I was driving with my own thoughts yesterday, when suddenly a landscape of orange caught my eye... and it wasn't construction barrels. Pumpkins! Lots of pumpkins!!! They made me smile and I remembered the many Halloweens I spent tromping around the neighborhood with my sons as they yelled "trick or treat".
Halloween is one of those holidays everyone enjoys and no one gets too excited about the fact that it is rooted in a pagan and then Christian past. Our celebration of Halloween has more in common with its Celtic origins than the Christian All Hallows Even (holy evening). It is a time we allow ourselves to be consciously frightened by ghosts and witches and all sorts of "evil" creatures... in the name of fun. Even the bewildered look of a 2-year-old child is part of it. And teenagers get to act "gothic" and no one minds.
Why do we have traditions like this? Well, most of life is a serious affair. Societies develop holidays as pastimes... diversions... from all that seriousness. If religious holidays are too serious, we have a tendency to make them less serious. Christmas moves from the religious celebration of Jesus' birth to Santa Claus bringing presents. Easter moves from Jesus' death and resurrection to the Easter Bunny bringing candy and eggs. Halloween moves from honoring the dead back to scaring off the ghosties and beasties with our masks. And people have a good time. We allow ourselves the luxury of enjoying ourselves with our family and neighbors.
Of course, celebrations change with the times. As we concern ourselves with "bad" people and not letting anything bad happen, we let seriousness creep back into our celebrations. No more cookies or doughnuts or cider, thank you... might be poisoned. Only store-bought, sterile "treats". Move the "trick or treating" to the afternoon to protect everyone. Don't want to let our defenses down. Better safe....
Isn't that sorry?
