Halloween Discussion Forums, Costumes, Horror!

Well, I think you are right that Halloween has endured and spread around the world because it speaks to primal fears. It is not the only holiday I love. I think Christmas (winter solstice celebrations, etc.) is pretty primal, too. I guess, if you take both of them back to their roots in early agricultural societies, Halloween is about the fear of the approaching winter season, and Christmas is about celebrating that we have survived it and will probably make it to spring, since the days are starting to get longer. Those two holidays have dramatically different "feels," but I love them both.

You make an interesting point about the current cultural fascination with the supernatural beneath the mask of the everyday. (I believe you left out Grimm, one of my favorite TV shows, when you listed others, but that just goes to show how many TV shows & movies there are like this right now. Think about the Harry Potter books, too.) Maybe we all sense that there is more to life than what we see on the surface? Or maybe we are just hoping there is more to life than what we see on the surface. I think many of us feel the need to see life as somehow "enchanted."

Murfreesboro wrote:I think Christmas (winter solstice celebrations, etc.) is pretty primal, too. I guess, if you take both of them back to their roots in early agricultural societies, Halloween is about the fear of the approaching winter season, and Christmas is about celebrating that we have survived it and will probably make it to spring, since the days are starting to get longer. Those two holidays have dramatically different "feels," but I love them both."

I couldn't agree more. I've always seen Christmas (or any other winter holiday) as a candle in the darkness. A glimmer of hope. Something to keep the peoples' spirits up through the cold death of winter.

Murfreesboro wrote:You make an interesting point about the current cultural fascination with the supernatural beneath the mask of the everyday. (I believe you left out Grimm, one of my favorite TV shows, when you listed others, but that just goes to show how many TV shows & movies there are like this right now. Think about the Harry Potter books, too.) Maybe we all sense that there is more to life than what we see on the surface? Or maybe we are just hoping there is more to life than what we see on the surface. I think many of us feel the need to see life as somehow "enchanted."

I apologize. I should've mentioned Grimm. It's a great show.

And here it is, the summer solstice. I plan to enjoy my summer, but from this point on, the year is declining toward the fall.

Murfreesboro wrote:And here it is, the summer solstice. I plan to enjoy my summer, but from this point on, the year is declining toward the fall.

I am counting the days...

Halloween, Christmas, Football, Hunting and my birthday is in January, so me likes that season!

I agree, there is a definite Halloween sub-culture and I'm very pleased to have found it. I think Halloween and Christmas are actually somewhat similar holidays. Both, at their most basic, are about the interplay of light and darkness and how they interact with us. A friend of mine also observed Halloween is when we honor the dead and Christmas is when we honor the living. They both have very obvious supernatural overtones. More-so then any other holiday season.

A friend of mine asked why I didn't really celebrate Thanksgiving. I said I did, and that ritually pausing to give thanks and be grateful for the good things we've received in this life is incredibly important. But that Thanksgiving will never be as much fun because there are no ghost stories for Thanksgiving. And for me that sense of enchantment is very important.

I think that's part of the reason Halloween as survived. That sense of anything being possible is almost palpable. The idea of dressing up is appealing. I hope it survives long after me.

You know, Christmas can feel somewhat haunted, too. Dickens' Christmas Carol (IMO the best secular Christmas story) is a ghost story. And anyone who has lived long enough will spend part of the Christmas season remembering loved ones who are no longer here to celebrate it with him/her.

Murfreesboro wrote:You know, Christmas can feel somewhat haunted, too. Dickens' Christmas Carol (IMO the best secular Christmas story) is a ghost story. And anyone who has lived long enough will spend part of the Christmas season remembering loved ones who are no longer here to celebrate it with him/her.

Yes ma'am and the older I get the longer that list gets.

Yes it does Kolchak. Another name just got added to the list for me a month ago.

Boogeyman wrote:Yes it does Kolchak. Another name just got added to the list for me a month ago.

My condolences.

Boogeyman I'm sorry for your loss. It's always difficult to lose friends and loved ones, the world feels emptier without them. I hope your doing all right, or at least as well as can be expected.