The day after the night before

Yes, today is the day after the night before. Not just any night, mind you. Yesterday was a very special night for lots of folks. There's not a more American holiday than Halloween, eh? Wrong. Oh, it's a big deal in many areas of the States, but it's certainly has its roots elsewhere.

The name itself is a running-together of the Scottish variation of All Hallows' Eve, that is that night before All Saints' Day in the Roman Church. (The day that follows is All Souls', just in case you were wondering, so the themes of life, death, and spirits certainly fits in well. Some believe it's related to the Celtic Samhain (pronounced SAH-win) which marked the turn to the "dark half of the year", bringing in the harvest, slaughtering, and preparing for winter. The similarity of themes lends to credence to the idea, to say the least.

It was held that All Hallows' was the last chance for the recently departed to finish up their tasks on earth, perhaps taking revenge against those who had done them wrong, so nothing made you safer than dressing up as someone or something else, disguising yourself so as not to be recognized. Sweet cakes were baked and the poor collected them too, so it would seem that all the features of the holiday, as such, are accounted for. Though All Hallows has been around for over a thousand years, the more modern version of Halloween, really didn't start to take off until the 19th century.

Oh, don't get me wrong, Halloween is one of the kiddies' favorites, what with all that candy and all, and it is reason enough for adults to finally get into costume and pretend to be something they're not, outside of work that is. I suppose it's wholesome, harmless fun, for the most part, though there are strains of Christian fundamentalism that take a dour look at the frivolity. Of course, they look dour most of the time anyway, so they don't count.

Though celebrated worldwide (though it never really caught on in my current neck of the woods), I have to say that the Americans have outdone themselves in promoting this particular holiday that really isn't. The decorations, the sales, the parties that will be thrown, the trick-or-treating that will be done ... it's a one-of-a-kind celebration, to be sure. It also seems so fitting that my fellow countrypeople would be so into it, for it combines two primary themes that stand in stark opposition to one another: death and fun.

All the imagery is about ghosts and goblins, skeletons, spirits, witches and "the other side", and death is the doorway to that world. But, in good American fashion it can be trivialized, mocked, and made fun of, for if there were ever anything that most Americans never want to get serious about it's death. How morbid is that?