On Halloweeeeeen
Like many rituals in modernity the day has been washed into a consumeristic orgy. As houses and costumes get dressed up. Over $3.3billion sold in 2021.
And for many adults its time to delve into fantasy and pretend and party.
Sadly many so called adults use the dress up as a reason to self promote. Click bait like boy toy Kelly playing priest and communion taker Megan Fox desecrating Christianity’s arguably most sacred ceremony.
Celebrities are in the business of getting noticed and exaggerate such to a level of sick.
However, trying on a new mask is a worthy endeavor. As it forces us to take on a new role, a new us. To exercise the imagination that was sadly killed off in too many of us as we got serious when puberty happened. (I wonder how much of that is modeled off their adults in their life hmmmm)
I recall my youngest as he put his spiderman outfit on. His chest would puff and the young boy with a speech impediment would transform into a confident superhero as he chased his sister about the yard.
Why when I coach football. The first thing I do is teach the boys how to pretend again. To put on the uniform of Superman. “Put on your superman!” I say. I learn right away who my leaders are.
As the leaders are all in to play. While others look around to see if I am full of shit or what to do.
Day one of getting into their head. Later I ask if they have a hero player. Most good players have a role model. Others not so much. I remember one young man say Aaron Donnell . I said put on your “Donnell suit!” He plays on Saturdays now in college.
Its a natural as the football uniform itself is a costume. Many youngsters have referred to their gear as armor to me over the years.
Mythologist Joseph Campbell did much work on Halloween and masks.
“Hallowe’en, the eve of the holy days (that’s what the word means), is a festival of the ancient Celtic world particularly. It is matched six months away by the festival of May Day and by the eve of Walpurgis Night which precedes it. The time of this festival is the time of the passing of the organic world in which we live into the realm of darkness, of falling leaves. The other opposite day is of the breaking forth of the fresh leaves of spring.
With this, mankind—or at least the people in those early pastoral days—joined their meditation with the actualities of the natural world, participating in the world by way of meditation and relevant action.
Now, who are these little goblins that appear? As I said, it is not inappropriate to think of death at this time. In fact, the day after Hallowe’en is All Saints’ Day followed by All Souls’ Day. In Europe on these days people go to the graves of their beloved ones who have passed away. For centuries, they brought not only prayers and recollections but also little gifts. There is a secret psychological aspect to this. So often when a dear person dies, we have a sense of guilt and regret for the lovely things we have not done, and for the little negative acts that we wish we had not rendered.”
“And the image still speaks to us today. It’s a vital metaphor. In fact, Campbell spins our brains further by proposing the mask as a metaphor for metaphor itself! As he puts it,“[Metaphor] also suggests the actuality that hides behind the visible aspect. The metaphor is the mask of God through which eternity is to be experienced.” (Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers, p. 73)”
By teasing, pretending, to safely enter another reality (like Spiderman) we enter a place where we safely accept another “I”. One where we are not fighting with the familiar story. And on Halloween everyone else plays along! Because its just pretend. Until perhaps it is not. You get to choose.
Choose your masks wisely. But by all means try on lots.
When in doubt, “put your Superman on!”
