Ever since I can remember, Halloween has been my absolute favorite holiday. When I was a child, I adored the glamour, pageantry and drama of it. I enjoyed dressing up and visiting with family I rarely got to see. My parents were not keen on letting us go door-to-door to strangers’ houses – I was always envious of the kids who had parents who just turned them out. My uncle Charlie always bought me individually packaged Skittles because he knew they were my favorite. My costumes ranged from completely uninspired (a store-bought blue Power Ranger) to absolutely horrifying (a clown with a multi-colored bouffant wig). If you’re not sure why the clown was horrifying, just try doing a Google Images search for John Wayne Gacy, Jr. as a clown. Actually, don’t do that – pretend I never mentioned it. My mom’s favorite was the year I was Alfalfa from The Little Rascal. She was so proud of it. From my high-water pants to my slicked-down bowl cut with his signature cowlick I really nailed that one.
As I got older, I realized that my affinity for Halloween was actually kind of a spiritual thing. My Irish and Welsh ancestry became much more than being freckled and intolerant of any temperature above 60 degrees; it was a way for me to connect my love for nature, all things macabre and Celtic mythology to who I was as a person. I was born to love Halloween. College brought a whole new level of spooky to my usual Halloween festivities. My friends and I would go to a nearby cemetery and take a Ouija board to try and talk to the dead. Besides an unexplainable occurrence that still haunts me to this day, these Ouija board Halloweens were not exactly time well spent – we never seemed to be able to break into that other realm. I will always blame my skeptic friends; the first rule in talking to the dead has to be that you believe you can do it, right?
As an adult who is somewhat settled and a complete homebody, Halloween has gone through yet another evolution in my world. My nieces and nephews come over for candy, I usually try to enjoy some time watching the kids walk down the street in the costumes, watching the leaves fall. It isn’t as fun as it used to be. I’m certainly too old to be trick-or-treating and I’m too young to want to sit on my porch with a bowl of candy in my lap asking kids what their costumes are (what do kids dress up as these days, anyway?!) I don’t have kids, so I don’t have anyone to take trick-or-treating. I did try to dress my dog up last year. She hated her cactus costume and refused to take a single step while wearing it. I suppose my new tradition has become watching a horror film (or an autumnal film, at least) and enjoying that kinetic energy that fills the crisp air on Halloween night. I still get so excited thinking about it. After such a horrendous year, it is really going to be a welcomed reprieve.
This has really been the strangest year I have ever lived through. COVID-19 has turned the entire world on its axis. I find myself thinking that it’s strange to see folks hugging on TV and I have forgotten what it feels like to be able to leave my house without a face covering. We are living in such a strange tangent universe that it’s difficult to imagine Halloween even happening, much less trying to navigate how to enjoy it… safely. Will parents allow their children to trick-or-treat? Most kids will likely already be wearing masks, so that’s a plus. Will there be crafty parents who come up with new and innovative traditions for a night that children look forward to every year? Reading a spooky book or watching Hocus Pocus for the five-thousandth time? Something tells me expecting a child to dress up in their Halloween finery for Zoom trick-or-treating will not go over so well. After all, are you really trick-or-treating if you’re not telling someone to smell your feet, in person, only to be gifted those disgusting peanut butter kisses? Do kids these days just trick-or-treat so they can take pictures of their candy for Instagram? Would you be able to congregate with your friends to trade and compare your loot? Do kids even do that anymore? So many questions!
Folks everywhere have had to find new ways to be together, new ways to communicate, to work and to connect with other human beings. Perhaps this can be a learning opportunity for all of us. We have to take this uncertain time to rewire and relearn. Does that mean we should leave behind all of our old ways? I, personally, like the idea of using more hand sanitizer and washing my hands more often; I do not like the idea that I may not ever be able to go to the grocery store at 2 a.m. again. It’s times like Halloween that make our sacrifices more obvious. It’s such a special day and it’s so sad to think of it just passing us by without being able to enjoy it. It’s just hard to know what that looks like right now. Maybe it’s time for new Halloween traditions. Due to the belief that the veil between the living and the dead is very thin on Halloween, the dead are often celebrated on this day – maybe Halloween can become your family’s day of remembrance this year. It could become a day for taking in the beauty the earth offers us in nature by taking a walk in the forest. It could be an evening spent bundled up with loved ones around a bonfire. Maybe it means staying inside and doing absolutely nothing but reminiscing about Halloweens past. Whatever Halloween means for you this year, I hope it’s a happy and healthy one!
-by Brent Cardin
