Previously published on the original Wolfstone and Haunt Maven websites.
14 November 2004
It must be that I have always loved Halloween.
I have old memories of costumes that Mom made for me when I was little. I remember costumes that I made when a bit older. When I joined the workforce, I put extra effort into a Halloween costume for work, coming up with things that were pretty darned good and pretty darned uncomfortable.
Somewhere in there, things changed for me. I started paying more attention to the reason behind Halloween[1]. I focused my efforts more on sharing the season with others than in hogging the fun for myself.
[1] In part, this refers to studying the history, meaning, and evolution of Halloween and its celebration. More than this, I also examined my own motivation for loving Halloween, trying to find out what I got out of it, or wanted to get. As usual, there are many reasons, some of which are discussed in this grumble. One reason that is too big to include in detail is celebration of Halloween as a holding action against the onslaught of Christmas. Years ago, the official Christmas frenzy began the day after Thanksgiving. The boundary was well respected. In recent years, Christmas preparations have come earlier and earlier. This year, I was in Wal Mart on the first of September. In one aisle, a small troop of stockers was briskly unpacking Christmas stuff and putting it on shelves. I interrupted and asked where I could find the Halloween merchandise. The stocker immediately responded “It’s too early for Halloween.” Then he looked down at the plastic Santa in his hands, looked up at me, and sheepishly admitted, “I guess that sounds awfully silly, doesn’t it?” Yes, one reason that I celebrate Halloween is just to keep Christmas at bay. It’s Fall, damn it! Let the seasons turn at a more natural pace!
In 1997, I made my first significant attempt to put some spooky decorations up at home. Every year since then, we have offered a bigger and better Halloween to our neighbors. My costumes became nominal, as all my energy went into the decorations.
Then I started increasing the number of Halloween decorations I would bring in to work. Nowadays, I have three large boxes of decorations that I bring in for my coworkers to borrow. I send out an e-mail invitation at the beginning of October. Every year I add a little something, and improve on it. This is what I sent this year:
From: Dennis Griesser
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 12:31 PM
To: Stat R&D
Subject: Would you like to decorate for Halloween?
Importance: Low
Just about every culture sets aside a special time to pay reverence to its departed ancestors. Halloween started out that way*, and has mutated since it came to America. The Mexican version is Dia De Los Muertos, Day of the Dead**.
Like other holidays, Day of the Dead and Halloween have developed into secular holidays, and acquired a crass commercial overlay.
I actually like both sides.
- I like to decorate the house and give treats to the kids who come by. It is one night of the year when you can be anything you want – fireman, robot, ninja. Even adults can be kids for one night!
- And when the kids are gone, we’ll say prayers for our loved ones who died this year.
For those interested in decorating their working space for Halloween, I have some decorations that I am happy to lend out for this occasion. Just come by my cube, rummage around in the boxes, and borrow whatever you like. First-come, first-served! I bet the plasma skull goes fast!
Some of the decorations are animated, or include sound effects. If you pick a “loud” decoration, please don’t play it very often – a little goes a long way, and the guy in the next cubicle may be concentrating on some tricky code.
—
* Brief history of Halloween:
Halloween started out as a Pagan festival that celebrated Samhain, the end of the harvest season. “Samhain” is Gaelic for “end of Summer”. [The “m” is silent. The word is pronounced “sowin”. If somebody pronounces it “Sam Hain”, or says that it celebrates a god of death or evil, they are exceedingly ignorant.] Samhain was also the end of the Celtic calendar, and a time to reflect on what had happened in the year and loved ones who had passed on. [In connection with Celtic people, one often thinks first of the Irish, but technically England, Scotland, Wales, France, and Germany are Celtic in origin]
When England and Ireland were Christianized by the Catholic church, the church took care to point out the similarities between the old and new religions. They built churches on holy Pagan sites, and moved Christian holidays to the corresponding Pagan celebrations. [Ever wonder why Christmas is celebrated in December?] All Souls’ Day was made November 2, All Saints’ Day was November 1 (All Hallows Day) and the evening before was called All Hallows Eve – Halloween.
