Ben went trick or treating with his friends this year. They all had the exact same costume! The only trick or treaters that braved our vertical driveway were two of his friends – and one of those had the same costume too!
Here is our beautiful clone soldier boy:
If Ever the “Trick” Option Should Apply….
This one burns me up. It’s really just a small item, but to me it is symptomatic of a larger trend. I have been watching the transformation of Halloween by certain sectors of pseudo-Christians for a few years now. First, the kids weren’t allowed to wear costumes to school, and the decorations stopped being made. Then, they moved “trick or treat” time earlier and earlier – I saw some kids out at 5:30 pm this year. Then suddenly, it wasn’t ok to do tricks. No TP’d trees, no soaped windows, no rotten eggs. At about the same time as the ten commandments started to appear in front yards (why not the sermon on the mount?), some families just started boycotting Halloween altogether. “Oh, it’s a pagan holiday, celebrating evil and the devil.” Yada yada. So MY KID would go to houses and get NADA – even when the people answered the door!
I grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness, and we didn’t celebrate any of the holidays. Either they had pagan or nationalistic roots, so they were all against my religion. Let me tell you, after Halloween there was always a lot to clean up. If we fled the house and went to Chinese and a movie, it was bad enough. But if we hovered in the back of the house with most of the lights out, we could HEAR people. (Oh, but we were pacifists. We wouldn’t shoot trick or treaters with an AK-47 like this guy in South Carolina. Sheeee-it!)
You don’t want to participate? Fine. There’s a small cost to you. It’s called a trick. It’s nothing really damaging, so suck it up. On one occasion, my thoughts were almost inclined to violence when I heard the sanctimonious explanation offered to my little kid for why he shouldn’t be celebrating Halloween. You can skip the smarmy lecture to my son! You’re fortunate that he was there, because I’m very qualified to argue with you on that topic – and more than willing – but I will not ruin my kid’s Halloween.
All of this is just the background for why what this Palin/McCain supporter did really pushes my buttons.
A woman living in a suburb of Detroit not only refused to give out candy to the children of Obama supporters, but actually posted a SIGN to that effect? Are you freakin’ KIDDING me? Observe:
I am so proud of the kids and their parents who handled it so much better than I might have in their position. Me, I’d truck out at least a dozen year-old eggs. There is no excuse for this. It’s petty and small and evil.
I’m not blaming McCain, and I’m only blaming Palin a little, but I am blaming HER big-time!
Bad, bad, mean lady! Shame on you! Shame!
John McCain: Diffusing the Hate on SNL – Thank you!
McCain has been a little scary lately, and his followers on the fringes are even scarier.
One of the truly disturbing moments for me was when McCain addressed a crowd as “my fellow prisoners.” That’s not an incidental slip-up.
Who holds him – and us – prisoner? Terrorism? Neo-cons? The Saudi royal family? Big Oil, Pharma, Banking, and the rest? I wonder if he does really still feel like a prisoner, if he’s having flashbacks. Does he wonder about the consequences of selling out his previous integrity – or about who and what he sold his soul to, and what for? Does he feel like a victim of his own decisions? Has he identified with the jailers? If you know anything about psychology, you have to wonder what that mind-set portends. Seriously, is he ok?
John Cleese was astounded:
In that regard, the late endorsement of Dick Cheney probably doesn’t help.
I have been wondering why McCain has gone so much more wrong.
So far, we’ve seen two major turning points. One was years ago, when after having been relentlessly attacked by the Rove smear and slander machine, he suddenly did an about-face. I can never look at that photo of McCain clinging to Bush without shuddering. Something is very, very wrong there.
Then, some months ago, an acceleration emerged through that deal with… whoever… when he voted against the anti-torture bill. I had always counted on him on that issue, at least.
It was at that point that the scary smile started appearing all the time, and there was a clearly-visible increased stress upon his body. Every one in a while, you could see a kind of rage in him, and his brown eyes would enlarge into a kind of madness or dementia. I think he was trying to project righteous courage or something, but it wasn’t working. I could only hope that it was a put-on, because if it wasn’t then that suggested to me that he needed serious psychological and even medical help.
