This is Halloween
Boys and girls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange?
If you grew up in the late '80's or the '90's, then you're probably aware of the Tim Burton cult classic film Nightmare Before Christmas. It features the residents of the fabled Halloweentown, led by their nominated honorary resident Jack Skellington the Pumpkin King, in their quest to try something a little different by creating their own kind of Christmas. With all the spooks, thrills and noir of their signature holiday.
Well, this movie has become, like I said, a cult classic over time. Jack Skellington in particular has become an icon for many things like Disney's darker side, gothic clothing ranges, and surprisingly more often than not a symbol for the holiday of Halloween itself right along side his influence the Jack O'Lantern.
Like most people excited by big holidays, I love Halloween. I have a genuine interest in the spiritual, spooky and paranormal side of things and Halloween purely encapsulates all those things that I love whether it be slasher films, haunted histories, mythology and the hidden messages and meanings behind all these things. Halloween is a mask holiday now - it wasn't always, but I'll get to that - and often greatly represents the duality to human nature. The fact of the matter is that the majority of people have a dark side, I don't mean a serial killer or sociopathic side, but just something that they do that is a little bit naughtier than the norm. Things like kinky sex, slasher films, and the desire to watch a train wreck or a house fire. Don't deny it, most people have the urge and hey its totally normal so long as you're not putting people in a hole in your floor and telling people to rub lotion on their skin. Dark sides are often what keeps things interesting, and what the churches usually try to discourage.
But things weren't always this way. People always had this dual nature, yes, but the freedom that we now have to express it (within reason) didn't always exist. Initially Halloween was a festival to celebrate a number of things: Summer's end, the autumn harvest, and the spirits of the dead. Like most other holidays like Christmas, the roots of Halloween lie way earlier than the arrival of Christianity throughout the UK and Europe. Archaeologists and historians suggest that the earliest evidence for Halloween-style festivals and celebrations come from pagan and pre-christian belief systems in the UK and Ireland, more commonly considered to be 'Celtic' in origin. But because 'Celtic' is itself a very fluid concept and not at all an actual secular religion, there is no clear cut designation for exactly where and when the celebrations first began. However, the most important thing to remember is that it is a very old concept, just like Easter and Christmas before Christianity swept in and amalgamated them into its overlord religious system.
I love Halloween, but I happen to have the misfortune of living in Australia.
Time-out just quickly, I love Australia. In terms of healthcare, university, salary, childcare, you name it we've got it pretty good. We don't have to pay ridiculous prices to have fingers replaced individually like some countries, but we are...well, kind of boring.
Not in everything obviously, when we travel people love us because we have a reputation of being very laid back, fun and some of the best drinking buddies you will ever make. Plus we have weird lingo that the Brits and the Americans especially can go nuts over. But we just don't do holidays in the same way as the rest of the world.
Christmas is perhaps the only one that turns up, usually too early, and filters into everything. There's carols at the shops, there's gift wrapping stalls in the CBD and there's been different scavenger hunts over the past few years centered around the holiday, but that's were it sort of stops. The sad fact of the matter is that Australians aren't huge holiday people - but why?
Considering our history, at least on the colonial side, why don't we embrace Halloween? The majority of Australians originally came from areas of the UK and Ireland, later from the European mainland and all other corners of the world, so in theory the same practices of out British and Irish heritage should have been maintained at least in the beginning. Christmas, again, was not the way that it is now 300 years ago. The Christmas we are familiar with didn't really start until the Victorian Age and Queen Victoria herself systematically re branded Christmas to follow more steadfastly in the traditions of mainland Europe, particularly Germany and Austria, in order to accommodate her Austrian husband, Albert. Before the 1830's there was no decking the halls in London or much of a Christmas tree culture in the UK at all because that just wasn't the way the British celebrated before that, let alone become the the huge deal it is today. Yule, the pagan origination of the Christmas festival in Europe, didn't include sparkly decorations and presents right from the beginning and different traditions developed regionally over time. Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is probably the most well-known example of this newer style of Christmas celebration that evolved very quickly in the UK and Ireland before spreading to America to explode into what it is now.
Halloween developed far more slowly worldwide, and trick or treating and scare festivals started far earlier that the majority of the Christmas traditions we recognize today. Anyone who suggests that Halloween was invented by candy companies, especially in America, are sorely misinformed even if said companies likely scooped up the opportunities to boost sales are the scare-tastic time of year. And not all aspects of Halloween even revolve around the procurement of candy; watching horror films, for one, and visiting scare attractions for another. It even bodes the question as to whether the need for sweets evolved from a desire for comfort after particularly harrowing scare situations or experiences at what was the more paranormally charged time of year for centuries longer than sugar was accessible.
So when you think about the fact that Australia takes almost all of its core holiday traditions from its mother countries, why does the average modern Australian have such a disdain for an otherwise fun, spooky and potentially freeing day of the year? Religion and multi-cultural reasons can't be the be all and end all when you consider that the front-runner of Halloween fun is the United States, Canada and Mexico, the former being globally known for its need for the PC in all things and its foundation on religious definitely would suggest otherwise. Even since the UK and Ireland are still much bigger than Australia for Halloween.
So at the end of the day, why don't Australians care for Halloween? I could continue for hours about all the features, benefits, history and attempt to psycho-analyse the reasons that Halloween has become so big in a lot of other places, but I won't because I don't want to let this one day of the year that I always whole-heartedly look forward to just get away from me. I will, however, leave you with this:
Halloween is scary, full of candy, it allows you to delve into some of your darkside and gives you a free pass to push for that adrenalin-pumping fright factor that keeps you young and healthy, so why not embrace it? It's just supposed to be a bit of fun, and since when does Australia pass up on fun?