Celtic immigrants brought Halloween to America, but it didn’t take root until the mass Irish immigrations in the 1840s. In America, Halloween lost most of the religious aspects, amplified the trick-or-treating, and was given more sinister overtones by German fears of witches spreading mischief on Walpurgisnacht (which is actually May 1, but what the heck). Americans also started making Jack o’Lanterns out of pumpkins, instead of the traditional turnips.
** Some notes on Dia De Los Muertos
Dia De Los Muertos, Day of the Dead, is celebrated November 1-2.
Like other holidays, Day of the Dead has developed into a secular holiday, and acquired a crass commercial overlay. But private observance tends to maintain a lot of the reverence. Altars are sometimes set up at home to remember the dead. Visits are often made to graveyards, bringing the departed’s favorite foods, decorations including flowers and decorated skulls made from sugar.
Some Day of the Dead folk art uses skeletons and skulls in everyday scenes: wearing hats, playing instruments, walking the dog, getting married. It’s a healthy reminder that death comes to everybody and you shouldn’t worry too much about it.
Mexican sugar skulls come in all sizes. Many are decorated with colorful icing. I have put out a rather large sugar skull in the snack area. I suggest that you don’t eat it – I bought it last year! These skulls are 99.99% sugar. Those with allergies should be aware that a small quantity of egg meringue is used to hold it together. You can find more information on Mexican sugar skulls here:
<http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/mexicansugarskull/>
—
Dennis Griesser
“When I sell liquor, it’s called bootlegging; when my patrons serve it on silver trays on Lake Shore Drive, it’s called hospitality.”- Al Capone[2]
[2] The quotation that follows my name in the signature is randomly selected from a collection of my favorites. Many people are delighted with the quotations appended to my e-mail, and find the quotes more interesting than anything that I have to say.
The decorations at work are only a small thing. Most of my energy goes into haunting my house. By this, I mean making a simple middle-class home into something that looks creepy and haunted. So if I am making it look haunted, I am a haunter and what I do is haunting it.
We don’t have a walk-through “haunted house”. We don’t build a maze for the kids to enjoy. We simply set up a tableau for people to walk past, look at, and enjoy.
The main attraction is a graveyard of about 20 tombstones, surrounded by a creepy wrought iron fence. The fence has five big stone pillars at the corners and every 16 feet or so. Crouching gargoyles sit atop the pillars. Inside the graveyard, you can sometimes see strange things, like skeletons sitting in a circle, telling stories. In the back, a translucent glowing ghost floats around. On top of the house a giant spider reaches over the porch, rearing up when trick-or-treaters approach. To the side, the roof of the garage serves as a clock tower, where the glowing purple face of a strange clock with 13 hours displays hands in the shape of spider and snake, rapidly running backwards.
Our haunt isn’t intended to give anybody nightmares. We intentionally go low on the gore, with skeletons that look like they were bleached in the sun. The stuff that is really intended to scare does so by startling you – like the giant pumpkin that pops up out of a trash can as you approach the house. And we try not to trigger those for smaller kids. We also like to include elements of grim humor – like the animated dog that was digging up bones from the grave of Elvis.
Our haunt is a lot of work: advance preparation, setup, running it, teardown, storage, maintenance. It is also a lot of stress. I get restless and irritable. I don’t get enough sleep. I worry. I suspect that I’m not that nice to be around. Other tasks suffer: I stop writing grumbles. Even when the first trick-or-treaters arrive, I am still making last minute adjustments or trying to set up one last prop. Finally, I give up, saying “It is what it is.” About a half an hour after that, I start having fun.
This year was no exception, and during the stressful period before Halloween I read some e-mail[3] from a prominent haunter that bothered me even more.
[3] There are numerous e-mail distribution lists that deal with Halloween. I subscribe to many of them, using the nickname “Jack of Shadows”. The e-mail lists are active all year long, but mail volume shoots up in October, to about 500 messages a day.
From: Halloween-L@lists.wildrice.com On Behalf Of toyguy710
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2004 11:09 AM
Subject: Hall: First complaint of the year
I guess I’ve been lucky in years past. I’d never had someone come pound on my door.
