Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. I'm a big fan of Fall in general and October in particular: I love the warm days and the crisp nights, the smell of leaves as they're kicked up underfoot during pleasant walks down streets lined with multi-hued maples and elms, the air of mystery and the supernatural that accompanies the shifting of the seasons from the carefree warmth and camaraderie of summer to the wind-howl snowy nights of a winter spent in front of crackling hearth fires.
Halloween is the culmination of this transitional season. After that, it all turns into potential blizzards, ice storms, and cold, cold, cold. And although Halloween is about the fun -- the fun of dressing up and being a kid again at parties and themed events -- and, of course, the pumpkin carving, it's also about acknowledging the darkness that lurks at the far edge of our lives. It's about the memento mori: the skull on the mantel, the skeleton hanging from a hook in the closet, that reminds us that we are mortal. But it's also about an implicit or implied belief in the supernatural and thus belief in the afterlife and thus a belief that DEATH -- that big, all-caps beast, DEATH -- might, in fact, just be a ferryman after all, taking us someplace better (or, if not better, different; or, if not different, than at least a 'place' -- a continuation of our consciousness).
Perhap for that reason I've had a fondness for the morbid for as long as I can remember. I read stories of the macabre, am an avid connoisseur of horror movies, and can often be found taking strolls through graveyards ("graveyard" has a much better sound to it to my ear than does "cemetery"). To be certain of my reasons, I would have to delve deep into the darkness of my soul. But I shan't do it; I harbor too much fear of finding fluffy puppy dogs and playful kittens rather than the tough, streetwise, cynical koala bears that I normally try to pretend that I commune with.
Regardless, because of a job that usually has me out of the country during the Fall, I haven't been at home for a Halloween since 1998. One decade, ten years, 3560 days. Yoinks! This year, though, I am at home and I'm doing it up right. So here're a few pictures of the decorations I have up so far. We're throwing a party on Halloween night; the next entry in this journal will update you on that. Enjoy.
