Another Halloween has passed and our decorations still adorn the porch. Spider webs, lights, skeletons, a witch that cackles, a doorknocker with springing eyeballs, a couple of bulb-lit pumpkins and one real pumpkin all sit silently waiting to be tucked away in their plastic bin or thrown into the compost bin. Sunday should have been my un-decorating day (I think I just made up a new word) but I couldn’t bring myself to say goodbye to one of my favorite holidays.
I can’t quite relate to the folks who get all worked up about Halloween being tied to Satan or a time to worship the dead. My theory is they’ve either sat in church too long or watch way too much TV. People, it’s just a holiday. And, it’s become such a secular holiday that Hallmark is one of its prime embracers. And, if Hallmark embraces it you know it’s okay.
Yes, Halloween has a history, but from what I know, it’s typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain from the Old Irish and means roughly “summer’s end”. The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the “lighter half” of the year and beginning of the “darker half”, and is sometimes regarded as the “Celtic New Year.”
Now here’s the spooky part that gets the religious types up in arms – the celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became almost non-existent on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family’s ancestors were honored and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. Supposedly, the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks with their purpose being to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit in order to avoid harm. Very, very tricky and maybe a little treaty!
The bottom line is that Halloween is what you make of it, but all one needs to do is look around today and see that it’s a great time for kids and adults alike to have a little innocent fun, put on a costume if they like and go door-to-door begging for some decent candy. Okay, I don’t believe in or condone candy-begging by adults. It’s embarrassing to witness and I imagine extremely embarrassing to actually attempt. I have my limits, even on this wicked, evil holiday!
It’s been a few years since I’ve actually put a costume on as an adult or attended an adult Halloween party, but we decided this was the year. Mr. Tom, Payton and I ordered up the disco family costumes and we did not disappoint! The only reason I’d call them scary is when I thought about the fact that in the 70s we wore that kind of clothing it truly frightened me. And, seeing how they fit I’m guessing that I could have warded off a few harmful spirits during Samhain.
First came my daughter’s fall festival at her school on the weekend before Halloween. Among the festivities was a costume contest for the kids. And Payton, in her disco dolly outfit took the top prize for cutest costume. Don’t worry, we left our costumes home that night. A school function was NOT the place to debut.
Then came the Friday night before Halloween where we all decked out in disco and headed to a murder mystery fundraiser/Halloween party for kids and adults.
Mr. T., unbeknownst to him, but certainly known to me, became a suspect in the night’s murder. When he was called to the front and questioned he decides to immediately channel Tony Manero (aka, John Travolta) from Saturday Night Fever. When asked where he worked, Mr. T told them the hardware store, while also sharing that he still lived with his parents. At one point he did a couple of Saturday Night dance moves. I was mortified, laughing and crying tears at the same time. In the end, he wasn’t chosen as the murderer but it was one of the most memorable moments of my 2009 Halloween.
Oh, but there’s more. One of the “actors” that night kept coming by our table and early on had named me “Shiny Lady.” His name was Juri Sonavich (I’m glad that one went over all the kid’s heads). Juri was there auditioning untalented people for his reality show. So, lucky me, he calls a handful of women up to the front, including me, the “shiny lady.” At this point, I’m mortified. He asks us each to scream in High C. The irony is I wouldn’t know High C from High B, D, E or F. I cannot, let me repeat, cannot carry a tune. And, while he’s getting us all ready to scream it just so happens that my daughter spills her pop at our table located in the front slightly to the right. So, she jumps up to go grab some napkins but has to make a couple of trips in front of all of us. On the second trip, Juri says something about “Oh, there’s another one of you, there’s Shiny Lady Number 2.” I felt like it really had become a bad reality show but I’ll admit I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.
Disco Family gets its groove on – Shiny Lady No. 2, Tony (Mr. Tom), Shiny Lady No. 1
Next up was the actual Halloween night. We again adorned the disco garb. And, while I stayed home to answer the door, Mr. Saturday Night and Disco Dolly, aka, Shiny Lady Number 2 headed out into the neighborhood. I had kids come to the door, some accompanied by adults who apparently were in the crowd the night before, resulting in a couple of “shiny lady” shout outs. And, I was told by one parent that Mr. Saturday Night was cavorting in the neighborhood. How dare him!
Now you tell me, does any of this sound satanic and evil? I can’t wait to see what Halloween 2010 brings – scary, shiny, spooky – bring it on!