A neighbor, new to the area, stopped to let me know how my skull fountain display was going to permanently imprint on her young daughter’s brain.
I kept cool and explained that I’d always had one in the yard, since 1999, and it was expected. Locals always ask where it’s at when they see me decorating if I don’t have it out soon enough.
I explained very politely that I understood her opinion but that it wasn’t coming down until 10 pm this evening at its appointed time. I did concede that come the 29th when it’s time to put everything back out that I’d put it farther back in the yard. I didn’t mention what would be in its place so that it couldn’t be there. Best to let her find out on her own.
The real kicker here is that there’s multiple ways around this neighborhood. She lives on a street that allows her to go an extra 10th of a mile and arrive at any location past my house. She claimed that she has had to explain several of my props to her daughter but that she wouldn’t be able to with this one.
Oh well. I can’t please them all. I just hate to have even one person upset with me.
Better go dream up safe props for tomorrow. Ha!
Mike the
Toyguy
Toyguy got a lot of sympathy. I let it fester a whole day before I replied.
From: Jack of Shadows [wolfstone]
Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2004 11:32 PM
To: Halloween-L Mailing List
Subject: why we haunt – Toyguy, please read
I’m sorry that the new neighbor ruined your day. Please read my story…
Saturday, we were setting up the graveyard, fence, and pillars. We were almost done, just adding final touches when the neighbor from across the street came over to chat.
My neighbor was recently diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer. Inoperable. He will die, the big question is when. The small question is what will happen to him as cancer eats up his brain stem. The doctors give him as long as a year. He’s a fighter, and may make two years. He wants to see his daughter graduate from High School. He will never dance at his daughter’s wedding.
So, there I am, surrounded by styrofoam tombstones, next to a “stone” pillar made of masonite, looking over the PVC fence with plastic skull toppers from Toyguy. Across from me is a man doomed to an unpleasant and nonnegotiable end. His death is real. My stuff is fake. I feel like 12 kinds of shit.
I took off my work gloves, and reached through the fence to shake hands. My neighbor gives me a big smile, notes that we are hard at work again this year, and compliments our setup. His eyes are unable to properly focus on me. His handshake is strong and sincere. His smile warms my heart.
There are many reasons why we haunt. Sometimes I think of it as a present that I give the local kids. It is a way to revive the kid in all of us, and help people of all ages have a good time. For those who keep the Old Ways, it is a time to celebrate the end of the old year, and usher in the new. For those of several faiths, it is a time to reflect on our loved ones who have passed away in the preceding year.
But there is another reason to haunt. A reason perhaps more important than any of the others…
By haunting, we mock Death. We know that sooner or later, Death will take us. And neither poet nor priest, surgeon nor saint, truly knows what is beyond Death’s door. Is it paradise or perdition? Is it union with the godhead? Perhaps there is nothing more, and like a candle flame, when we die, the flame is gone forever. We have theories and beliefs, but we don’t know. Despite this lack of knowledge, with an instinct programmed into the very core of our being, we hate and fear Death. This gives it power over us.
By haunting, we laugh at Death. Every lawn mower attacking a man[4] – is giving the finger to Death. Every bloody fountain – sticks a sharp twig in Death’s eye. Every cannibal BBQ gives Death a hotfoot. Yes, the Reaper will come for us some day, but until that day, we fight Death. And our strongest weapon is laughter.
Perhaps your new neighbor tries to explain too much to her daughter. Perhaps she tries to explain away misfortune and death. How does your neighbor explain the daily newspaper or evening TV news? Can she completely insulate her daughter from the fact that bad things happen, and good people die? If she can, is it wise to do so? I think that it would be better for that girl to learn to laugh at Death through your haunt.
Tell the Reaper to bug off! Laugh at Death, and fight him for every life he takes.
Join me. Haunt on!
– Jack of Shadows
[4] Toyguy’s haunt uses a lot more gore than we do. These are actual examples of scenes from his haunt.
And that is what Halloween is all about, Charlie Brown.
– Dennis