Let the festivities begin.
It's October, which means it is officially my favorite season. The leaves on the GW Parkway are finally starting to change colors, the weather is finally turning cooler (in theory) and I now have an excuse to bundle up on the couch with a cozy blanket and a book. Autumn also brings two fabulous holidays - Thanksgiving and ...drumroll please... my birthday (don't worry, you haven't missed it yet). The one holiday, however, that I have never really understood is Halloween.
I mean, I understand the history of it. It started with the pagan Celtic holiday of Samhain, when the ghosts of the dead rose from their graves and the people believed that their presence made it easier for the Druid priests to predict the future (sounds a little Ghostbuster-ish to me...). Then a few hundred years later, a Catholic pope adopted the holiday, but tweaked it to honor dead saints and martyrs, and called it "All Saints Day" or "All-hallows". Hence, "All Hallows E'en" or "Halloween". You see where we're going with this.
That's not the part I don't get. I've just never understood why we enjoy trying to freak ourselves out. We pay to go into haunted houses, hoping that they'll be scary enough to make us want to leave. We use it as an excuse to eat so much junk food that it makes us sick (fun!), and we stress for weeks over what costume to wear. This is probably my biggest challenge, and why I'm not looking forward to October 31.
It's October, which means it is officially my favorite season. The leaves on the GW Parkway are finally starting to change colors, the weather is finally turning cooler (in theory) and I now have an excuse to bundle up on the couch with a cozy blanket and a book. Autumn also brings two fabulous holidays - Thanksgiving and ...drumroll please... my birthday (don't worry, you haven't missed it yet). The one holiday, however, that I have never really understood is Halloween.
I mean, I understand the history of it. It started with the pagan Celtic holiday of Samhain, when the ghosts of the dead rose from their graves and the people believed that their presence made it easier for the Druid priests to predict the future (sounds a little Ghostbuster-ish to me...). Then a few hundred years later, a Catholic pope adopted the holiday, but tweaked it to honor dead saints and martyrs, and called it "All Saints Day" or "All-hallows". Hence, "All Hallows E'en" or "Halloween". You see where we're going with this.
That's not the part I don't get. I've just never understood why we enjoy trying to freak ourselves out. We pay to go into haunted houses, hoping that they'll be scary enough to make us want to leave. We use it as an excuse to eat so much junk food that it makes us sick (fun!), and we stress for weeks over what costume to wear. This is probably my biggest challenge, and why I'm not looking forward to October 31.
Past years. You see the problem.
Italy. 2005. The idea: Wear as much black as possible and pretend it's a costume.
Verdict: Bad idea.
2006. The Wizard of OzVerdict: More creative, a lot of work, and still somewhat ridiculous
2007. Last minute costume from Jill's stash.
Verdict: Take a good look, because this picture will probably be coming down. :)
Help! I seriously need Halloween ideas.
1 comments:
I'm very sorry that I didn't come upon this earlier! I'm not sure if I would have been much help since I was present at two of these events and didn't fare much better. Post pictures of what you came up with this year!
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