So I think McCain made a good choice when he decided to appear on SNL. He showed a better side of himself, and presented himself as more like the guy I remember from years ago. I loved that comment, “I’m a real maverick – a Republican with no money!” The QVC products were funny, especially the Fein-gold Fine Gold displayed by wife Cindy (I still think of her as Cruella – she really gives me the creeps), the John McCain pork knives, the Ayers air freshener, and the off-to-the-side Palin 2012 teeshirts (Don’t wear them until after Tuesday). I laughed when Tina Fey said something about the campaigns being SO expensive (as she stroked her lapel). The “Weekend Update” segment was pretty good too. McCain was very good-natured about all the different campaign strategies.
I like someone who can poke fun at themselves, and I’ve always had a little more respect for people who could do that. I think he did much better than Palin on the show. Given what’s been happening among some of McCain’s followers, I think this was a good way to start to diffuse the bomb they’d been building.
So – thank you, Senator McCain – thank you for that. I don’t agree with your current views and policies, but you’re not a Dick Cheney. I know there’s a good man in there somewhere, trying to do his best.
Don’t worry – you’ll be able to work with President Obama.
With my friends the Evil Jester, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson and the somewhat confused Hippie.
Too bad I couldn’t find the custom canines, but I think the fangs are clearly implied.
I am so very happy that I can celebrate such things. Jehovah’s Witnesses and other groups who can’t find the spirit in Hallowe’en are really missing out.
As the photos de-monstrate, I embraced my shadow and it was as thrilling and as unnerving as always. Found a few more worthy bits to reposition, save and integrate. Such exploration is palpably good for the soul (despite appearances).
I call attention to the construction of the word “demonstrate” with a hyphen. Why?
Latin dÄ“mÅnstrÄre, dÄ“mÅnstrÄt- : dÄ“-, completely; see de– + mÅnstrÄre, to show (from mÅnstrum, divine portent, from monÄ“re, to warn).
To divinely portend, to call out a warning, to make manifest or apparent, display, evidence, evince, exhibit, manifest, proclaim, reveal, show, authenticate, bear out, confirm, corroborate, endorse, establish, evidence, prove, substantiate, validate, verify.
To demonstrate is thus also to un-conceal, to dis-cover.
Truth as endorsed warning and as authentic manifestation of such warning AS truth – but also holding a warning about that very act. A complete showing that warns about itself, like an Angel of Annunciation. But do not fear.
Oh, it’s a lovely emblematic truthing, but with a warning about that truth, too. The truth will set you free, but it’s not always easy.
The word “demonstrate” also suggests something to the ear – “demon-straight.”
Damned straight! Straight to hell! It shows what we most demonize, but what we demonize is also sacred to us because there is an attraction at the heart of the repulsion. It’s inherently unstable with regard to anything but its power.
Such signage can be archetypal and playful identifications can de-“monster” – precisely by letting the demon-monster live for a little while, so that one can pick up some of the good monster traits while letting go of elements that have been recognized (but no longer denied or forgotten).
I am not free of the vampire. Where is that body? Where is that blood? Gimme communion. Gimme carnality and spirit. Gimme unrepressed gratification of my desires. I would love to swoon. I would love to take a walk on the dark side. Of course, I pass out at the sight of blood, but I do love vampire novels. It’s all a dream, and to pick out the parts that really can be integrated into me, into my life, into my own sense of ethics and my own spiritual journey, is always enlightening. It reminds me a lot of the way I used to collect rocks.
I think McCain and some of the Republican Party are vampires, and that is what I despise about them. I do love to despise their bloodthirstiness, their preying upon the sub-millionaires among us, their cynical manipulations of the public, their disregard of what it takes for people and countries to thrive. And it’s true – so true – that they are vampires in these ways.
But Barack Obama is right, I think, not to manifest and feed that set of truths because it can’t be taken playfully or dissipated with court-jester humor that speaks truth. It’s too real, and the consequences are too important. The alternative is to recognize, but to lead with an different vision, one that refuses to demonize others. We are all Americans, after all, and a President should think of just as many of the people as he or she can.
I think it is wise to have elections a few days after Hallowe’en, and it is especially important this year. It works the same way as a picture of Cheney as the Evil Emperor with George W as Darth Vader; the fear that is inspired by the recognition of a deep truth in it is – at the same time – dissipated through its very manifestation. They really ARE those characters, and thank goodness they really aren’t.
I have been fearing that what (at least a subset of) the Republicans are trying to catalyze will work, and that hatred and violence will escalate. I am hoping that projections of evil otherness must at some point become so obvious, so de-monstrable even to the far-right wing, that they will just fall down and implode. It looks a little better now for the latter scenario than it did even a week ago.
