Radical Avenue

You will normally find me discussing contemporary politics on this blog, but today I need to get something off my chest. I fear that excessive commercialization of Halloween has disguised the true meaning of this glorious holiday. Now I can get past the silly fake tombstones and spider webs on neighborhood lawns. I’ll even accept little kids dressed up as princesses and cowboys even though these outfits aren’t even scary. But I have to draw the line when it comes to these ridiculous “exotic” costume balls popping up all over the place this time of year. This is nothing more than a bunch of decadent suburbanites prancing around in skimpy fetish outfits as though Halloween was meant for fun. We’ve replaced horror with horny.

Long ago the Celts celebrated Samhain on the night before their November 1st New Year. They believed that on October 31st, the ghosts of the dead returned to earth in order to burn crops and cause other trouble. Later Pope Boniface IV designated November 1st All Saints Day and the night before became known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween. I suppose it’s good that saints have their own holiday. After all, they’ve performed miracles, inspired people and so forth. But how many of us will ever become saints? Isn’t it nice to know that there’s something for the rest of us when we die? Of course it’s not a full day, but an evening is better than nothing.

Halloween should be about re-animated dead people. When most people expire, they follow the light to the end of the tunnel and pass peacefully into the afterlife. But every once in a while, someone says: “Hell no. I’m staying right here in my earthly home to haunt my friends and family. And if someone else moves into this house, I’ll scare them too.” Imagine how boring life would be without a few wayward spirits. We need to show some respect for the neglected ghosts and goblins among us. Let’s make Halloween spooky again.

Halloween, spooky, scary, Samhain, All Saints Day, All Hallows Eve, dead people, ghosts, goblins, spirits, exotic balls, spirits, hauntings

Samuel Gompers, as head of the American Federation of Labor, called Labor Day “the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward, when their rights and their wrongs would be discussed…that the workers of our day may not only lay down their tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel the stronger for it.” So I guess Sam liked parades.

I prefer to kick it on Labor Day. Of all the national holidays, Labor Day seems the most appropriate to give workers a day off. Employees in the United States work longer hours and receive less paid vacation than our European counterparts, to which we are often compared. We could use a break, especially after a long hot summer.

What I don’t get is the “unofficial end of summer” bit. Do we have to be in a hurry about everything? Why not drift off slowly into fall? It’s still plenty hot in most of the country and the leaves are still green. I’d prefer to make October the unofficial end of summer, or the unofficial beginning of Halloween season according to shopping mall calendars. Happy Labor Day!