Spooky vs. Creepy
Happy Halloween!
I eased the car to a stop at one of the many lights between our house and the gym. My youngest two children were strapped in their carseasts, which we have the luxury of placing in separate rows. It was not an extraordinary moment, but it was a peaceful one.
Then, a white truck with a rack pulled up in the lane to our left. Strapped to the rack with zip-ties were two greenish-gray plastic zombie babies, smiling at us with pointed teeth.
I gripped the steering wheel tighter. Do they have any idea how many children are going to see those dumb things? Did they think about the real babies when they pulled the zombie babies out of the box?
We were next to the zombie babies for the next two stops, but neither of the kids said anything. I don’t draw attention to garish Halloween décor, but I do answer questions in a true and succinct manner (to the best of my ability). But at our house, baby dolls are in scary condition year-round. So maybe my kids didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
The creepiness was only one of two problems here.
The other problem?
This happened on August 24.
AUGUST.
Which means that those zombie babies were going to be joyriding around on that white truck for a minimum of seventy days. It would not surprise me if I saw the same truck in November, with the same zombie babies, with Santa hats pinned to their heads.
We do not know how to wait before we celebrate.
It’s all lead-up, no follow-through. The aisles at the store are stocked with decorations for the next holiday before the current holiday even passes. We try to spare ourselves any feelings of let-down caused by the passing of one holiday by pre-celebrating the next one.
So, there’s two problems with the zombie babies: the creepiness, and the lack of liturgical rhythm. Not sure how I could get zombie babies to fit into any liturgical rhythm, but a few more thoughts on each of these problems.
The zombie babies break the Halloween décor litmus test of “spooky” rather “creepy.” I’ll give you the (non-exhaustive) run-down: cobwebs, spiders, jack-o-lanterns, and skeletons (as long as they don’t have, like, fake flesh clinging to them) fall into the “spooky” category. These can be really fun. Home Depot must have carried some giant skeletons last year that were difficult to put up, because people seemed reluctant to take them down.
I probably don’t have to describe what counts as “creepy,” but I’ll just go with what’s in our own neighborhood: clowns holding knives (or any clown—all the clowns are creepy as all get out), dolls, and anything that’s supposed to represent a character from a horror blockbuster (there is a house nearby with no fewer than 20 LIFE-SIZE figures that fit that description).
These categories are not hard and fast. I came up with the “spooky” vs. “creepy” categorization because the kids notice everything, and I wanted us to have some standardized language to talk about what they were seeing. But this way seemed a little more feasible than packing blindfolds in the glove compartment for August—November. It’s blindfold season, kids! This is fun!
Now for the liturgical stuff. The spooky decorations go along with the religious roots of Halloween, the creepy junk (I’m convinced) has more to do with money than anything else (which isn’t to say it isn’t evil and just plain gross).
Religious roots of Halloween? Yes, indeed. Kendra Tierney puts it well in The Catholic All Year Compendium, so I’ll just let her:
“But Catholics invented Halloween, so if it’s appropriate for anyone, it’s appropriate for us.
In fact, virtually all historical attacks on the celebration of Halloween have come about specifically because it was too Catholic. Halloween is All Hallows’ Eve, the vigil of All Saints’ Day, which was instituted as a feast by Pope Gregory III in the eighth century… the spookier side of Halloween was never occult or even pagan; it was all Catholic” (291-292).
Okay. Not saying Halloween is *only* for Catholics, but I am saying that there is a deeper meaning here about the reality of our mortality and the necessity of preparing for death. “All Hallow’s Eve,” with the skeletons and the candlelight and the costumes that all point toward our mortal transience, is not the big shebang. The feast is supposed to lead into November 1, All Saints’ Day. All humans are mortal… and some become Saints. That’s the triumph.
It’s a triumph that’s worth reflecting on, maybe even for the rest of the month. Our time here is limited. What are we going to do with our lives before our time comes? (And isn’t it just cool that the change of the season is the perfect backdrop for this reflection on the reality of death??) Last year, one of our deacons created a “catafalque” which was placed at the front of the church for the month of November. A catafalque is an empty coffin, draped in black. The point of this kind of display is to help us memento mori… remember our death. It’s downright spooky. This liturgical focus on the “end of all things” culminates on the final Sunday before Advent: Christ King of the Universe, the most underrated liturgical day of the year. We celebrate His lordship over history and creation, and we revel in the truth that everything is going to be alright.
The cultural impulse to cruise straight from Halloween to Christmas misses all of that. And that is really sad—sadder, even, than thinking that it’s “festive” to strap plastic zombie babies to a car.
The Stack-up
No Saints this week, I’m afraid—but Substack is celebrating autumn in all its glory. Writers, as a species, love autumn (the SYMBOLISM of it all!!), and you know what? Autumn loves them back.
This essay is *gorgeous* — both Kristin’s words and her pictures — and absolutely worth checking out for the rich history of Hallowtide.
I also loved Abigail’s essay, in which the magic of autumn is not deterred by any given circumstances/ stage of life.
An excellent take on why this season is important and how to invest our time in it well from Jennifer:
And, from Dr. Dixie Dillon Lane, the most important thing anyone is going to say about trick-or-treating this year:
ooooh! Thank you, Meredith! You just gave me my first shout-out ever. 🩷🩷🩷
I've been thinking a lot about the difference between creepy and spooky. I think there is one. This gave me a lot to think about.
Thanks for the mention, I am so happy you enjoyed the article🤍
I always enjoy your posts, and I am in so much agreement on this one with the spooky vs. creepy! We follow the same “guidelines”! I don’t like seeing the gory or creepy things out (though with my boys getting older, they seem to enjoy more than I would like them to).
There is a huge rush from holiday to holiday! And I swear it has become even worse over the last 5-7 years! There is no pause before the next and consumerism of the seasons and holidays is at an all time high! I won’t lie and say I don’t enjoy perusing the fall and Christmas aisles when things to arrive. However, I do think, in ways, it pushes us further from the nature and spiritual aspects of these seasonal shifts that we should be leaning into, as it is of benefit to our WHOLE wellness.