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Monday, October 31, 2011

A Day of Many Celebrations

Halloween is here!







Isn’t that the cutest little owl on her hat? I love owls! source




Halloween represents many different things to different people. Like many of our modern holidays, it originated in ancient history as a celebration of the changing seasons or a harvest festival. Today, some people love Halloween because of its aspect of play and make-believe. Others take the idea further, becoming someone or something they daren’t on any other day. There are religious groups that hold the day as a high holiday, while other religions revile it as primal and evil. Here in the Southwest it is the eve before El Dia de los Muertos, a reverent and lively celebration where families honor their late loved ones.




In the past, Halloween has included wonderful childhood traditions of pumpkin patches, trick-or-treating, and scary haunted houses. Some of those traditions are still alive and well, and even though the parades of small monsters through our neighborhood have trickled to only one or two children, or even none in recent years, I still buy a few big bags of candy just in case.




Whatever its history, religious meaning, or social implications, I like Halloween for all the nostalgia. I remember so many cold October nights, skipping through my neighborhood in a cheap nylon costume and plastic mask and ignoring the chill biting at my legs. Usually I would go with my two little next-door friends and one or two of the parents would follow along behind. We would walk for hours, up and down hills, giggling and shrieking, and finally get home with entire pillowcases full of candy. Good times.




Here’s a another cute owl for you!




source




Have a safe and Happy Halloween.




Katrina

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