All Hallows' Eve



My loving husband and our Shetland sheepdog Bama. Bob made the Pac Man and ghost costumes. My Ms. Pac Man is still in progress.

Monroeville's People's Choice
decorated hay bale

Halloween is one of the cheesiest of holidays, in my book, and people either love it or hate it. Little middle ground with All Hallows Eve. We have co-opted a truly delicious mixture of religious faith and creepy superstition and thrown in more or less disturbing levels of the macabre. We have taken Celtic folk traditions of carving faces into root vegetables and dressing in costumes to ward off bad spirits and Mexican Dia de los Muertos decorated skeletons that honor deceased ancestors and turned them into trick or treating, jack o’lanterns, and haunted houses. The whole thing is set in the autumn for historical reasons, too.



My contribution to the season's cheesin'
Note the total lack of scariness. So deliberate.

You need to know that frightened is my least-favorite emotion. I don’t do scary movies. I don’t even like to be startled. My husband once bought a fake rubber rat with big teeth and hid it in my house—it WAS NOT FUNNY, as he came to realize. I can only take small doses of suspense. I can take even less graphic violence. Not even for a good reason, like Passion of the Christ. I know the story, don’t need to watch the torture. I think that goes back to some sibling thing from early childhood, and that’s another story.

But I DO like the harvest festival and dress-up portions of the American Halloween scene. The cheesy part. I like the Caspar kind of ghost, the Samantha Stevens kind of witch, the five little pumpkins, Monster Mash kind of sound track. My favorite costumes as a child were a blue bird and a lamb. So, yeah.

This is as frightening as I ever liked to be. Seriously. And it is still the right speed as far as I am concerned.



This was before clowns were scary. The good old days!

So here’s to you, folk tales in disguise. My cheese fix for this week: Ghosts at Rikard’s Mill in near Beatrice, Alabama. Organized by the Monroe County History Museum, this celebration takes place at a local historical site. The decorated buildings house story tellers spinning seasonally appropriate yarns, a local church (!) sells hamburgers and chips as a fund-raiser, and little ones can have their faces painted and play some carnival-style games. Just my speed.

Haunted cabin--The Tell-Tale Heart told here

A little creepy fun [Unlike me, Bob rather
likes the scary stuff]

The story told by this delightful local
character in the finest sense of the word

 

 

Monroe County's Miss Havisham

For those who like the more adrenaline-laden events, a haunted trail in the woods is available. The giggle-screams of the groups of adventurers punctuated the beautiful evening night. The entrance sign read, “ENTER IF YE DARE.” I was not even tempted.

At any rate, have a safe and happy Halloween.

And if you would, please “Follow” my blog!

For more about Christian roots of some American Halloween customs, including trick or treating, check out this link:

http://www.allaboutgod.com/history-of-halloween-christian-perspective-faq.htm