Halloween Decor
20/10/22 00:15
The neighborhood is getting really decorated. Front lawns are decorated. One house in our neighborhood must have spent a pretty penny on inflatable decorations. One of the fun things about the inflatables is that when they turn them off, what is left are these strange deflated piles of plastic in the lawn. It is hardly decorative. You can be sure that the power will be turned on on Halloween night. I’m not into decorating our house. What I like most about Halloween is seeing the children. We’re stocked up on candy treats, and we’ll be contributing to the trunk or treat program at our church on October 30. I like the notion of Halloween as a children’s holiday. As such, I’m not much into things that might frighten young children. As I’ve already commented in a previous journal entry, huge spiders seem to be one of the themes in our neighborhood this year.
Actually, I welcome the spiders more than I do the fake cemeteries. I know of at least two households in our neighborhood that experienced the death of a family member in the last year. I wonder how they react to the fake cemeteries. Does pretending about death make their experiences of grief more or less difficult? I really don’t know. I have experienced cemeteries as places of quiet contemplation and remembrance of loved ones. I’ve walked with those who have had a recent loss of a loved one through the markers to find the marker for their loved one. I’ve watched as they carefully place flowers on the grave and pause to reflect and remember. At their best cemeteries are places of comfort, not places of fear.
We do, however, live in a death adverse society. Many of the portals of death in the media are very unlike the reality. People get shot and don’t seem to experience pain. People are killed and don’t seem to experience fear. Movies and television programs show shortened images of graveside services or moments of eulogy at a funeral home. They never depict the tears of receiving the news of a death, nor the process of planning a funeral. They don’t make commentary on the cost of caskets or other parts of the process. We don’t really like to talk about death. As a result, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that Halloween decorations aren’t at all realistic.
Death, of course, isn’t a game and it isn’t an entertainment. However, there are plenty of ways of pretending about death. There is a theatre in Bellingham is hosting an improvised murder mystery every weekend this month. Members of the audience find out through the action on the stage whether they are a witness, the violently deceased, or the killer. It is billed as a comedy and they seem to have no problem recruiting audiences who seem to enjoy the show. I’m not interested in turning murder into a laughing mater. It is not that I lack a sense of humor. I enjoy jokes and funny stories. But I guess I’ve had too many conversations with too many victims who have lost family members to murder to think that it is a laughing matter. Probably I’ve spent too much time hanging out with detectives and other crime investigators.
There is a miniseries about the serial killers behind the Hillside Strangler murders that occurred in Los Angeles in 1977 and 1978. The final two victims of Kenneth Bianchi, a security guard who moved to Bellingham, were students at Western Washington University. That’s too close to home for me. I won’t be watching those programs. It isn’t that I don’t think we can learn something from looking at the crimes. And I know that movies are effective at telling stories. It is just that I think of the families of the victims. I don’t think that they could find joy in having the stories of their loved ones deaths told over and over again. They want to remember their loved ones as they lived, not as they died. It might even seem to them that the murderer is being given more attention than deserved. I don’t really know, I am just speculating, imagining how I might feel.
Of course Halloween has its roots in thinking about the loss of loved ones and imagining how their spirits still linger in our lives. As we prepare to celebrate the saints who have gone before and remember with love those who have died, the evening before is a time of thinking of how spirits affect our lives. I guess I’m simply more at home celebrating All Saints than I am with the prior evening’s associations.
But I don’t want to pass on Halloween. I love the sound of happy children in the neighborhood. I love seeing the joy of costumed children investing their imagination. I like being a good neighbor who answers my door with a treat for those who stop by. Weather permitting, I’ll be sitting on the front porch with a basket of candy at the ready. I love the parts of Halloween that make children happy.
