Happy Hallowe’en.
Hallowe’en is by far my favourite holiday. I love it for its community aspect; in North America we don’t have a lot of community-oriented holidays. We have lots and lots of family holidays, but nothing that really gets you out there with your community. Hallowe’en is entirely about that, and I think we’d do better with more holidays like that.
The other reason I love Hallowe’en is that I’m a huge horror and all things spooky fan. I can (and do!) watch horror movies all year round, I absolutely love them. I have bones and mounted things in my house. For one month everybody is as into spooky things as I am.
So I was dismayed this year when the Christmas creep was already alive and well in mid-October. I’m not talking about the dollar store having their decorations out (seems like they’ve always put both Hallowe’en and Christmas out at the same time). I’m talking commercials and Christmas movies. I read somewhere that Hallwe’en spending rivals Christmas as this point, so it can’t merely be stores trying to sell more Christmas wares to make more money.
Part of Hallowe’en is confronting fear, albeit in a safe way. Once a year people are comfortable doing that, and actively go out looking for something to spook them. Perhaps the past 18-20 months has been rife with that for some, with a constant stream of sickness and death and being told to be scared of your neighbour. Maybe that’s why this year the Christmas creep is earlier than ever – the collective consciousness is tired of confronting fear, whether real or imagined.
That’s not me. I’ll continue loving Hallowe’en and having it be my favourite holiday forever. I hope the general psyche of those who have been living in fear the past (almost) two years can heal and learn to be comfortable with their fear again, even if it is just once a year in October. Not just because I think it’s a fun holiday, but because I think it’s important for us as human beings to confront fear, to get comfortable with it, and to not pretend like death isn’t real.