Why is Halloween my favorite holiday? Maybe because even as a child I looked forward to changing identities for one evening and running around in public, being rewarded for my efforts with sweets. Or because of the silliness of it, even among otherwise staid adults. The license it offers. For several years I was in Montreal on the days around Halloween (dressed each night in my standard costume as an altar boy, a big hit in the bars of this largely Catholic city) and the shopkeepers, the parents walking their kids to school, people on the bus...so many were in costumes. I loved it. I’ve heard it called “The Gay National Holiday,” but I think it’s bigger than that. Seen here, seasonal decorations from my youth. Three papier maché pumpkins that I treasure. Originally they had paper inserts to indicate eyes and teeth behind the holes, but those papers disintegrated years ago. Actually, I prefer them this way because they look creepier, which is what the day is all about, no? [I look forward each year to spending the holiday with my friends Vinny and Linda. But, alas, not this year. If all goes as planned, Jay and I will just be flying back from Rome -- via SWISS airlines not broomsticks -- on Halloween night 2011.]
Nicholas still has the vintage papier mache pumpkin you gave him when he was a novice trick-or-treater (and your were on our front porch in a priest costume).
ReplyDeleteHave fun flying through the air on Halloween!