Hallow E'en (Christian version: All Hallows Eve)
was, for Western Celts, the brief closing, once a year,
of the gap between the worlds of the living and the dead
(a bit like the Nordic ginnungagap),
and (for The Sensitive) the difference
between seen and unseen realities was blurred.
It had nothing to do with crude and childishly-absurd
ghosts and zombies, nothing to do with bats or masks
or pumpkins (which did not grow in Western Europe),
nothing to do with fireworks, 'trick or treat' (an American
capitalist insertion), or parties. Hallow E'en
was a hallowed, perilous, unstable time,
a flickering twilight of The Normal - the opposite
of the vulgar, stupid, profitable travesty it has become,
tawdry and spiritually obscene.
1 comment:
What lucrative 19th century vulgarism did to Easter was not so bad; fluffy chicks and Eostra's eggs and Jesus just got covered with addictive, poor-quality chocolate...
But what happened to Saint Valentine's Day was nothing less than blasphemy against the Christian legend and good taste/propriety.
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