31st October 2024, I'm A Halloween Grinch 🎃

I don't like Halloween. It's origins or the 21st Century version.

Right from it's beginnings it has been about death and spirits of the dead. I always say I'm not superstitious, but somethings shouldn't be messed with. Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, has been turned from a Celtic tradition to ward off evil and spirits, to a commercial nightmare.

I know that many will say that nowadays it's just a bit of fun, but like my fear of spiders, its maybe instinct. Maybe its the near death experiences that TTP survivors have, a little too close to home.

Winter in this part of the world brings darkness and cold, something that the Celtic people took seriously. If any misfortune befell them in the winter, they likely didn't survive.

For a while the Christian form of All Hallows Eve became a time when the poorest folk would beg at more wealthy folk’s doors for food, in return for offering prayers. Now children are encouraged to trick or treat. Really? To ask strangers for treats, especially in the 21st Century, doesn't feel right to me.

On top of the obvious shallowness of Halloween is the amount of single use plastic. Some of our high street stores are the worst offenders, but then there is online shopping to add to it. Plastic masks and paraphernalia shipped around the world in containers for single use. Stringy cob webs that ensnare our wildlife, and are quite frankly look ugly. Numerous pumpkins left to rot without being eaten. It's hardly environmentally friendly is it? You can tell I really don't like Halloween.

Instead, let's celebrate our farmers and our harvests. The 31st October was new year eve for the Celtic people, the end of their farming year and the beginning of winter. Lets celebrate something good instead of something with origins of the fear of evil and darkness.

I'll be putting up lights, I'll be lighting a candle, and I'll be pulling my curtains. And I'll be baking my favourite Fruit Cake with Ginger and Apricot 😋

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Halloween/

❤️

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