After such playful shadow-work as seems inherent in the celebrations and rituals of Hallowe’en, I am less angry, and much more hopeful.
Enjoy this night of liminality and carnivale – but be safe!
My view of Halloween
Our Halloween traditions are just a snapshot image taken from a long history of blended beliefs, rituals and perspectives from diverse sources; some bits competed or converged with one another, while other aspects were forgotten or overwritten.
I enjoy the mix of all the folkloric and religious traces as part of an appreciation of a celebratory imagination, one that nourishes the human spirit (soul / heart / mind) and keeps us attuned to (and in atonement / at-one-moment with) our souls, our communities, and our planet.
Such imagination and celebration help keep us from becoming spiritless and heartless.
I love the food traditions (pumpkin pie, spice cake, mulled cider, apple everything).
There is nothing intrinsically evil about Halloween, although some people do take it as an opportunity to explore their “shadow side” (Jungian analysts believe this is preferable to repression, since it may contribute to better integration of the self).
Autumn is a time of reflection and remembering, and anyone sensitive to the flow of seasons can feel that. In America today, the celebration of harvest and reflective gratitude has been moved to Thanksgiving, while themes of honoring the dead have been dissipated out into various bank holidays and memorials of war. Figures of death appear in decorations of ghosts and skeletons, but the “holy evening” has been disconnected from most of its various source-roots and made a secular holiday.
Today, Halloween is driven primarily by the “trick or treat” tradition for small children.
“Tricks” are on the way out, and children get their “treats” under increasingly controlled conditions. Some places have replaced Halloween celebrations with “fall festivals.” As the leaves fall, adults can still have a bit of fun in the form of costume parties, although such celebrations have become much more subdued.
The neo-puritans who would now abolish Halloween after so many years of celebration in America would have to take a hint from Jehovah’s Witnesses to be consistent; they would have to stop celebrating the other holidays as well because all of the major holidays are composed of such mixtures. Ironically, some protestant churches honor the powers of transformation by celebrating “Reformation Day” (Martin Luther chose October 31, 1517 as the date upon which to post his Ninety-Five Theses).
I would like to see more frolic/dancing/revelry brought back into the holiday. We have become schizoid in this country, split between decadence and hypocritical self-righteousness. I would like to see more balance, more of a healthy middle ground of conscience and enjoyment.
I say “Boo”! Have we become so fearful even of our own? Are we so afraid of the company of people of all ages and backgrounds? How have we become so alienated from one another?
We share more in common than we tend to think. While we are thus divided, kept busy trying to survive, encouraged to distrust and even hate one another, we are all being robbed of our birthright.
The freedoms that we used to cherish, the rights we used to uphold, and even our viability as a secure nation are being systematically stolen from us. As crony capitalism (corporatism, fascism) in America increasingly devalues the individual in favor of corporate greed, our country is becoming just as corrupt as the instances of communism that we always opposed (and it has less to do with party/church affiliations than one might suppose).
As winter approaches, scattered and diverse traditions thousands of years old suggest that sometimes the metaphorical is real and the real is metamorphical; sometimes the dark is light and the light is dark; sometimes there are rhythmns and patterns to change; sometimes mysteries walk among us – and sometimes, there are twilight spaces where everything is a little more open to transformation.
Even as light wanes, we can share a meal together in community to celebrate what we have and to remember the best of what we have lost – and we can prepare ourselves for more difficult times to come with light and hope and gratitude for our belonging to all that is. As the nights get longer, this Halloween carnivale cheers me somewhat, and gives me hope for another turn of the cycle after this long hard winter will have been done.
World Tradition: Halloween, All Saints, All Souls, etc.
The word “Halloween” is taken from Hallowe’en, a contraction of “All Hallow’s Eve.”
“Hallow” is an old word meaning to treat as sacred or holy (as in “hallowed be thy name”), and e’en means evening. Hallowe’en therefore means an evening to treat as holy/sacred.
November 1 became “All Hallows Day” (“All Saints’ Day”), a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. Originally held on May 1, it was moved in 834 in an attempt to christianize the festival of Samhain. In the year 1000, the Church designated November 2 “All Souls’ Day.” Christians would walk from village to village to ask for soul cakes (bread or pastry with currants), for which they promised to say prayers on behalf of the donors’ dead relatives to hasten their passage from limbo to heaven. All Souls’ also memorializes the dead from the Deluge (the biblical flood).
