Since Halloween has spread its skeletal fingers outwards from North America, opinions throughout the rest of the world range from abject excitement at the celebration to annoyance at the destruction and over-commercialisation of a religiously significant day. The thing is though, Halloween is more than just either of those things. It’s not about costumes and chocolate, just as much as it’s not necessarily a purely religious event. Halloween is perfect because it’s both of those things at the same time.
Most spiritual aspects of our lives are dealt with in a very rigid way. When we discuss death with others we rely on stock-phrases and repeated beliefs which promise us a reunion with those we’ve lost. Wherever you are on the planet there are customs that are followed to ensure a peaceful transition through such a difficult situation. Last rites, burials, cremations, ceremonies and the like take precedence over a personal tackling of the situation – as with everything we don’t understand, we find comfort in traditions. Openness of communication is difficult, we don’t understand it so we don’t feel comfortable talking about it. The possibility of an afterlife both comforts and terrifies us.
Most people love ghost stories. I’m scared of basically everything spooky and I still see as many horror films as I can (just not alone, obviously). There’s something addictive about listening to those stories, about exploring the things we can’t explain. In a warped way they give meaning to everything else. Centuries ago they explained disease and death, now they explain what happens to us after we die. Horror films are like Halloween, they give us a safe way of considering what’s on the other side of the mirror. They’re still too real though, they’re too lifelike. They could happen. What we need is a way to explore the supernatural without it relating to our real lives. We need a doll to practice on.
Halloween gives us the perfect way to deal with those issues. It’s garishness, it’s over-commercialisation and it’s seeming disrespect towards the dead actually presents us with the opportunity to explore ghosts, spirits and the afterlife without fear of being dragged out of bed. We can buy the most ridiculous costumes, drink copious amounts of blood-red alcohol, watch children beg strangers for sweets and hide away from what the day really symbolises. Halloween is a Halloween costume. It’s a mask we can use to look at fear, terror and death without them affecting us directly. It’s a fake celebration, everything from the plastic skeletons to giant spider webs draped across the walls tell us that nothing we’re seeing is real. We can all hide behind a charade of stick on nails and face paints and we can think about the dead coming back to life – because we’re absolutely in control of the situation. It’s the only night a year where you don’t need to be scared of ghosts. The ghosts are real on Halloween – except they’re just bed sheets you tied up and hung on a tree outside.
We’re externalising all our fears, we’re creating a caricaturisation of them. We’re basically Snape in that chapter where Neville forces him into his grandmother’s clothing. It’s okay to laugh at all those things that scare you the rest of the time, it’s okay to talk about them out loud, you’re just mocking the situation. You’re safe behind your barrier, behind your syringes filled with vodka and your hotdogs that look like fingers. You can pretend to be a serial killer, an axe murder, a zombie and consider exactly what that means, all the time knowing that it’s not real. It’s the same reason we watch our Sims die time after time.
Halloween is over-commercialised and it is a 21st century insult to the religious night it used to be. It’s also the best damn day of the year.
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