Spooked

Spooked!

When witches go riding,

and black cats are seen,

the moon laughs and whispers,

‘tis near Halloween.

• Anonymous.

Halloween is celebrated annually in several countries around the globe on the 31st of October. We relate it with spooky costumes, freaky masks, trick or treat, jack-o’-lanterns, eerie decorations, candies and more candies!

The origin of Halloween is quite amusing. Some say that it marks the end of Summer and the arrival of Winter. Winter is symbolised by dark, gloomy days and even darker and longer nights.  Dark here is metaphorical to ghosts and other evil spirits. 

Another version is that it is the  intervening night when the ghostly spirits freely roam around to announce their ‘arrival’ during the ‘dark’ season of winter. They are suspected to go around playing mean tricks on the mortals. You have a choice now. Either you can offer these free spirits their favourite food and other fancy sweets and candies to please them or disguise yourselves as ‘one of them’ to avoid detection and escape their fury. Thus began the practice of dressing-up and trick or treating. The sale of candies sure shoots up around this time of the year.

Well, Halloween is certainly not an Indian festival. But, since our common man has roamed around the world now, thanks to globalisation, IT industry and easy-on-pocket travel deals, this festival has seen a recent upsurge in urban India. Mostly in a few metro cities. And as we know, Indians don’t need a reason to celebrate.

In fact, Halloween is sometimes compared to the ‘Pitramoksha Amavasya’ observed in India, in paying homage to our deceased ancestors. Halloween, when not taken in context with it’s commercialisation, is actually a humble festival to honour all the saints and souls of our friends and families who have passed away. Hence, it is celebrated as a part of a three-day festival: Halloween(shortened for All Hallows’ Eve), All Saint’s Day and All Souls’ Day, celebrated from 30th October to 2nd November.

Now the rather awkward part: not all residents in the neighbourhood are up for it. Some look down upon this celebration as a blind aping of the western culture and some are just not amused by it. It is perfectly fine to have your own opinion. But things take a nasty turn when we try to impose our whims and fancies over others, both ways. 

Last year, we heard of incidents when both the parties had been in a clash of sorts! The participating kids had gone on a rampage and destroyed the property of the ‘opposing’ team who refused to hand them sweet treats.

The world has become a global village now. We are no more living in isolation. There is bound to be some cultural crossovers. It is up to us on how we bridge the geographical gaps. Indians have settled abroad in huge numbers. We have seen the locals there to have generously accepted and celebrated our culture, our festivals, our cuisines. The reverse is also bound to happen because of the exposure. This change cannot be ignored.

Having said that, we still have the liberty to decide on how much we want to be a part of the culture exchange, national or international. I think, sense and sensibility should prevail here. Probably, the participating houses can put up a fun sign to declare their spirit for the festival. We need to learn to respect certain boundaries while attempting to break others.

Time to cut loose the devil inside, people. 

Leaving you on a spooky note:

The laughter of a baby is always pleasant. Until you realise that it is 3am. And there’s no baby in your house!

Happy Halloween, fellow spirits!