Halloween

If you can get past the pumpkin spiced lattes, this is a great holiday. There is something about the change of seasons, the falling leaves, the spooky themes and the idea of changing your identity, even if for only one night. Halloween doesn't have the pageantry of Christmas or the history of Thanksgiving, but it has it's own story. One of mystery, and terror, a story of superstition and respect, shrouded in the past. From the ancient Gaelic practice of dressing up to welcome and blend in with the dead around Samhain (the end of summer), comes the modern tradition of costumes. Likewise, carrying hollowed out gourds and turnips with ghoulishly carved faces acting as lanterns lit the way and warded off evil spirits.

Today, we carve jack o'lanterns, not to light our paths as we seek goods door to door, but as a way to greet trick or treaters coming to us, as well as a way to show off our personalities. No longer do we dress up to hide among the dead, but rather to embrace the idea of being something we could never be in real life. We use the holiday as a reason to gather with our friends and family. We play games, and eat treats and scare ourselves and those around us, all for the simple fun of it.

November is right around the corner. The long cold winter is ready to take over and the day after Halloween, we go back to working retail, pushing paper, and buying and selling our average daily life. But for one day, we can be whatever we want to be. I'm a pirate and you're a princess, and all the world is our stage. Regardless of where this holiday came from, what it was, or what it may soon be, today it is fun, and that may be just what the world needs most today.