Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it on this October 31st! Pumpkins, apples, witches... a lot of associations come to mind when Halloween rolls around.
For me, the most powerful association with Halloween has always been expressing creativity, from costumes to activities at Halloween parties. What will I dress up as this year? I would wonder each summer. (Yes, each summer. My mom would sew my costume in the summer, when time was plentiful.) What a joy to meander in my thoughts as I stared at the pattern catalogs in the sewing store! I could be a "girl from olden times," like Laura Ingalls Wilder! Out came the blue calico fabric. Then as I came to make my own costumes with inexpensive sweatshirts and fabric paints or big sheets of poster board and duct tape, my plans would take more creative turns. I would be the universe! Out came the glow-in-the-dark paints. For me, Halloween was always about getting pumped up with my creative juices flowing, even if all I was working with one year were some pieces of fabric and lace that used to be part of my dress-up box. That, the year I had put off thinking about my costume until the trick-or-treating day rolled around, was actually the most thrilling as I wrapped and pinned and rearranged and reformed my ideas until I had the costume together over my street clothes. I don't even remember what I called myself!
Halloween is about creative expression, and it's about a lot of other things, too. What does it mean for you? Showing your creativity? Dressing up? Trick-or-treating? Staying home? Does it mean collecting for UNICEF? Working on a CD review for New Moon (see the post below)? I want to know! And I want to know how Halloween went after the fact. What's it like to be a girl on Halloween?
Whatever your choice on Halloween, I hope one thing you'll be through and through is proud to be a girl! Just think, witches are so commonly associated with Halloween, and they have got a powerful history. There's a lot of stuff out there about witches, but to me, the most compelling is that these mislabeled women were superb healers in touch with the forces of nature and the most medicinal properties of plants.
I wish you all a safe, happy day!
Until November, Bissy (Elizabeth!)
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1 comment:
I love halloween! to me it means hanging out with friend and trick-or-treating together. I think it is lots of fun thinking of a creative outfit! this year i was the good part of mother nature-and my friend was the evil side! In my family-we make our own costumes so that is always exciting!
thanks!
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