It goes deeper than the Trick or the Treat.
It is a new season, a time when the days are shorter, the ancestral harvest has been taken in, and I do believe it is a time of transformation. I can believe along with the ancients that at the end of October, the veil between this world and the world of the others becomes thin, some even say so thin that it is possible on the eve of All Hallows Day that the unseen principalities, the spirits and the ghosts of the departed may be able to move back into this temporal world.
I celebrate this transient mortal world and all that the dying leaves of Autumn and the fallow fields bring to mind, a reminder of the closeness of eternity and the other side. The veil is indeed thin!
I celebrate the transformation that is acceptable on Halloween to become something new, to assume a face and a personality that does not belong to you all the rest of the year.
I celebrate reminding and beckoning all who come to my door looking for treats that quick gratification of receiving a candy bar may not be all there is to life - pay heed to the shadows and the subtle movements around you. Approach for the gratification of the candy bucket only if you are prepared to meet something possibly from the other side.
I know that on October 31st, my house is recognized by neighbors unknown to me as "That House". As I sit motionless in the shadows or concealed as an inanimate display under the giant spider web, I hear comments of, "Oh! This is the House!", or "I tried this house last year, I am not going in there again!" I expect that all the candy collected will not allay the vivid fear that I have planted in the minds of some kids - at least until next year when they believe they are older and braver.
Most of my costumes are homemade, and I believe all the more spooky because they do not appear to be manufactured for a "Happy Halloween" [Halloween is not supposed to be 'happy' - but circumspective and respectful of mortality]. However,this year I decided I need some hand coverings that would cover my own flesh and appear eerily out of this world. I visited the large retailer that took over the empty Circuit City storefront and for a couple of weeks became Halloween City, specializing in costumes, fog machines and spooky accessories. I was resigned to buying a pair of long white gloves that were intended to complete the fish-net stockings, bustier ensemble, but then I found a pair of rubber, long skeletal finger gloves - just what the grateful dead needed for this year. I then splurged and got a very nice skeleton mask with gauzy strips of shredded shroud hanging from its lips and covering the back of the head.
Most trick-or-treaters endured the initial fright and stayed around for my spiel before I dropped a candy bar into their bags. Though some chose to discretely run screaming into the night toward the street lamp. My best ploy is to sit silently and listen as the folks nervously approach the door; if I am lucky they will naturally use the name of one of their cohorts with comment something like. "Chelsea, you go first". After they have all cautiously been drawn closer to the door, I then make my move and say, "Chelsea! I want you to come closer." The effect is immediate, and most gratifying for me. The young ladies scream in horror and amazement, "It know your name!" "He said your name, Chelsea!" Most often after this, they scream and run, a tangle of skirts, legs and arms, laughing out of nervousness and continuing to scream for half a block as I wander after them, calling for Chelsea! Chelsea!
I always loose count of how many visitors I receive. My guess is around 35 on this still, 70 degree Monday night of Halloween. About 3 bags of candy, but each one earned it. One Super Mario guy left crying, while his dad, dressed a Dracula taped the dramatic/traumatic episode. Dracula gave me a thumbs up as I hammed before his little red light. A 5th grader made it half-way up the walk before she had second thoughts. Her mother made a half-hearted attempt to tell her to be brave, it is only a costume, etc. But she ran quickly into the trailing car at the curb and locked the doors - but I kept coming, pointing my bony fingers at her as she howled for her life all the louder as dad slowly accelerated, chuckling and waving good bye to the beckoning phantom standing in the middle of the street. From the sound of it, she probably stopped screaming about 6 blocks away.
Strider wanted to dress as a chupacabra for Halloween, but I told him it was not PC for a black dog to portray a Mexican monster. After the show was over, around 8:30, I let Strider play zombie dog and eat the gelatin brain, while I had pizza and savored all the candy left over from scarring all the impressionable kiddo away/
Come to think of it, it was a Happy Halloween - in a circumspect kind of way.
 |
| Suneson House Halloween Greeters |
It is a new season, a time when the days are shorter, the ancestral harvest has been taken in, and I do believe it is a time of transformation. I can believe along with the ancients that at the end of October, the veil between this world and the world of the others becomes thin, some even say so thin that it is possible on the eve of All Hallows Day that the unseen principalities, the spirits and the ghosts of the departed may be able to move back into this temporal world.
I celebrate this transient mortal world and all that the dying leaves of Autumn and the fallow fields bring to mind, a reminder of the closeness of eternity and the other side. The veil is indeed thin!
