This Year's Scariest Disguise

Tis the season for everything spooky and frightening (and equally as scary, everything coming in pumpkin spice flavor).  Halloween has roots in several stories of folklore.  Some say All Hallows' Eve is a Christianized feast initially influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, with possible pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic Samhain.  It initiates the triduum of Hallowtide, which is the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed believers. It marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the 'darker' season of Winter. 

For the many countries observing it, October 31st is celebrated in various different ways and the customs can be traced back to their origins.  It was believed that during this time of year, the presence of fairies and spirits were stronger and they needed to be appeased (to ensure that the people and their livestock would endure the winter), so there were offerings of nuts and apples and bonfires and candles were lit and prayers were said for the souls of the dead to welcome them.  The flame, smoke and ashes are believed to have magical powers of cleansing or mimicked the sun,  helping the "powers of growth" and holding back the decay and darkness of winter. 

In one folklore, ,trick-or-treating, goes back to the 16th century as mumming (or guising) (seasonal folk plays performed by troupes of actors going door-to-door, usually in disguise, reciting plays and songs for food).  In others, it may have come from Gaelic origins with the costumes being a means of imitating, or disguising oneself from the spirits, faces blackened with the ashes from the sacred bonfire, on a night with strong forces of the supernatural among us, believed to be warded off by human wanderers.  Christians date it back to the 15th century with souling (the custom of baking soul cakes for the souls of the dead).  Poor children would go door-to-door collecting these cakes as a means of praying for souls in purgatory.  The souls of the dead were believed to wander the earth seeking vengeance upon their enemies before moving on to the next world until All Saint's Day, so people donned costumes to disguise their identities.

Lighted turnips were traditionally carried by the guisers for lighting their way and to ward off evil spirits.  In North America, turnips were replaced with pumpkins because they were larger and softer to carve.  The jack-o-lantern is explained in this story;

On route home after a night's drinking, Jack encounters the Devil and tricks him into climbing a tree. A quick-thinking Jack etches the sign of the cross into the bark, thus trapping the Devil. Jack strikes a bargain that Satan can never claim his soul. After a life of sin, drink, and mendacity, Jack is refused entry to heaven when he dies. Keeping his promise, the Devil refuses to let Jack into hell and throws a live coal straight from the fires of hell at him. It was a cold night, so Jack places the coal in a hollowed out turnip to stop it from going out, since which time Jack and his lantern have been roaming looking for a place to rest.

In America, trick-or-treating is first seen in the early 1900's, with children dressing up in costumes, going door-to-door, threatening a trick if they don't get a treat.  Over the years, the 'trick' has taken on many forms from a simple toilet-papering (throwing unraveling rolls of toilet paper in trees) to egging (throwing eggs) someone's house to the infamous turd-bagging (filling a paper bag with dog shit and placing it on someone's front porch, then lighting it on fire and ringing the doorbell, so that the homeowner opens the door and has to put out the flaming bag by stomping it with their shoe, thus getting dog shit all over the place).  Other triggers for the dreaded trick would be handing out toothbrushes or apples as treats... or shutting off all your lights and sitting in the dark so as to not have to give out candy... and, in Pittsburgh (home of the Clark Bar), getting the 75th Clark Bar in a row as a treat was sure to frustrate and anger you, since they were so plentiful.  More favorable were the people handing out fifty cent pieces which, considering today's candy prices, really isn't a good deal any more.  But back then, you would travel across town to go to that house, as if it were almost an urban legend. 

The small plastic pumpkin (as a means to put your candy in) was replaced with the decorated pillowcase.  It proved to be much more sturdy, easier to carry and provided more cubic feet to collect your mother-load of goodies, even though (back then) it only came in standard size,  in comparison to today's king... and more highly-coveted, the European king. With the advent of the planned housing community, you were able to cover more ground-per-square-Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, minimizing your travel time in-between houses and maximizing your bounty... but it did increase your having to explain your costume to every old woman who tried to guess who you were before you could pry that chewy Bit-'O-Honey from her dry, cold hand.  At the end of the night, after running what seemed to have been a marathon, you would pour your pillowcase out on the kitchen table and let your Mom check it for razor blades (see 1980's Halloween pandemonium) before you could proceed with your pathway to childhood obesity and diabetes.

Today, after years of stories of the razor blades and child abductions, most of the fun of Halloween is gone.  Barely anyone makes their own costumes any more... and most communities hold their official trick-or-treating in the daylight of the closest Saturday (not even on the 31st)... or, worse, don't allow door-to-door and have replaced it with parades or a gathering at the local fire hall. 

Thanks to the 24/7 news cycle propaganda machine, people are always in a constant state of fear.  The latest scare is Ebola.  For that, there is much terror and fear, upstaging even the most scariest witch and goblin. Considering that more Kim Kardashian marriages have died than Americans from Ebola, I think we need to put things into perspective.  In a one-week period, the chart shows deaths by top contributor.  Here's a scenario you should be more worried about... you are out trick-or-treating after fighting off the flu for 6 days even though you should be in bed... you are finishing off that Big Mac you call 'supper' then you have a cigarette before you get 'serious' about gathering up all that candy to stuff into your face... you jump out of the way of a crazy driver, grasp a pain you are having in your chest (most likely from that Big Mac) and you fall to the ground, hit your head on the curb and die.  All, or any, of those are a more-likely cause of death than Ebola.  If you are seeing the Grim Reaper, guess what... it's not a costume.  You are dead.  But at least it's from one of the leading causes and not from some hyped-up ratings stunt aimed at keeping everyone in fear of everything.  This year's most scariest disguise?  The frightened American.

It's simple... wash your hands, don't lick any saliva puddles you find and don't share your Clark Bar (as if you can find a likely participant for that) and you'll be fine.  Happy Halloween!