October
20, 2006
Halloween:
The Fun-Filled Fantasy
Halloween is
one hoax I enjoy thoroughly. Regrettably, the reach
of this fun-filled legend keeps shrinking as life
in the States becomes increasingly informed by rationality.
Now it is largely confined to kids, costumes and
candy. Half a century back, I happened to be in
New York on Halloween night and found the Long Island
neighborhood bustling with men, women and children
masquerading as ghosts, witches, goblins, ghouls
and several fairy-tale characters.
The elaborate and glittering costume parties hosted
by the rich and famous of the 19th century at their
mansions in New Port (RI), Philadelphia (PA), Hartford
(CT) and elsewhere have all gone to the arch of
oblivion. Yet, the legend lingers on. Costume parades
were held this year in East Hollywood, Bay Area,
New York and other places. The one in Hollywood
was said to have attracted some quarter of a million
people!
Life, indeed, becomes quite dreary without myths,
legends and folklore. South Asia thrives and pulsates
on these. They provide the generally poor people
of the region occasions to gather together and celebrate.
Festivals of lights (Divali), of colors (Holi) and
periodical commemorations (Urse and Yatra) at various
shrines furnish color, laughter and fun to the people
at large. Despite fast-spreading education and modernism,
myths and legends about holy men and places continue.
As for Halloween, its roots are embedded in the
ancient solstice celebrations, researchers claim.
October 31 marks the time of the year – solstice
- when the sun is farthest from the equator. It
means the end of summer and the beginning of winter,
the beginning of a new year in Celtic lands of Europe
where Halloween is said to have originated. Festivals,
called Samhain, were held on November 1 to mark
the first day of winter and the start of the seasonal
cycle, the ancient Celtic New Year.
Since ‘Samhain’ fell around the same
time as the Roman celebration of Pomona, goddess
of orchards, the two festivals probably intertwined
after Romans invaded Celtic lands. After the spread
of Christianity, Celtic and Roman celebrations were
recast in a Christian mold and a series of church
holidays eventually took the place of Samhain-All
Hallows or All Saints Day (Nov. 1) and centuries
later All Souls Day (Nov. 2). All Hallows’
Evening became “All Hallowe’en”
and then simply Halloween.
During Reformation, Protestants jettisoned these
Catholic festivals. The English puritans –
Irish and Scottish immigrants in particular - brought
in the 18th and 19th centuries memories of the Celtic
traditions to America. Other immigrant groups added
their own cultural layers to these traditions. The
interesting concoction that we witness now in America
is a mix of all these cultural streams. Whatever
its origin and the course that it has followed,
there is no denying the fact that it is today a
fantasy full of fun and frolics without religious
undertones.
No wonder, all communities participate in it. And,
there is not much commercial exploitation of the
legend. The pumpkin farmers and traders, however,
get the opportunity to dispose of their surplus
product. The spine-tingling and eerie stories associated
with Halloween come in handy for some stores to
push sales of masks, ghost costumes, and lots and
lots of candy. But, it is like a flash in the pan.
For, legend has it that at the first light of day,
ghosts, goblins, and witches disappear from sight.
The only ghost that thrives even afterwards is the
ghostwriter. Imagine the predicament of Presidents,
Prime Ministers and other leaders of people without
the spoon feedings of the ghostwriters.
The famous Urdu short-story writer, Saadat Hasan
Minto, had fallen on bad days after moving to Lahore
from Bombay after Independence. His weakness for
hard drinks compelled him for a time to be ghostwriter
for some with no talent but an intense desire to
join the ranks of writers. Mr. Minto used to, it
is said, charge a bottle of whisky for each short
story. Some people purchased from him enough stories
to get them published in book form and thus join
the ranks of good writers. Minto died while still
in his forties, leaving such aspirants high and
dry, like the pumpkin merchant who has to wind up
his pumpkin patch the day after Halloween.
The chief villain in many fairy stories was the
evil witch or sorcerer. Through her magic she could
call up demons or cast a spell. Since people stopped
believing in magic, a new villain replaced the witch.
This villain was the mad scientist.
Dr. Victor von Frankenstein was one of the early
mad scientists. He created monsters. Next came the
story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis
Stevenson written in 1885. The story had a moral
purpose as it makes the point that there is good
and evil in everyone, and that good invariably prevails
over evil.
H.G. Well’s “Invisible Man” was
turned into a marvelous film. His “War of
the Worlds” was about invasion of the world
by monsters from Mars. A radio play based on this
story was so close to reality that many thought
that the world was actually under attack. The consequent
helter-skelter caused several traffic jams. The
play was more effective than the warnings to the
inhabitants of New Orleans to vacate to escape Katrina.
When fantasies closely resemble facts and facts
are taken to be fantasies, it may be taken as a
prescription for trouble. Halloween is now so far
removed from reality that no harmful mix-up is possible
even for the lunatic fringe. It is therefore a thoroughly
enjoyable fantasy.
