UP Ibalon Bicol: Halloween 2009 & the other holidays

Halloween 2009 & the other holidays

11/01/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post

In 36th Street in Astoria, New York, there are few Halloween props this year compared to last year. It seems even if the liberal pagan holiday of ghouls, goblins, witches and spirits has been increasingly popular, the celebration isn’t as strong this time. The costumed revelers on the street are not as many.

Perhaps, it’s the recession that makes people mark the holiday weekend in subdued way. Maybe, not so many are enthusiastic to join the fun. It may be too early for the children to come out in their exciting attires. Perhaps, moree conservative families are rethinking of the pros and cons of exposing children to a seemingly innocuous merriment that may have deleterious effects on the values of the next generation.

Our neighbor displays a mix of witches with brooms, and a few orange pumpkins with colorful smiling faces tangled in gossamers of eerie spider webs beside photos of howling foxes and werewolves. Farther down were flickering orange lights illuminating a shadowy scarecrow and a scary man sitting on a chair with bushy brows and blood-shot eyes. The front of a house with autumn leaves strewn in the lawn has many skeletons, spiders, and black bats flying on a smoky glass window. A raven on watch stands by the fence.

These are the sights we see during Halloween in America these days. Surely they excite children and adults alike. As the years pass by however, the novelty of the day appears diminished and more commercialized. How often did I see those decorations in a dollar store? The cape of Dracula and his garish mask with bloody fangs are fixtures I don’t miss.

Not until recently, Halloween is a celebration which many Filipinos don’t observe with vigor. However, because of globalization and ease of travel, the pagan happy tradition has caught our interest and that of kababayans in Manila and other provinces. This is true with Thanksgiving day as well---- the traditional harvest feast and family day remembered in USA since the days of the Puritans has now insinuated in many holidays observed in the Philippines.

We didn’t have pumpkin pies before. There were no turkeys to roast for the dinner table comes Thanksgiving day. We did not have those children (some too young and barely able to walk,) in colorful costumes asking for lollipops and candies in the neighborhood. We didn’t have outlandish Halloween parades and parties that sometimes degenerated into peace and order issues. Our parents didn't worry to escort their little kids on the road. They weren't afraid of chance encounters with law-breakers and child predators who roamed in the Halloween night.

Instead of the morbid and scary remembrances of death, sorcery, and evil which masquerade as plain merriment, in our country, we enjoy All Saint’s day, a folk Catholic tradition of paying tribute to our dearly departed. We take pains preparing to visit cemeteries and be with our families. The fun and excitement of being with loved-ones in candle-lit tombs remain important in our understanding of the ways of the living and the dead. Some of us don't even leave the cemeteries, they make them as their homes the whole year round.

For us, All Saint’s day, not the Halloween, is a prelude to the more wholesome message of Christmas. The multicolored lights over a simple nativity scene of Jesus are enough to carry us in sustained holiday mood for months. Except for a few spoilers, we love Christmas trees and the carols at the time of advent. The idea of baby Jesus in a manger with the lowly animals nearby is great. We are twinkled-eyed when we think of his birthday in a cold wintry night in December when the magical star shines way up the sky.

Message-wise, we like Christmas better than Halloween. The meaning of the Christian celebration is far-reaching and more profound than what we can imagine. We don’t need to be told why. (Photo Credits: Maytevidri; AfP/ Jewel Samad) =0=

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Labels: Christmas, commemoration, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Totie Mesia, tradition

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