Now that all hallow's eve is finally over and people are curled around their sugar-induced comas, I ask the question, as I do every year, "why?" Not only why the obsession with this enormous over-simplification, with this vastly-commercialised encouragment for kids of all ages to misbehave with impunity and gorge themselves silly, but why have we forgotten the sources of the damn festival, at least enough to destroy what spiritual significance it had (and, in some traditions, still has)? What happened to the fear, to that delicious bone-tingling chill at the thought that maybe the souls of the dead could return tonight? Can only children feel such things in our times so modern, those supposedly "irrational" fears? Are we so entrenched behind a wall of scientific study, so inured to logical explanation, that we ignore our instinct to shiver at what goes bump in the night? Or are costumes of Spiderman and Casper, and little pumpkin pails full of sweets simply our attempt to laugh off a genuine fear that something might actually be out there?
Personally I find the thought of the dead returning delicious. It has such potential, so much more potential than a few costumes and a stroll down a well-lit (and crowded) street after dark. In the Gaelic tradition, people would douse their fires and wear masks to scare off evil spirits, leaving offerings of food on the doorstep to appease them. Then there was fear. Their oracle would tell what was to come in the year ahead (since the festival marked the end of summer and the beginning of the new year). Then there was meaning. Now, we send out our kids to be the undead spirits, taking extorted gifts of food under threat of revenge in the form of a "trick" from people who use the word "cute" in a context which should be avoided at all costs (i.e., anything to do with children: children are never cute or adorable or any other vaguely synonymous term. Get over it.)
I can see how it came about, this mutilation of the tradition. But I don't understand it. Hallowe'en, if celebrated at all, should be like Guy Fawkes day: all blood and death and vengeance, not neutered like a modern fairy tale. For tonight the Unseelie Court ride....
NB: for those of you who are going to blame christians (with their penchant for stealing pagan traditions), don't. This one was stolen and perverted by the Romans long before the christians got to it.
Personally I find the thought of the dead returning delicious. It has such potential, so much more potential than a few costumes and a stroll down a well-lit (and crowded) street after dark. In the Gaelic tradition, people would douse their fires and wear masks to scare off evil spirits, leaving offerings of food on the doorstep to appease them. Then there was fear. Their oracle would tell what was to come in the year ahead (since the festival marked the end of summer and the beginning of the new year). Then there was meaning. Now, we send out our kids to be the undead spirits, taking extorted gifts of food under threat of revenge in the form of a "trick" from people who use the word "cute" in a context which should be avoided at all costs (i.e., anything to do with children: children are never cute or adorable or any other vaguely synonymous term. Get over it.)
I can see how it came about, this mutilation of the tradition. But I don't understand it. Hallowe'en, if celebrated at all, should be like Guy Fawkes day: all blood and death and vengeance, not neutered like a modern fairy tale. For tonight the Unseelie Court ride....
NB: for those of you who are going to blame christians (with their penchant for stealing pagan traditions), don't. This one was stolen and perverted by the Romans long before the christians got to it.
8 comments:
where's the fun?! btw i thought aussies didn't do the whole candy thing anyway?
who cares really that kids use this holiday that once issued fear(and frankly still does for modern pagans)and decided to make it fun. you think the christmas tree was originally for presents? of course not.
i remmeber dressing up and going for free candy with my friends and parents and it was great. cold at times but in the end you got to dress up and you got goodies, which you, at least if you were me, didn't gorge on but had for a long time to savor.
i love handing out the candy now, all the cute kids in the cute costumes. mostly i say lighten up and enjoy the holiday for what it is, of course if you want to celebrate it the scary way that's your right i just don't see the point.
Talen: thank you. Snide comments are always so helpful.
Tim: your second point is duly noted.
Jess: I don't have a problem with Americans enjoying what they have turned into a national tradition. I do have a problem with Australia making it part of its own tradition without thought as a result of American cultural colonisation. If I wanted to live in America, I'd move there. I think we need to do things our own way.
By the way, 'rhetoric', anyone? 'Tongue in cheek' perhaps? Sound familiar to anyone?
tim-i agree with the color coding. it would end alot of confusion.
kay-do you mean your post was tongue in cheek? also, i wasn't aware that halloween became big cuz of us americans. though i do remember beth telling me it wasn't all that big in oz. has it just been in the last three years?
Talen: Do you not understand the term "rhetoric"? For it is this, and only this, which robs your statement of merit: this post was (and remains), definitively and deliberately, rhetorical (in the negative sense of the term "rhetoric" [that is definition 3b], something which also makes the post ironic. Gasp.) Your statement, therefore, was based on a misinterpretation of my point of view, since it is now apparent that the rhetorical nature of the post was ill-expressed by myself. There's also the fact that "true" or not, your comment was phrased in such a way as to not only be snide but also downright rude. If you would like to question the word "helpful", feel free. It was poorly chosen on my part. How about "friendly" as a replacement? I feel it is much more accurate, in terms of expressing my feelings on the matter.
Tim: colour-coding sounds great, though I suppose one could sort out a similar (if simpler) system based on variations of italics, bold and underlined words or phrases. Either way, will it stop the misinterpretation gremlins from going about their dastardly work? (Yes, that too was ironic. I don't firmly believe that there are internet imps. Just to be absolutely clear... Sorry, that was also snide. My sincerest apologies.) My biggest problem with the system would be that you lose the possibility of misunderstanding the point which is such a large point of, say, sarcasm.
