Halloween, but Make it ⁓Monetised ⁓

by Charlie Catterall.

Halloween - a week of binge-drinking and contemplating just how slutty you can make your costume. Sexy police officer, naughty nun, or just lingerie. Playboy bunny? Shelves of tacky decor and multipacks of sweets for the trick-or-treaters. The neighbours gave full size packets last year!! Pumpkins, themed party food, costumes for dogs, and a 6ft scarecrow that every so often makes a sudden movement to scare the kids. Only £60. In a world of political correctness, you have got to wonder why we’ve never stopped to question, what we are such keen participants in? Why are we doing this? Why have I just spent £30 on bunny ears and fishnets? Halloween is more than just another money-eating spell that the commercial mind has cast on us. Cancel your plans, return your bunny ears and put away the booze. What would the Celts think?!

Halloween originated with the Celtic festival of ‘Samhain.’ It was a celebration for the end of summer and preceded the hard winter ahead. It was believed that on this night, the barrier between life and death was blurred, so they built bonfires and wore costumes to ward off ghosts. The Roman Empire conquered Celtic land in 43AD, this led to the festival being combined with two pre-existing Roman holidays; ‘Feralia’ to celebrate the passing of the dead, and ‘Pomona’ celebrating the goddess of fruit trees whose symbol was an apple. This is reflected in the commercialised Halloween of today, we see bobbing for apples and toffee apples as reminiscent of the holiday. The Celtics original holiday is modified even further with the spread of Christianity in 100 AD. The church attempted to replace the holiday with their own ‘Hallows-eve’, a day to honour the dead and those who have died for their beliefs. The original traditions of ‘Samhain’ were followed, but under a Christian pretence. It’s from here we see the emergence of the modern Halloween; it only continues to grow and grab traditions from other cultures and celebration styles until it eventually evolves into the commercialised monster we know today.

The traditional ‘Samhain’ has long ago been masticated by the commercial monster and Halloween is no longer considered a religious holiday. But why is this? We see a similar commercialism with Christmas, yet the religious aspect of the holiday isn’t lost.

Yes, many non-religious people celebrate Christmas and it’s a very very diluted version of the religious tradition it once was. Yet we all know that it is, or was once, a religious holiday. When attending my ‘hallow-week’ events this year, if at any of these parties I asked anyone why we were doing this? What is the real purpose of all this fuss? I imagine I would be faced with a lot of confusion. The Celts have been polarised from their own tradition.

But Halloween has been continually modified throughout time. Maybe it is not fair to compare it to something like Christmas, with such a strong religious tradition behind it. We’ve delved into Halloween’s origin and development, and so know it’s clearly been altered and changed by so many faiths. Its very own Frankenstein holiday, a mash up of different religions traditions, and then further mixed with a modern desire for extravagance and excess. It’s a mix of traditions and cultures, so cannot be pinned to one clear religious plot to exploit. Instead, commercialism exploits the modern general desire for celebration with endless party supplies and costumes.

The tradition of Halloween is deeply rooted in celebration and coming together, that’s the ancient and constant nature of the holiday. The holiday was originally, to the Celts, a big celebration before a hard winter. This was one of the main aims behind the festival. In the first century, winter was something to be feared, many would die or lose a lot of their crop. ‘Samhain’ was in some ways a chance to have fun and forget about the struggle of the upcoming season. They ignored the hardship they were about to face.

This year Halloween comes at the end of reading week, mid-terms have been submitted and the next six weeks ultimately leading to exams will not yet be a problem... ‘hall-o-week’ is back on. Give into the commercial world we live in, buy as much tacky decor as you can and invite your pals round, buy the bunny ears AND the lingerie to match, indulge in as much booze you feel necessary at the time and forget the stress of the upcoming academic months. Make the Celts proud!!!

photocredittoGabrielChoehloviPexels

“It’s a mix of traditions and cultures, so cannot be pinned to one clear religious plot to exploit. Instead, commercialism exploits the modern general desire for celebration with endless party supplies and costumes. “