People for the Ethical Treatment of Werewolves

My favorite holiday's comin' 'round again. Not sure what makes it my favorite: the season definitely has a lot to do with it, the crisp air, the wind, the dry leaves crossing the road in front of you. There seems to be an air of possibility on autumn nights, as though the thin veil between our world and others could be lifted if only we knew the magic words. The trees seem to be in on the mystery, with heads bending, arms waving and rustling. These sounds could be words in another language; I find myself stopping and listening quite a bit as I walk the neighborhood in the evenings.

Halloween has always seemed to be the culminating point for all the fall's mysteries. Participating in it was my last-ditch effort to find meaning in the way the season made me feel. As I grew older, I discovered some of the meanings behind the mysteries. I stopped looking to Halloween for answers, but I can still enjoy it for what it is: the pagan rites of a new season, an ancient peoples' way of dealing with the coming death of winter and by extension, of themselves.

I suppose the morbid side of me appreciates all the ghoulies and demons that people decorate with. I have a Department 56 Halloween Village that I normally set up this time of year. Skeletons, witches, vampires, cemeteries and tombstones. It always amused me to design my dead village, to make it a little spookier every year. I won't get to play with it this year since it's in storage, but the curious one-year-old puppy might have destroyed it anyway.

I don't care much for how Halloween's celebrated in my neighborhood. It's too crowded and noisy, with kids driving golf carts and trucks pulling trailers piled high with hay bales and kids. You can't drive through the craziness; you're either stuck at home for the night or you abandon ship and spend the night away from home. It was a quieter tradition in my day. We enjoyed venturing down dark streets and sneaking through neighborhoods unseen (or at least imagining that we were unseen).

As an adult, I prefer a much quieter celebration. I like to spend Halloween alone, with only my own thoughts to intrude on the silence. This seems to me to be the best way to observe this holiday. And eating a piece of chocolate shaped like an eyeball wouldn't hurt either. The morbid. The silly. The serious. Some combination of these three elements makes Halloween the perfect holiday.