Jess: yeps, Halloween (as it is celebrated in the American tradition) is getting bigger and bigger every year over here. It's scary when people will traipse up four flights of stairs in a cul-de-sac in West Wollongong (almost as dead-end a suburb as that in which my parents live, which is surrounded by bushland and which one can only enter from one street) just to beg for sweets. Hey! "Scary"! *giggle*
Firstly, Talen's need to give a very short and barely sensical response obviously indicates his failure to grasp that LL was overstating her point of view here. Whilst I personally feel that the comment was sinde, I think it can be excused in light of that misunderstanding.
Even if the opinion LL expressed here was exactly in proportion to how she felt and there was no misunderstanding, the comment was still unnessacarily curt, and quite frankly rude.
If we're going to get onto the topic of things laced with pretension, lets start with this: "I think being annoyingly truthful is not just my birthright".. Being truthful is good, being 'annoyingly' truthful certainly has a place amongst good friends at times, but to presume that your opinion of your interpretation of what LL has said here is truthful in any form other than that it's true that you feel that way, is about the absolute peak of pretension.
"I think offering a grounded statement which is built of common sense".. WTF? The 'statement' barely made any sense, let alone expressing a grounding in common sense. If you really wanted to offer a grounded statement built of common sense, you might have wanted to spend a little more time putting forward the 'common sense' of what you had to offer in a 'grounded' fashion.
Talen, if you've had a shitty day/week, and happen to feel like being a prat somewhere, don't take it out on other peoples blogs. Feel free to piss in the wind on your own blog, rather than make ratty little comments on other peoples, then get all holier-than-though when they call you on it.
Secondly, on colour coding: The has been a long held tradition amongst many text based communications to apply a modified version of html tags to indicate certain tones. One of the most common is the <sarcasm></sarcasm> tags. These are meant to be put in such a fashion that the appear in the final text as above, rather than being handled by the actual html interpreter.. This kind of thing helps to indicate the method of delivery intended, but many feel that the application of them largely lessens the overall effect. Also, they are particularly tricky to use in places like this, as you need to use '<' in the text of the post to create the '<' symbol, and '>' to make the '>', and if you preview it, it converts them into the wrong form and you need to go through and fix them again before posting.
Finally, many people couldn't give even a pooftenth of a bees dick of care about what people do with various holidays, but then there are many who do. I'm very conflicted about the timing of the various Christian holidays and how the seem to flawlessly overlap with existing pagan celebrations, but I'm willing to accept that by some divine providence that the events actually coincided with these rituals. However, people then take it another step and add profits to it, Christmas is now Xmas. Xmas isn't about Christ, it's about presents. Before I was a Christian I felt that this blatent bastardisation of the celebration was just one of the many symptoms of an overly commercialised world and didn't give it much more thought, as a Christian now I'm actually offended by the changed perception of this event. I don't jump up and down and tell people they should celebrate Christmas however they like, but that doesn't mean I have to like it, and I expect the right to express this opinion without being attacked for it (or at least with the expectation that I will take shreds with me if someone tries). I feel similarly about most of the 'holidays', Easter, Valantines Day, Halloween.. The list could go on. These events had cultural significance, and to just let that slide away and accept a 'fun' replacement is a fine way to amalgamate ourselves into the faceless corporate mass the world is devolving into. I for one stand up and say, screw the sales, remember the traditions.
Yes, yes, yes.. Many traditions are retarded, people have done (and continue to do) plenty of really idiotic things in the name of Tradition. A lot of those things really need to be culled from our practices.. So why are things like Halloween any different? Primarly I feel it's about the impact on personal freedoms. I fully support Female Circumcision, provided it is the females choice.. Enforced, no bloddy way. We should be free to choose the way we celebrate, and free to disagree with the way others do the same. If LL is slightly dissapointed in the loss of the old traditions, and expresses her feelings a hyperbolic fashion on her own blog then.. Well.. Great.. She's expressed an opinion. Good.
In all fairness to Talen, the original post didn't sound deliberately overstated or hyperbolic, it sounded perfectly serious. Sure he was brusque, but don't bitch at him for misunderstanding something which was in no way obvious. Lay off.
first, i feel the pain of misunderstanding that talen and everyone have been feeling. do we all my comment that started a war?
it just seems that the medium doesn't allow for subtlety, although in talen's defense i thought his comment was funny and not snide.
as for the comericialization of holidays, hannukah is not that important, you're not even supposed to give presents. we give presents cuz christians give them at christmas and kids will throw fits with they're not getting what others are. but commercialization(lord i can't spell)is a fact of capitalization and as tim pointed out economy's are based on surges of sales. we haven't even had thanksgiving here(big holiday in this country) and there are already christmas decorations up.
it may seem tacky espcially when holiday that ARE purely commercial like sweethearts day show up but sometimes you just gring and bear whilst expressing opinions and such and don't participate in the commericalized part.
I have a question. Psi, LL, Did you get a 'trick-or-treater' on (that day)? If so how many & did you give them any candy (OOHHHH NNOOO American Word, now I shall be condemed)?
BTW If you did get a 'trick-or-treater' think yourself lucky, I got some nutball MSG me at midnight about some dam mad king.
(NOTE: This post should be Light Blue, to ensure a light hearted tone)
Post a Comment