Entry # 10: Halloween

It’s that special time of the year, Halloween is almost upon us. Before Halloween was all about horror movies and cheap scares at haunted houses it was called Samhain, a pagan day of the dead. Samhain (pronounced sah-win or sow-in) was also a celebration of the end of harvest into the winter to come. The pagans that celebrated Samhain even went “trick-or-treating” they however did not receive candy; the homes often handed out food in exchange for singing a song. Now the holiday is a time for children to dress up as whatever they can imagine and get bags of candy, and the adults dress up and party. My favorite part of Halloween is special effects make-up. This video is from a few years back.

 I wandered around First Friday with my face a bloody mess and no one would look me in the eye. I could see people staring in my peripheral vision but when I faced them every single person looked away, as if they were afraid I was deformed. For that reason I think Halloween is great, it gives everyone the opportunity to create another identity. The children can be Ironman or Batman, while people like me can create a weird or grotesque façade. Halloween is the one night people can step outside the normal status quo. It is the one night to be another person.