see or do the scariest thing you can think of.

I like to think of it as "Scare the crap out my girlfriend day." Like, going through a haunted maze, and secretly meeting up with the actors beforehand and giving them the inside information on exactly what to whisper and scream as we wander through.

It'll be hard to top that this year. I'll be spending tonight trying to think something up.

Well, I guess the sort of "scared" you get when someone dressed up in a costume jumps out at you is certainly superior to the other kind you described -- where you spend your life worrying that somehow you will miscalculate and your outgo will exceed your income and bad and humiliating things will follow. Or that there will be a pandemic and you will die and there will be nobody left to feed your pets. Or some guy with no insurance will total your brand new car on the interstate. Or our illustrious President will decide to drop an atomic bomb on Iran. Or gas prices will go up so high you will not be able to afford to drive to the grocery store.

I get that, and I guess you are right. I am of the deep conviction, however, that the real interest and justification for the holiday is really all about dressing up as someone else. Or just plain an excuse to dress up. That seems to really excite a lot of people. Given that most folks don't even dress up for church, don't go to dances or dress up parties any more, etc., I think a lot of people really, really want an excuse to dress up. They are the ones who end up in cocktail dresses with fairy wings or tux with a ribbon across the chest, I guess.

So this year please don't water down your Halloween presentations. Drop the rules, make yourself sick with the vice of your choice, but most importantly go see or do the scariest thing you can think of. The animal within will thank you, and we are all going to need that strength to get through the coming holiday season.

I love it, A "too much is never quite enough" stance on Halloween. Right on, and happy zombies.

Hmm, no costume and no plans out here in columbus... I seem to have managed to miss any and all parties. Weird. Maybe something will come up last minute...

I am dead, and I am hunting you. Boo!

Scary huh.

Cauldron of Change
Blossom of Bone
Arc of Eternity
Hole in the Stone

- Unknown

What a wonderful article. The spinach comment tickled me in several ways.

My favorite part about Hallowe'en in a visceral way is "freaking out the squares." This year's work costume is a simple pair of horns, which I will refuse to acknowledge exist. Should be good sport.

But I like the pagan side of Hallowe'en - the celebration and the preparation for the dark half of the year. It is also a time for remembering those who have gone before - and for me, those were all theatre geeks, so my dressing up always has a double meaning.

(By the way - I no longer consume High Fructose Corn Syrup - but I'm letting the ban down as I have a freezer full of Hallowe'en candy and boy howdy am I loving it!)

Sadly, the neighborhood that my wife and I moved to doesn't have any kids that go trick-or-treating, which is a shame. In our last neighborhood, we used to do up the front porch and yard with a "theme", complete with maze, fog machine, special effects, etcetera. Our neighbors used to time us to see when the first kid would start crying. Our record, measured from the official "start time" of the neighborhood's Halloween announcement, was six minutes.

Now we usually wind up using our stuff to decorate friends' Halloween parties. It's just not the same.

Wonderful article Celestina. You write so well.

My son was terrified (shrieking and screaming) by a neighbor in a pig mask at age 3 and then as I took him screaming out the door, by another friend and his wife dressed as 6 ft+ clowns. He refused to go to a friends birthday party because the parents had told him they were going to dress up like clowns. He refused to go into our neighbor's house again, but would sit on their porch. He hid a Scientific American magazine with African Masks on the cover under another stack of magazines and would take quick peeks over a period of months! He didn't like Muppet movies after that and he wouldn't go to Star Wars movies either.

I don't like being scared. It lives with me for days and days and days--I dream it. I loved the old "blob" and giant ants sci-fi, but once stuff like Jaws and the Jason stuff started being made, I quit watching.

I do like dressing up for Halloween though and my kids liked making their own costumes. Some years we'd make our own weird creature masks out of paper mache'.

The west makes things too "safe" and then discovers it's not possible. Like wrapping kids in cotton wool all their lives only to have them drive like maniacs because as teenagers they don't understand they can be hurt. So, yes! Go make your town a less safe place, C.

Great article, Celestina! Agree completely with what you said.

It gives us all a chance to play dress-up, to take off the clothes through which we usually identify ourselves and explore what it is to be someone (or something) different.

Two great Halloween parties that the Missus and I enjoyed while living in Colorado required costumes. One was a Disco-theme party. It was amazing to see some of the disco-era clothes that were found in old trunks. And to see our friend's transformations! And even though I twirled my coat around my head and threw it into the crowd, the consensus was "He's no Travolta".

At the second party, I dressed and played a pimp. I was busy all night trying to recruit new blood for my stable, but the only nibble I got was from a fellow dressed as a flasher - it was just sad. The less said about the Missus at the second party, the better...

It was great not having to be myself at those two parties!

Great article, Celestina. Every culture, so far as I know, has a way to deal with the dark side of nature (human foremost). I think it is a way of experiencing 'the other', by taking on the persona for that time. Hence it can lead to a greater understanding of the other. It is also a safe way to explore the darker side of ourselves and come to terms with the attraction that the exotic and forbidden has on the human psyche.

All Hallows Evening (Hallow e'en) is not a pagan holiday. The pagan holiday is Samhain still celebrated in Scotland on 5 Nov. The Roman Catholic Church moved All Saint's Day from May 13 to give the Christians a holiday at the same time. It is followed by All Soul's Day on the 2nd.