My Rebellion Against the Commercialization of Halloween

I didn’t put up Halloween decorations this year, contrary to what you might think.  I mean, I’m the neighborhood witch so certainly you’d think I’d have all sorts of styrofoam displays, ghosts hanging in trees, plastic skulls cackling on the front porch.  Nope, not this year.  In fact, I’m not even putting out my usual jack-o-lanterns and displays for the trick-or-treaters.  I’ll have the light on for them, and a big bag of treats, but that’s it this year.

Why?  Because I need to take back Halloween.

 

It’s one of my special holy days and the proliferation of Halloween lights, plastic, and …commercialized garbage…has it looking like a horror-show version of Christmas and Easter.  I’m not against displays, lights, costumes, parties, etc.  Just…this year…I need a quiet holiday.  All the “stuff” cheapens the meaning to me.

So this year, I’m not even having a big gathering at my home for a Samhain feast.  Instead, I’m handing out candy to the neighborhood kids–truly a scary thought to me after refusing to let junk food in my house again–and then I’m spending the rest of the evening by a quiet little bonfire in my back yard, where I’ll comtemplate the wheel of the year and the abundance of harvest as I move into a new year.

Flying By Night novel

Then later in the week, I’ll join friends and family at the Florida Pagan Gathering to honor my spirituality with a group, sit under chilly night air around a huge bonfire and watch the sparks off it join the stars above while drummers beat in unison.  I may even have a couple of Dixie cups of mead.  And then I’ll come back home after contemplating life, death, and the veil between with a new lease on life that feels far more real than something plastic and packaged from the local WalMart.


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