oloriel | Oct. 31st, 2003

When I was just a bit younger - a few years ago - I remember wishing that we had Hallowe'en in Germany as well. By now, like any commercialized holiday, it has made its way over here, and I wish it hadn't. It's bad enough to have one's own half-forged holidays; taking over half-forged holidays from others by half-forging them again doesn't exactly do much for the spirit of the day.
Wah. Little kids dressing up and going trick-or-treating are cute, and that is exactly why I wanted Hallowe'en to exist over here as well (and which is why kids like it). Hey, I don't blame the kids. It's a wonderful holiday for them, allowing them to do stuff they'd be punished for the rest of the year - who wouldn't love that. But grown-ups thinking they have to find the most gory, scary stuff and organize big gory, scary parties are rather annoying.
If I remember correctly, the point of this holiday was actually the death of the horned god who went to the world of the dead on this day, which resulted in the veil between the worlds thinning so dead spirits enter "our" world and try to get hold here again. To scare them off, one would dress up or light jack-o-lanterns so they'd think some other spirit had already been there. Or so.
There is, however, nothing said about just another excuse to get erudamn wasted, or to booby-trap other people's frontyards just because they didn't remember to buy treats or refuse to celebrate a christianized heathen holiday that came to them from somewhere else entirely via the US on a wave of commercialism. Period.

That said, I'm still sad that our Hallowe'en meeting died because of stupid, childish arguments. However, I will watch Dead Poets' Society and/or Amelie with