Similar holidays include DÃa de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Teng Chieh (Lantern Festival), Yue Lan (Festival of the Hungry Ghosts), Chuseok, Mahalaya, Phi Ta Khon, and Alla Helgons dag. In Islam, the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr) falls on one of the last ten nights of Ramadan, most likely on one of the odd nights, especially the 27th night of the month. Muslims believe that this night is “better than a thousand months,” and some spend the entire night in prayer.
Um… Samhain?
Samhain (pronounced sow-inn or sow-ayn, sow rhymes with wow) is an ancient “turning point” or “doorway” celebration that marks the start of winter and the Celtic (Irish) New Year (“Samhuinn” or “Samhainn” = Hallow-tide). Samhain celebrated the last harvest of the fall, and the final reaping of what was sown (as in the figure of the Reaper).
The idea that “pagans worshipped the devil” was a construction of the christian church that aimed to suppress the native religions prevalent in Europe at the time.
The festival provided ways for people to physically and psychologically navigate the beginning of darkness and winter. Individual hearthfires were extinguished and relit from a common source to rebind the community. The 3-day festival of bonfires (literally bone-fires that consumed the feast-remains) recognized the cycle of death and renewal. Faeries as well as spirits of all kinds were imagined as particularly active at this season.
At the cusp of this turn of the seasonal tide, the boundaries between the worlds were considered to be most porous, allowing contact and exchange between them. Hallows Eve was/is thus a time to be attentive to death and endings, to venerate the dead, and to acknowledge their energy (or their DNA, if you prefer), which still flows in and around and through us.
At this liminal moment of magical potency, one might invoke spiritual transformation by expressing recognition and gratitude toward the sacred cycles, intentionally nurturing an atmosphere of protection and blessing.
Burying apples in the earth and leaving plates of harvest’s bounty outside the door were thought to nourish beloved spirits, while a candle placed in the window helped to light their way along the journey to the lands of eternal summer.
I like to read the Free Will Astrology reports. I have to post this week’s forecast because of the Halloween costume suggestions.
Aries (March 21-April 19)
For all we know, in your past life you were a virgin who was thrown into a volcano to appease a fire deity. But whether or not that’s an actual fact, we can say this with certainty: At some time in your current life, you made a great sacrifice in an effort to pacify a person whose anger or violence or manipulativeness you were intimidated by. Now I say unto you, Aries, that it’s an excellent time to fix any distortions that were unleashed in your life because of that sacrifice. You’ve got the personal power and insight you need to set the healing in motion. Halloween costume suggestions: the mythical phoenix; a virgin-turned-warrior carrying the severed head of the fire deity; a fireman, firewoman, or firedancer.
I’d love to be a phoenix, but the costume planning is too daunting. I don’t know anybody I could borrow a fire-fighting costume from, and I have no idea what a fire dancer would wear.
But I did do something like the the virgin-turned-warrior carrying the severed head of the fire deity once, if you count Judith‘s beheading of Holofernes.
12 When the people of her town heard her voice, they hurried down to the town gate and summoned the elders of the town. 13 They all ran together, both small and great, for it seemed unbelievable that she had returned. They opened the gate and welcomed them. Then they lit a fire to give light, and gathered around them. 14 Then she said to them with a loud voice, “Praise God, O praise him! Praise God, who has not withdrawn his mercy from the house of Israel, but has destroyed our enemies by my hand this very night!” 15 Then she pulled the head out of the bag and showed it to them, and said, “See here, the head of Holofernes, the commander of the Assyrian army, and here is the canopy beneath which he lay in his drunken stupor. The Lord has struck him down by the hand of a woman. 16 As the Lord lives, who has protected me in the way I went, I swear that it was my face that seduced him to his destruction, and that he committed no sin with me, to defile and shame me.”
Back in Iowa City, my graduate student friends and I dressed up as religious figures and went trick or treating to our professors houses (in the sleet). I made a plaster cast of my face and painted it. I carried it around the whole night, although the strands of the black wig kept getting caught on it. Note the pink tee shirt with the painted nipple. I’m not sure why Judith is represented with the one breast showing, but I did the best I could.
Can you guess who everybody is (other than me)?
But hey, I can’t do that again. Ben wants me to be a witch. And besides, I doubt our pseudo-christian conservatives here in Georgia would recognize the reference or approve of the depiction…