Halloween means different things at different times. This year, as New York City emerges from its Covid cocoon, it means a return to normalcy. The Greenwich Village Parade is ON!
Last year, the huge explosion of silly fun, clever costumes, and intense crowds that flow onto side streets all over the general area that includes SoHo, NoHo, the East Village, The West Village, Union Square, Chelsea, and Flatiron districts was reduced to a “rerun” of the 2019 parade, via a video presentation on a local cable TV station.
It felt sad. And Halloween should never be sad.
For some people Halloween is nostalgia with a dash of candy corn. It could also be a marathon featuring classic vampires, werewolves, and mummies OR a zombie apocalypse. For others, it means rushing to see the hot, new, horror/gore movie. I appreciate the passion for the new, gory, fright fests, but they are too scary for me. I’m most fond of the classics. I can’t resist Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Bela Lugosi, Elsa Lanchester, Lon Chaney, and the rest of the low-tech, old-school monsters.
I’ve seen the films so many times, my love has transcended the trite dialogue and the minimalist special effects. The swoosh of a cape in the night, a howl in the woods, a footfall on the stairs…
I thought about dressing up and going to a costume party Tango dance. I usually enjoy them. But this year, it’s me and the two black cats in our new home, with a basket overflowing with Halloween treats hung on my front door. This year it’s a quiet celebration, a Day of the Dead tribute to the ghosts of Halloween past. I’m seeing Halloween as the start of the ‘holiday season’ that rolls to the end of the year. 2021 has been a roller coaster ride, after the nightmare of 2020. I’m going to relax and ease my way for the next few months. Work on some new fiction ideas, hang art on the walls of my home, cook in my new kitchen, and think about what to do next.
Maybe that’s a new my new Halloween tradition? Taking stock and pausing, before moving forward
Australia has no tradition of Halloween, or any Day of the Dead type celebration [like in Poland] so all of this feels rather alien to me. I’m glad you’re relaxing and taking stock. I hope that will include some pics of your new home in the near future. 😉
I wasn’t thinking about a new home tour, but now that you mention it… I think I’ll try to come up with creative approach. Maybe the stories behind the Art that is now hanging on the walls? Every pictures tells more than one story!
Halloween, when I was a child, was really about kids, candy and costumes. I liked the costumes so much that I had costume birthday parties in January. I have friends from cultures with real ‘Day of the Dead’ customs, but the current adults in costumes, big parties, etc. started to happen with my generation and has exploded in the last couple of decades. The Greenwich Village Parade is 48 years old, but back a few decades it was less formalized, and much, much smaller. It’s now a huge annual event (barring pandemics).
That horrific incident in Japan with the knife wielding man dressed as the Joker from Batman, was the first I’d heard about Halloween in Japan. Apparently it’s a night of parties for adults in costumes. I get the desire to dress up and “be someone else” but…a dangerously insane man co-opting the holiday in a violent spree is truly scary.
The thing about Halloween——my Halloween——is that it NOT really scary, not violent, and all the blood is raspberry jam.