I know that some of the decorations and fun and exciting for children. I know that the adrenaline rush from a temporary fright can be exciting and fun. And I am well aware that not everyone in the neighborhood celebrates holidays the way that we do. I celebrate the diversity in our neighborhood. I’m intrigued about all of the decorations and special lighting. I wonder where those people store all of that equipment during the other 11 months of the year. Perhaps it is part of the explanation of all of the rental storage facilities that dot our county. I know that there are a lot more things available. Stores from the local hardware store to the big box chain stores to the temporary Halloween stores are stocked with all kinds of large decorations that are available. I’m just not their customer. I’ll leave all of those decorations to others for now.
Actually, I welcome the spiders more than I do the fake cemeteries. I know of at least two households in our neighborhood that experienced the death of a family member in the last year. I wonder how they react to the fake cemeteries. Does pretending about death make their experiences of grief more or less difficult? I really don’t know. I have experienced cemeteries as places of quiet contemplation and remembrance of loved ones. I’ve walked with those who have had a recent loss of a loved one through the markers to find the marker for their loved one. I’ve watched as they carefully place flowers on the grave and pause to reflect and remember. At their best cemeteries are places of comfort, not places of fear.
We do, however, live in a death adverse society. Many of the portals of death in the media are very unlike the reality. People get shot and don’t seem to experience pain. People are killed and don’t seem to experience fear. Movies and television programs show shortened images of graveside services or moments of eulogy at a funeral home. They never depict the tears of receiving the news of a death, nor the process of planning a funeral. They don’t make commentary on the cost of caskets or other parts of the process. We don’t really like to talk about death. As a result, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that Halloween decorations aren’t at all realistic.
Death, of course, isn’t a game and it isn’t an entertainment. However, there are plenty of ways of pretending about death. There is a theatre in Bellingham is hosting an improvised murder mystery every weekend this month. Members of the audience find out through the action on the stage whether they are a witness, the violently deceased, or the killer. It is billed as a comedy and they seem to have no problem recruiting audiences who seem to enjoy the show. I’m not interested in turning murder into a laughing mater. It is not that I lack a sense of humor. I enjoy jokes and funny stories. But I guess I’ve had too many conversations with too many victims who have lost family members to murder to think that it is a laughing matter. Probably I’ve spent too much time hanging out with detectives and other crime investigators.
There is a miniseries about the serial killers behind the Hillside Strangler murders that occurred in Los Angeles in 1977 and 1978. The final two victims of Kenneth Bianchi, a security guard who moved to Bellingham, were students at Western Washington University. That’s too close to home for me. I won’t be watching those programs. It isn’t that I don’t think we can learn something from looking at the crimes. And I know that movies are effective at telling stories. It is just that I think of the families of the victims. I don’t think that they could find joy in having the stories of their loved ones deaths told over and over again. They want to remember their loved ones as they lived, not as they died. It might even seem to them that the murderer is being given more attention than deserved. I don’t really know, I am just speculating, imagining how I might feel.
Of course Halloween has its roots in thinking about the loss of loved ones and imagining how their spirits still linger in our lives. As we prepare to celebrate the saints who have gone before and remember with love those who have died, the evening before is a time of thinking of how spirits affect our lives. I guess I’m simply more at home celebrating All Saints than I am with the prior evening’s associations.
But I don’t want to pass on Halloween. I love the sound of happy children in the neighborhood. I love seeing the joy of costumed children investing their imagination. I like being a good neighbor who answers my door with a treat for those who stop by. Weather permitting, I’ll be sitting on the front porch with a basket of candy at the ready. I love the parts of Halloween that make children happy.
I know that some of the decorations and fun and exciting for children. I know that the adrenaline rush from a temporary fright can be exciting and fun. And I am well aware that not everyone in the neighborhood celebrates holidays the way that we do. I celebrate the diversity in our neighborhood. I’m intrigued about all of the decorations and special lighting. I wonder where those people store all of that equipment during the other 11 months of the year. Perhaps it is part of the explanation of all of the rental storage facilities that dot our county. I know that there are a lot more things available. Stores from the local hardware store to the big box chain stores to the temporary Halloween stores are stocked with all kinds of large decorations that are available. I’m just not their customer. I’ll leave all of those decorations to others for now.
