Scary times again

Everybody's familiar with the ghosts, goblins and scary creatures of all kinds at Halloween. That's why we get all dressed up, put on costumes to confuse the evil spirits and go about playing tricks and getting treats. But did you know, that precisely six months prior, things can get scary as well?

Halloween may be the time of bidding the sun good-bye for the dark half of the year, but the other half is light. It only makes sense. The time to celebrate the banishing of the dark, then, is now; that is, on 30 April, for this marks the other halfway point in the year. Why don't we celebrate it?

It's not like we don't have a name for it. It is Walpurgis Night. Unfortunately, it's fallen into some disrepute over the years. Too bad, really. I think it's a great time to celebrate. Walpurgis Night is often associated with witches and their sabbath, with strange goings-on out in the woods and on the mountain tops. Goethe is his epic Faust included a Walpurgis-Night scene in both parts. The last chapter in book five of Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain is named thereafter, as is Act Two of Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Not a one of these literary associations has done anything to rehabilitate the day ... or night, if you will. Too bad.

The next day, of course, is May Day. No, not as in our ship is sinking and we're in desperate need of help, but as in dancing-around-the-maypole-day. Now, there's a light-hearted, carefree, slightly bawdy, luscious, if not voluptuous image to pursue. If there ever was a day for romping and frolicking, I suppose that's it, especially since we decided we'd have no more of Midsummer, which is really oddly named since it is the beginning of the season, not the middle of it. But, that doesn't matter.

I suppose this all got suppressed in Puritanical America (I mean, what doesn't get suppressed there?), though I can't help but think we have to lay the blame squarely at the feet of those evil communists. For whatever reason, they decided to make the 1st of May their day honoring Labor (not work, mind you), and the moment the communists are in play, well, it's clear that Americans, at any rate can have nothing to do with that so they let their paranoia force them to create their own Labor Day, which they stuck out in September. The only value it serves anymore is to let school kids know that they're either back or about to be back in school. Yeah, great reason to celebrate.

Here in tradition-rich Europe, however, May Day is still May Day, and Walpurgis Night, instead of being one of dark, foreboding, witches' rituals will see a lot of partying and dancing going on. On the evening of the 30th there will Dances into May country-wide, and the party won't stop, of course, till the wee hours of the morning. But there's a workfree day there to greet them.

We can honor labor ... in the sense that we can be thankful we don't have to work the day after the night before.

Societal remnants

There are some of you who are bothered by absolute statements; that is, statements that appear to mean "this and nothing other". For example, when I say, "We have no society anymore." It's not that I actually mean that there is nothing even resembling a society, rather, whatever we have is of such little importance and draws so little attention, that we might as well not have one, for what we do try to hold onto doesn't seem to count.

I suppose there are any number of reasons for this ... not my statements, but how we deal with those few social aspects that we seem to have left. I'm fortunate in that most of the people I know have some kind of family (siblings or cousins, the odd aunt or uncle somewhere not too far away, perhaps even one or both of our parents still alive), but many people I know live far enough away from their "home" that family get-togethers are often reserved for one of the big holidays, generally Thanksgiving or Christmas. For the rest of the year, we're pretty much just on own own. Of course, I also know a few people who don't get along with even what little family they have. I find that sad, though, but I will admit that blood ties are no antidote to sphincteriety (that is, simply being an asshole, an all-too-common malaise).

When we look at the year, we find that it is fairly artificially constructed anymore. In the USA, for example, there is a Monday holiday in January (MLK Day), February (President's Day), May (Memorial Day), September (Labor Day) and October (Columbus Day). None of these, it should be noted has anything to do with anything natural, no seasonal or time-of-year events. Easter has lost its meaning most places (Good Friday is often a half-workday), the same applies to Christmas (Eve). Thanksgiving is something of a harvest festival, so it's placement in November is reasonable, even if it conflicts with Veteran's Day, but it was just set there, and so that leaves only New Year's Day as a real seasonal holiday, for it marks the beginning of the year.

Though the holidays in Germany vary a little (May is always a big month because that's generally when Pentecost (whose Monday is work-free), Ascension Day and Corpus Christi (both of which are always on Thursdays) occur. We also get Good Friday and Easter Monday off, but unlike some places, if variable-day holidays (e.g. New Year's Eve and Day, May Day, German Unification (Oct. 3), All Saint's, and Christmas) fall on a weekend, for example, there's no compensation at work; you simply have the holiday on the weekend. Here, however, the Church Year plays a dominant role, but the selection of this or that day to be celebrated or designated as a holiday is fairly arbitrary, as it is elsewhere.

When the weather's nice, we have barbecues and picnics and family outings on such days, and if we're lucky, and the extended family is in the vicinity, we may even manage a short visit to one of the relatives. On the whole, though, holidays have become more or less a mere counterpart to work.

We have holidays of our own making, and too many people don't even know why anymore. There's nothing natural about that. Our years, our lives are just sort of made up.