Halloween

There is a whole range of Halloween addicts. When I ask my four year old cousin if he is excited for Halloween his immediate response is “Yeah! Im going to get so much candy! I can’t wait.” And then my 11 year old brother on the other hand is like: “All my friends are coming over tomorrow! There is gonna be Steve from Minecraft, the Scream, a ninja, a cotton candy monster and angry bird and so many more!”And then there is another category on the opposite side of the spectrum, who could care less for the occasion, simply feeling forced to hand out candy.

At first my reaction to this was: where has all the spirit gone? But then I realized, maybe it’s a good thing our “spirit” isn’t the same as it always was.

Our friendly, 21th century definition of Halloween includes pumpkins, dressing up and eating candy; but Halloween never actually started out that way. In AD 601 the Roman Catholic Church saw Halloween as a day when the Lord of Death releases evil spirits– like ghosts, witches, and demons– into the night to haunt and trick the civilians. There were such beliefs as human sacrifice and death. As a result, ugly faces would be carved on a pumpkin to scare away evil– the candle inside being the sacrifice for the spirits.

It’s kind of creepy to think how these same jack-o-lanterns are the decorative crafts that we nowadays are so excited to make. And how the demons that people were once afraid of, are the demons we now dress up as. It puts things into more perspective about how maybe a lack of enthusiasm is such a negligible change in the grand scheme of things.

Anyway, here is my share of Halloween spirit. Hope you like it :)