Halloween And Ground Zero
After America was shocked by the September 11 attacks, its people reacted by uniting against foreign threats. Back then, the nation was getting lost in the globalization mix, but resurfaced into world view after the events of September 11.
Halloween after 9/11
Did you know that even Halloween was reconsidered in the context of the events that took place on 9/11? When the world recoiled at the violence and carnage that took place on that day, people thought that celebrations should necessarily reflect the losses that took place during that sad day.
Many peoples wanted Halloween to be a reflective time, where people could genuinely remember and mourn the loss of loved ones. This is a very robust turn-around for a celebration that was fast becoming engulfed by the smoke and mirrors of corporatism.
What was Halloween like before the big companies rolled in?
If we are to believe what the scholars of Halloween are saying, then Halloween was never about candy and other frivolous commodities. It was about genuine human emotion, something that is being confused for other things in our post-modern days.
Originally, Halloween celebrated life. It was the season of looking back and remembering the people who have gone ahead of us. By looking and learning from the past, people would be better able to face the future.
The Future
The future is an important theme for Halloween, even if not many people are aware of it. There’s the important idea that death isn’t the end of things — it’s only one point in a never-ending process.
We can only fully appreciate life and creation once we have fully appreciated death. Life is coexisting with everything harmoniously. If we lived solitary lives, mementos, monuments and tombs wouldn’t have any meaning. The permanence and essence of life is commemorated by appreciating the inevitable. This realization makes our existence much more meaningful and rewarding.
Dia de los Muertos
A festival of mourning may seem absurd to some. However, in some cultures and religions outside of America, death is something that is revered. It is part of tradition. Strict rituals and ceremonies are passed on from generation to generation.
For instance, the Dia de los Muertos is an official time of mourning in the Rio Grande. This is the time where people mourned and revisited the memories of relatives who have passed away. It’s sad to note that we only think about death when something tragic happens. Unlike other cultures, we don’t have a very good understanding and appreciation of things related or relating to death.
In the case of the tragic events of September 11, some Americans have looked outward for answers. Because it seems that Corporate America had forgotten how to completely mourn something so tragic.
Will Halloween ever be known as something more than just a superficial celebration? Will it ever enjoy the deeper and richer meaning it used to have before getting turned into a largely commercial event?
There is still hope to change a superficial celebration to something more worthy of people’s time and memory. And when that transformation takes place, we can easily embrace it completely, once again.
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