Rise of Halloween

• Lori Palminteri
• Uncategorized
• September 16, 2024

A couple years back in the Fall, when I was remote working for radio, I booked a semi impromptu trip to Portugal for a European surfing trip, just for the Hell of it. There, I hung out with Europeans from all over Europe, but mostly Germans and Belgians. While Halloween has it’s roots in Celtic and Pagan rituals, Halloween, as we know it, is an American phenomenon. And I was delighted to hear that the Europeans were getting into it.

What is the purpose of spooky season? The early Celtic settlers in the new world were legitimately trying to ward off bad spirits. Eventually, this witchery led to the door to door costume wearing children asking for candy. A 90s kid myself, I grew up in world where Halloween was a normal holiday, celebrating weirdos. But it was always more than that. It championed creativity and having fun.

Some kids grew out of Halloween, thinking themselves too cool for dressing up and being absurd. But then some of us decided it wasn’t just for kids. Sure, I’m not going to knock on doors for free candy, I can afford my own candy now, but I’m going to show off my creativity and my body with a costume and we’re going to drink to hedonistic fun. Halloween is just that— fun. To celebrate how short life is, one must also celebrate death. We are finite. Death is serious, but while we’re not in the reach of the Grim Reaper’s sickle, why not enjoy our beating hearts? Who’s to say that death itself doesn’t have a sense of humor?

Sure, Halloween isn’t for everyone. It’s only for the people who haven’t starved their inner child to death and still know how to laugh. I remember, years ago, when I worked in a nursing home, I worked with this deeply religious born again Catholic woman to told me in all seriousness that Halloween was the “devil’s holiday” and she wouldn’t allow her young son to participate in anything Halloween. What a pity. I grew up religious, attending church every Sunday and studying the Bible in religion class (which, much to my parents chagrin, the more I studied religion the less I believed it’s legitimacy), but my family adored Halloween and we found no offense in it.

My Mom is a creative and cut out shadow decorations in our windows of Jack and Sally from one of my favorite movies, “Nightmare Before Christmas” as well as a witch flying over the moon in another. Most Halloween costumes were overpriced and cheesy. But Mom is also somewhat a seamstress and would tailor our costumes to our skinny bodies or sometimes make them herself.

From treat-or-treating when I was a little kid, so cute with my siblings in our little costumes, to being a drunken teenager at themed parties, to haunted houses created by communities or theme parks, to costume mandatory parties on NYC rooftops with celebrities, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Why is it the Devil is always having so much fun? If Elvis was evil, as he sang, then I am too. Aren’t we all?

Spooky season serves the same purpose as the Christmas season. Sure, Christmas focuses more on family, and there is honor and virtue in that. But I would argue that both celebrate humanity in a slightly different way. We love holidays because they are fun. It brings us together. It makes us smile (well, sometimes scream, and then smile). Because despite our imminent deaths, we can have a good time. So I strongly encourage everyone to embrace the absurd. After all, what is more interesting in life than the weird? Go ahead. Have fun. Just for the Hell of it. Let Halloween rise up again, even bigger and spookier and outrageous than the year before.