I'm not the target audience for Halloween, it's never been my thing sadly. Yet even if it was, I've never had the opportunity to truly celebrate Halloween, mainly because it isn't a public holiday and the 31st of October only falls on a weekend occasionally. Obviously I could celebrate it regardless, but it only truly feels special if you get the day off with it, and it only truly feels special if you care enough about it.
How often, you didn't ask? Here's a list of all the times I could have experienced Halloween on a weekend in school years. Starting from 2011:
- 2011: Saturday, Halloween on Monday
- 2012: Sunday, Halloween on Wednesday
- 2013: Tuesday, Halloween on Thursday
- 2014: Wednesday, Halloween on Friday
- 2015: Thursday, Halloween on Saturday
- 2016: Friday, Halloween on Monday
- 2017: Sunday, Halloween on Tuesday
- 2018: Monday, Halloween on Wednesday
- 2019: Tuesday, Halloween on Thursday
- 2020: Wednesday, Halloween on Saturday
- 2021: Friday, Halloween on Sunday
- 2022: Saturday, Halloween on Monday
- 2023: Sunday, Halloween on Tuesday
- 2024: Monday, Halloween on Thursday
Those are three occasions, and two of them were in lockdown years. The first instance, however, was when I was in Year 4, and I was very excited to go trick or treating down my road. I didn't dress up, that wasn't my thing, I was mainly going for the sweets. Yet this too was a rather brief excursion, and wasn't the main part of my day - though what the highlight of that day was, I'm not sure.
I suppose I've never been a fan of Halloween for a few reasons:
- My family have shied away from Halloween, and at times in church, the priest would tell us in announcements to reject Halloween. I suppose it's associated with the devil and evil spirits in general (which is a shame, it looks so fun!) and as such I'd be advised to not participate. Not that I cared, it didn't appeal to me when I was younger
- It's not a true holiday, as evidenced by the bullet points above. I still have to go to school and do work afterwards, so it's easier to forget about it completely by the time it comes
- I never truly got its appeal, and didn't care enough to find out that appeal
Theoretically, the priest who complained about Halloween was misguided.
Halloween's etymology is from All Hallows' Eve, or the day before All
Saints' Day. Halloween is also part of the three days of Allhallowtide,
encompassing the aforementioned days, and All Souls' Day*, which is the
time in the Christian calendar devoted to remembering the dead. The date
of All Saints' Day was established by Pope Gregory IV, so it could be
argued a pope also established the date of Halloween. But I digress.
There is one part of the UK that truly loves Halloween, however - supermarkets. Walk through the aisles as autumn begins, and tacky costumes, and multipacks of sweets line their rows. Outside, they'll have various displays to spookify their branding. Yet even they don't care that much - now Halloween takes second billing to Christmas, which starts earlier every year. I fully expect shops to start selling Christmas apparel during the summer holidays at one point.
Obviously you could argue over whether Halloween is now a commercialised shell of its former self; I'd argue it is, since its ancestors - Celtic celebrations like Samhain and Hop-tu-Naa - were far less focused on selling sweets as they were on marking the arrival of winter. Yet I suppose that doesn't matter too much if people enjoy it. It is one of the few times in the year that children can damage their teeth for a good reason, after all.
As the days get colder and darker, the idea of a day out is enough to warm up and lighten someone's day, and Halloween certainly ticks those boxes. And who knows, it's half term now, so maybe I'll go and admire the decorations again.
👻
ReplyDelete