The Season of Dark
Everyone who celebrates Halloween follows a similar tradition each year: the bringing out of boxes of decorations.
As the crypt creaks open, the little witches and goblins and ghosts awaken from their year-long slumber.
Soon after, the house transforms, both inside and out, into a ghoulish place, marking the arrival of the season of dark.
This year, I had hoped to keep said goblins in their tomb. We are planning a long road trip to shelter-in-place somewhere else this October and November, and I thought we could sort of skip Halloween.
But, the boys found the box, and soon we had our own haunted house back. They agreed we would put some of them away before we leave. After all, Halloween will be long over when we return. We will be back in November, closer to Thanksgiving. No telling where the world will be by then.
Over the weekend, I managed to un-decorate a bit, leaving up only a few reminders of the end-of-the-month celebration.
But will it be a celebration? Who knows. Will we go around the neighborhood knocking on doors and asking for candy? No. Not this year. If there’s no one but family to show your costume to, do you still dress up?
Those are the questions this October.
Every year, when October turns to November, I’m quick to take all the decorations down, and for the last few years, this simple act has become an inflection point for me. As I’m organizing the pumpkins and webs and spiders, I say a small incantation: May we all see the next year happy and healthy.
It’s a small thing that feels symbolic because October—Halloween—is a demarcation of sorts. It’s the beginning of the end of the year, a time in which we must take stock in all that has transpired over the past 12 months.
Reflection on this year is, of course, scary. There has been more fright than there has been fun. Seems like we’re all on edge, just waiting for the next thing.
But here’s hoping the fear makes us stronger, just like the truth does. Here’s hoping that later this month, when we lay all the ghouls back in their boxes to rest, that next year when we take them out again, it won’t be so scary.
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Photo by Hello I’m Nik 🎞 on Unsplash