I love your essays! It's always delightful to see one pop up in my inbox. I also "re-found" Fathom because of your endnotes, which was great. It's one of those internet places fit for human consumption, so I was grateful to be reminded of it!
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.
It is a tricky balance, re: living the liturgy/ browsing the amazing decorations... I think it can be done, though! And yes, what is it with everyone kicking up the whole "holiday house" decorations to, like, a 1000% level in the last few years? I have no idea! But I see evidence of that trend, too!
Popping in from Signs & Seasons...and, enjoyed this essay. For at least five weeks one October I drove by a house that had an entire 'operating room' set up in its front yard, complete with blood-red, realistic entrails, etc. and ghoulish 'doctor-zombies' standing around the table's hapless victim. The house is on the same block as the town's middle school. Can you even imagine how parents were required to field questions from their children that year?!
Gory is SO overdone in this area -- I certainly prefer 'spooky' at this point.♡
UGH. That is truly horrifying -- it's ironic how people make their yards so ugly and grotesque at the most beautiful time of the year... and all in the name of "fun." You have to wonder if they thought the kids and parents driving by to school would enjoy the whole thing! I remember a house back in my own trick-or-treating days that had a "gory operation" themed skit going on through the duration of the Halloween evening. Just... not the point. Blah.
Really, it gets to the point where you have to ask yourself, is this *spoofing* the devil or *celebrating* the devil? Let's not let the ick get in the way of the fun!
Thanks for the link to my piece! I am probably going to be "that mom" this year and knock on people's car windows and point out all the...children? That apparently they haven't noticed are in the street?
Indeed! That's a good way to put it. I really have zero tolerance for the horror stuff... it's a realm that doesn't make any sense to me, and it does smack of "celebration."
Learning about Halloween’s history continues to fascinate me. It’s historically been my least favorite holiday, which I’m sure has plenty to do with memories of watching neighborhood children roam the streets as a child. We were the “Halloween is the devil’s holiday” evangelicals and so now I don’t know where I even fit my framework of this holiday.
Although you’d be happy to know Lutherans celebrate Reformation Day instead… Is that like the earliest version of a harvest festival? 😅😆 (The first year we went through the entire liturgical year I was SO sad bc I thought All Saints got replaced with Reformation. But thankfully they only bump it to the following Sunday. I still think we should just observe All Saints in its normal place buuuuut you can’t win them all.
That would make it so complex, and definitely give you enough reasons to dislike the whole thing.
SO.... since you brought up the "Devil's Holiday..." Tierney (who is worth checking out for many, many reasons -- https://catholicallyear.com/about/) mentions Jack Chick, evangelical tract writer from the '60s, in her entry on Halloween. I think there's a lot that went into how Halloween became the "Devil's Holiday," but there's no denying that Chick played a part in it--https://lamag.com/art/cartoonist-jack-chick-died-leaving-behind-lifetime-evangelical-comics-fascinated-generation
Reformation Day!!! Hahaha, yes. Well do I remember it. Now, whenever the 31st of Oct. happens to be a Sunday or I happen to be at mass on a 31st, the priest will always say something about the great tragedy of the Reformation, and I just remember reading in church bulletins lines like "Today, we celebrate the Reformation!"
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.
I love your essays! It's always delightful to see one pop up in my inbox. I also "re-found" Fathom because of your endnotes, which was great. It's one of those internet places fit for human consumption, so I was grateful to be reminded of it!
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.
It is a tricky balance, re: living the liturgy/ browsing the amazing decorations... I think it can be done, though! And yes, what is it with everyone kicking up the whole "holiday house" decorations to, like, a 1000% level in the last few years? I have no idea! But I see evidence of that trend, too!
Popping in from Signs & Seasons...and, enjoyed this essay. For at least five weeks one October I drove by a house that had an entire 'operating room' set up in its front yard, complete with blood-red, realistic entrails, etc. and ghoulish 'doctor-zombies' standing around the table's hapless victim. The house is on the same block as the town's middle school. Can you even imagine how parents were required to field questions from their children that year?!
Gory is SO overdone in this area -- I certainly prefer 'spooky' at this point.♡
Thanks for popping in! ❤
UGH. That is truly horrifying -- it's ironic how people make their yards so ugly and grotesque at the most beautiful time of the year... and all in the name of "fun." You have to wonder if they thought the kids and parents driving by to school would enjoy the whole thing! I remember a house back in my own trick-or-treating days that had a "gory operation" themed skit going on through the duration of the Halloween evening. Just... not the point. Blah.
Such apt and beautiful reflections. Consumerism has such a stranglehold on us, and we end up missing the forest for the trees!
Thank you for your kind words and for sharing my post - I'm so grateful to connect with kindred spirits like you here!
Absolutely! I'm so excited to know about your work, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it!
Really, it gets to the point where you have to ask yourself, is this *spoofing* the devil or *celebrating* the devil? Let's not let the ick get in the way of the fun!
Thanks for the link to my piece! I am probably going to be "that mom" this year and knock on people's car windows and point out all the...children? That apparently they haven't noticed are in the street?
Indeed! That's a good way to put it. I really have zero tolerance for the horror stuff... it's a realm that doesn't make any sense to me, and it does smack of "celebration."
Somebody's gotta be "that mom!"
Learning about Halloween’s history continues to fascinate me. It’s historically been my least favorite holiday, which I’m sure has plenty to do with memories of watching neighborhood children roam the streets as a child. We were the “Halloween is the devil’s holiday” evangelicals and so now I don’t know where I even fit my framework of this holiday.
Although you’d be happy to know Lutherans celebrate Reformation Day instead… Is that like the earliest version of a harvest festival? 😅😆 (The first year we went through the entire liturgical year I was SO sad bc I thought All Saints got replaced with Reformation. But thankfully they only bump it to the following Sunday. I still think we should just observe All Saints in its normal place buuuuut you can’t win them all.
That would make it so complex, and definitely give you enough reasons to dislike the whole thing.
SO.... since you brought up the "Devil's Holiday..." Tierney (who is worth checking out for many, many reasons -- https://catholicallyear.com/about/) mentions Jack Chick, evangelical tract writer from the '60s, in her entry on Halloween. I think there's a lot that went into how Halloween became the "Devil's Holiday," but there's no denying that Chick played a part in it--https://lamag.com/art/cartoonist-jack-chick-died-leaving-behind-lifetime-evangelical-comics-fascinated-generation
Reformation Day!!! Hahaha, yes. Well do I remember it. Now, whenever the 31st of Oct. happens to be a Sunday or I happen to be at mass on a 31st, the priest will always say something about the great tragedy of the Reformation, and I just remember reading in church bulletins lines like "Today, we celebrate the Reformation!"
Contradictions. Where would we be without them?