I thought for sure I had written about my disdain for this commercialized, over-hyped, not really a holiday, excuse to be ‘weird’ day. However, it seems that it was in 2010 that I last wrote about it. So, a little piece 11 years later, and over a week since it has past this year, isn’t too bad.
There are actually some aspects of Halloween that I do like.
One of my fondest memories of Halloween is from when I was in my teens carving pumpkins at a friend’s house. We would clean out the insides, carve, and then have an innards fight outside. Sometimes, there would also be roasted pumpkin seeds for snacks. As I got older, I would hang out with my friends, but I never dressed up and avoided trick-or-treating.
I prefer the “Day of the Dead” or “All Saints Day” celebrations on the 1st of November over the dressing up in silly costumes and gluttonous hoarding of candy that I will likely never eat.
Still, I try to scroll quickly by or avoid social media altogether during the week of and few days after surrounding the 31st of October. It amazes me how the Americanized ‘celebration’ of a pagan tradition has spread around the world and overridden the spiritual meaning to be enjoyed by non-Americans as much as Americans. It just goes to show how commercialism and globalization works to the detriment of society, in my opinion.
For many years I have pondered my dislike for this one day in the year. It probably goes back to my post about Honesty vs Humor as I see dressing up in a costume and hiding behind a mask so that one has an excuse to pretend to be someone else as dishonest. Intellectually, I understand it is a bit of fun and everyone likes to have a chance to pretend for a bit. However, emotionally, I don’t find it fun or funny and lack fully appreciation for wanting to pretend that one is anyone else but who they are. I think we spend too much time trying not to acknowledge or know ourselves, so using one day out of the year as the ‘excuse’ seems redundant.
Anyway… I have managed to endure it for another year and recognize that if it is only one day that bothers me, life isn’t bad. π Plus, this year, I got to carve pumpkins again and find some joy in the passing of All Hallow’s Eve.