I celebrate the transformation that is acceptable on Halloween to become something new, to assume a face and a personality that does not belong to you all the rest of the year.
I celebrate reminding and beckoning all who come to my door looking for treats that quick gratification of receiving a candy bar may not be all there is to life - pay heed to the shadows and the subtle movements around you. Approach for the gratification of the candy bucket only if you are prepared to meet something possibly from the other side.
I know that on October 31st, my house is recognized by neighbors unknown to me as "That House". As I sit motionless in the shadows or concealed as an inanimate display under the giant spider web, I hear comments of, "Oh! This is the House!", or "I tried this house last year, I am not going in there again!" I expect that all the candy collected will not allay the vivid fear that I have planted in the minds of some kids - at least until next year when they believe they are older and braver.
Most of my costumes are homemade, and I believe all the more spooky because they do not appear to be manufactured for a "Happy Halloween" [Halloween is not supposed to be 'happy' - but circumspective and respectful of mortality]. However,this year I decided I need some hand coverings that would cover my own flesh and appear eerily out of this world. I visited the large retailer that took over the empty Circuit City storefront and for a couple of weeks became Halloween City, specializing in costumes, fog machines and spooky accessories. I was resigned to buying a pair of long white gloves that were intended to complete the fish-net stockings, bustier ensemble, but then I found a pair of rubber, long skeletal finger gloves - just what the grateful dead needed for this year. I then splurged and got a very nice skeleton mask with gauzy strips of shredded shroud hanging from its lips and covering the back of the head.
 |
| A Spectacular Specter Beckons You "Come! I will trade you a piece of candy for your soul on this Halloween Night" |
My plan this year was to again have the 5-candle silver candelabra sitting in the entry hall on a small table resting beside a human skull, also with a candle blazing from the top of the cranium. The front porch was adorned with spider webs and cob webs and a noose [just in case if trick-or-treaters wanted to 'hang' around - I reminded them that no noose is good noose], and I had a gray gelatin brain on display below the giant spider along with a bloody ax [I explained the puddle of blood was from an earlier visitor who had a little ax-ident]. My place among all these props was to sit atop a ladder leaning against the wall on the side of the porch. Dressed as a ghoulish specter in a black robe (courtesy of graduation ceremonies in 1984) and a black cape. All visitors to my door that night seemed to fixated upon the burning candles inside the foyer, and not a one paid any heed to this figure sitting in the shadows high above porch wall. At least until I moved and breathed heavily as I hopped off my perch!
Most trick-or-treaters endured the initial fright and stayed around for my spiel before I dropped a candy bar into their bags. Though some chose to discretely run screaming into the night toward the street lamp. My best ploy is to sit silently and listen as the folks nervously approach the door; if I am lucky they will naturally use the name of one of their cohorts with comment something like. "Chelsea, you go first". After they have all cautiously been drawn closer to the door, I then make my move and say, "Chelsea! I want you to come closer." The effect is immediate, and most gratifying for me. The young ladies scream in horror and amazement, "It know your name!" "He said your name, Chelsea!" Most often after this, they scream and run, a tangle of skirts, legs and arms, laughing out of nervousness and continuing to scream for half a block as I wander after them, calling for Chelsea! Chelsea!
I always loose count of how many visitors I receive. My guess is around 35 on this still, 70 degree Monday night of Halloween. About 3 bags of candy, but each one earned it. One Super Mario guy left crying, while his dad, dressed a Dracula taped the dramatic/traumatic episode. Dracula gave me a thumbs up as I hammed before his little red light. A 5th grader made it half-way up the walk before she had second thoughts. Her mother made a half-hearted attempt to tell her to be brave, it is only a costume, etc. But she ran quickly into the trailing car at the curb and locked the doors - but I kept coming, pointing my bony fingers at her as she howled for her life all the louder as dad slowly accelerated, chuckling and waving good bye to the beckoning phantom standing in the middle of the street. From the sound of it, she probably stopped screaming about 6 blocks away.
Strider wanted to dress as a chupacabra for Halloween, but I told him it was not PC for a black dog to portray a Mexican monster. After the show was over, around 8:30, I let Strider play zombie dog and eat the gelatin brain, while I had pizza and savored all the candy left over from scarring all the impressionable kiddo away/
 |
| After staying in the kitchen all Halloween night Strider get to be a Zombie Dog and sits before he is allowed to feast on the gelatin brain prop |
Come to think of it, it was a Happy Halloween - in a circumspect kind of way.
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