As we are now in the holy season of great decoration, I have noticed a rather peculiar phenomenon. Where I live the Halloween decorations seem to have reached the heights of Christmas and perhaps eclipsed them. House after house had towering skeletons or ghosts along with giant sized spiders and speakers that sent loud spooky laughter into the night. These were not the domain of the well to do but on meager homes and yards even more. They had been up for a long time prior to Halloween and after the trick or treat day was gone, some of those folks merely thrust a Santa next to the skeleton or put a baby in a manger before the ghostly figure or turned the scary troop into a marching band for Christmas. Strange but true.
I do not know what to make of this all. When did Halloween graduate from pranks and candy and dress up to a full fledged decoration day? The motorized blow up craze surely helped but they are still pricey and hard to store. When did it become normal to clutter your hard with homage to the devil or fake tombstones or spiders big enough to eat Manhattan? Is it the same way where you live? The weirder colors of Halloween lights somehow evolve into red and green or other more Christmassy colors but it is fairly obvious that the spooky stuff has taken prominence. Do church goers also engage in this kind of dance with demons on All Hallows' Eve or is this a sign of the growing size of the nones or dechurched population? I wish I knew what to think of it all.
I also find it amazing that there is a growing business of folks who will put up your decorations for you (and, I presume, take them down when the season is ended although I see a lot of them up year round). Is the quest for self-expression so great that if you have no time, you will pay somebody to do it for you? Have the decoration stores been so successful in touting their wares that if you don't put something up because you are too busy you feel obligated to have somebody do it for you? I wish someone would explain to me how all of this came about. It seems rather sudden. One day there were a few oddballs who had a skeleton here or there and the next it was pandemonium.
Is this some sign of the darker side of things beginning to show itself in the light of day? Are people owning up to feelings and thoughts they had before but did not feel able to express them? Or is this merely the success of marketing and sales? I well recall the time my younger son had a storm trooper costume and sat in a chair on our porch to give out the candy. As soon as he moved, the kids screamed and ran away. Some parents thought this was over the top. Baby, they had not seen anything yet. Perhaps the most troubling to me is that it has all become somehow oddly normal. Wow. What a world!
It is difficult to compare America today, with our past history. In many respects, we have become less connected to the better traditions and values we once affirmed as a collective people sharing this land, working together, sharing many similar ideals; and faith in God was held as sacrosanct. A nation whose motto is “In God we trust” should live up to these words. Halloween has become a popular time for people to vicariously share the dark side of life without succumbing totally to what they know is evil. So Halloween became presented as innocent fun and a raucous party for folks who enjoy this sort of thing. Like “Mardi Gras” or the “Day of the dead” and “Burning Man” celebrations, they are alike in one way: all these are a veiled mockery, displeasing to God. They are all traditions that are neither innocuous, nor neutral, nor uplifting, but simply rebellious and contrary to the virtues of Holy Writ. Nothing about these events is uplifting. A faithful child of God, striving to please the Lord in this life, will not join in these dark and wicked celebrations, and if they do, must realize the serious nature of joining in. That Halloween became so broadly popular, with the rapid commercialization of evil disguised as fun, including even black Christmas trees, and ornaments, ought to be seen by Christians as something to be avoided. But by one’s choices the state of the heart is revealed. The Lord calls His people to quietly walk the narrow path, and not the way of the world. Soli Deo Gloria
ReplyDeleteThis is gonna sound puritanical, but adults like Halloween for the simple reason that it is a non-religious holiday that allows them to dress up and be whatever they want to be while celebrating a carnal, everything goes hedonism. For non-Christian adults, it’s the ultimate Western holiday, since our primary social concern is liberation from any oppression or constraints on who you are biologically or socially in favor of the dream of absolute personal freedom.
ReplyDeleteRemember that Advent was originally established as a penitential season leading up to Christmas in part because the general tendency of the majority of medieval adults was to use the time around religious holidays as an excuse for general revelry and drunkenness. Halloween is really no different and appeals to the human inclination towards fantasy and excess.