If you grew up in the late '80's or the '90's, then you're probably aware of the Tim Burton cult classic film Nightmare Before Christmas. It features the residents of the fabled Halloweentown, led by their nominated honorary resident Jack Skellington the Pumpkin King, in their quest to try something a little different by creating their own kind of Christmas. With all the spooks, thrills and noir of their signature holiday.
Well, this movie has become, like I said, a cult classic over time. Jack Skellington in particular has become an icon for many things like Disney's darker side, gothic clothing ranges, and surprisingly more often than not a symbol for the holiday of Halloween itself right along side his influence the Jack O'Lantern.
Like most people excited by big holidays, I love Halloween. I have a genuine interest in the spiritual, spooky and paranormal side of things and Halloween purely encapsulates all those things that I love whether it be slasher films, haunted histories, mythology and the hidden messages and meanings behind all these things. Halloween is a mask holiday now - it wasn't always, but I'll get to that - and often greatly represents the duality to human nature. The fact of the matter is that the majority of people have a dark side, I don't mean a serial killer or sociopathic side, but just something that they do that is a little bit naughtier than the norm. Things like kinky sex, slasher films, and the desire to watch a train wreck or a house fire. Don't deny it, most people have the urge and hey its totally normal so long as you're not putting people in a hole in your floor and telling people to rub lotion on their skin. Dark sides are often what keeps things interesting, and what the churches usually try to discourage.But things weren't always this way. People always had this dual nature, yes, but the freedom that we now have to express it (within reason) didn't always exist. Initially Halloween was a festival to celebrate a number of things: Summer's end, the autumn harvest, and the spirits of the dead. Like most other holidays like Christmas, the roots of Halloween lie way earlier than the arrival of Christianity throughout the UK and Europe. Archaeologists and historians suggest that the earliest evidence for Halloween-style festivals and celebrations come from pagan and pre-christian belief systems in the UK and Ireland, more commonly considered to be 'Celtic' in origin. But because 'Celtic' is itself a very fluid concept and not at all an actual secular religion, there is no clear cut designation for exactly where and when the celebrations first began. However, the most important thing to remember is that it is a very old concept, just like Easter and Christmas before Christianity swept in and amalgamated them into its overlord religious system.I love Halloween, but I happen to have the misfortune of living in Australia.
Time-out just quickly, I love Australia. In terms of healthcare, university, salary, childcare, you name it we've got it pretty good. We don't have to pay ridiculous prices to have fingers replaced individually like some countries, but we are...well, kind of boring.
Not in everything obviously, when we travel people love us because we have a reputation of being very laid back, fun and some of the best drinking buddies you will ever make. Plus we have weird lingo that the Brits and the Americans especially can go nuts over. But we just don't do holidays in the same way as the rest of the world.
Christmas is perhaps the only one that turns up, usually too early, and filters into everything. There's carols at the shops, there's gift wrapping stalls in the CBD and there's been different scavenger hunts over the past few years centered around the holiday, but that's were it sort of stops. The sad fact of the matter is that Australians aren't huge holiday people - but why?
Considering our history, at least on the colonial side, why don't we embrace Halloween? The majority of Australians originally came from areas of the UK and Ireland, later from the European mainland and all other corners of the world, so in theory the same practices of out British and Irish heritage should have been maintained at least in the beginning. Christmas, again, was not the way that it is now 300 years ago. The Christmas we are familiar with didn't really start until the Victorian Age and Queen Victoria herself systematically re branded Christmas to follow more steadfastly in the traditions of mainland Europe, particularly Germany and Austria, in order to accommodate her Austrian husband, Albert. Before the 1830's there was no decking the halls in London or much of a Christmas tree culture in the UK at all because that just wasn't the way the British celebrated before that, let alone become the the huge deal it is today. Yule, the pagan origination of the Christmas festival in Europe, didn't include sparkly decorations and presents right from the beginning and different traditions developed regionally over time. Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is probably the most well-known example of this newer style of Christmas celebration that evolved very quickly in the UK and Ireland before spreading to America to explode into what it is now.Halloween developed far more slowly worldwide, and trick or treating and scare festivals started far earlier that the majority of the Christmas traditions we recognize today. Anyone who suggests that Halloween was invented by candy companies, especially in America, are sorely misinformed even if said companies likely scooped up the opportunities to boost sales are the scare-tastic time of year. And not all aspects of Halloween even revolve around the procurement of candy; watching horror films, for one, and visiting scare attractions for another. It even bodes the question as to whether the need for sweets evolved from a desire for comfort after particularly harrowing scare situations or experiences at what was the more paranormally charged time of year for centuries longer than sugar was accessible.
So when you think about the fact that Australia takes almost all of its core holiday traditions from its mother countries, why does the average modern Australian have such a disdain for an otherwise fun, spooky and potentially freeing day of the year? Religion and multi-cultural reasons can't be the be all and end all when you consider that the front-runner of Halloween fun is the United States, Canada and Mexico, the former being globally known for its need for the PC in all things and its foundation on religious definitely would suggest otherwise. Even since the UK and Ireland are still much bigger than Australia for Halloween.
So at the end of the day, why don't Australians care for Halloween? I could continue for hours about all the features, benefits, history and attempt to psycho-analyse the reasons that Halloween has become so big in a lot of other places, but I won't because I don't want to let this one day of the year that I always whole-heartedly look forward to just get away from me. I will, however, leave you with this:
Halloween is scary, full of candy, it allows you to delve into some of your darkside and gives you a free pass to push for that adrenalin-pumping fright factor that keeps you young and healthy, so why not embrace it? It's just supposed to be a bit of fun, and since when does Australia pass up on fun?
P.S Halloween is one big festival closer to Christmas.
P.P.S NaNo is back on tomorrow. Get ready for it.
Sam xox
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