It's Halloween, and time for all the play spooks and goblins to come out. I have just one question about this (most popular) annual festivity : Where have all the Devils gone?
Seriously! The Wall Street Journal noted about a week ago the most popular costumes recorded by retail sales, and they ranged from "The Little Princess" (commanding nearly 49% of all those sold) to Spiderman, to Harry Potter, and Angels - but NO Devils! Where the Hell are the Devils?
In my first ever 'trick or treat' excursion alone, ca. 1953, I recall the one costume I prized most was that of a Devil, aka Lucifer. I managed to get my (reluctant Catholic) mom to craft most of it, including the pointed tail, and I found the perfect rubber mask at a Milwaukee variety store on Vliet St. The mask was a grotesque rendering of the Devil and included suitable slanted eyes, dark furrowed brows, a wicked mustache, goatee and small horns. By the time I was all set, I felt like I'd scare the bejeebers out of most of the kids ambling around the streets near Hadley St.
Didn't turn out that way! Nearly one -fourth of the trick or treaters had also adopted Devil attire! No fun!
But where are all the Devils now? Not to be seen. All we behold are the politically correct, pathetic outfits made popular by assorted commercial fare and that is mostly pop junk. But no Devil! The WSJ wouldn't even put an estimate on demonic entity costume sales, which means it was probably below 0.01%. Pathetic! Satan looks like he no longer gets any respect. Maybe he ought to sound off like the late Rodney Dangerfield!
As we know it today, Halloween (or "all Hallows eve") was derived from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), “when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth."
According to history.com:
"In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints’ Day ... It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. ... The night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.”
Trick-or-treating evolved from English traditions of All Souls’ Day, when the poor would go house-to-house begging for food in exchange for prayers for the families’ deceased relatives. Costumes naturally became a part of this.
Needless to say, Halloween today remains the most egalitarian of holidays, because it is the one time - the one national celebration- when poor or homeless children can also take to the streets in droves, hold their little bags and hands out, and receive the bounty of the wealthier citizens without shame or opprobrium. Even costumes can still be fashioned cheaply, without having to go out and spend a bundle -especially with unemployment still at almost 10%.
What's not to like? Halloween, at least for those of us who've not yet become moral scolds, is the best time of the year - because we let kids pretend to be what they want, without rancor or belittling. The kids enjoy it, being able to make the rounds of many city streets, and return home with loot that can last for days: Snickers bars, Reece's pieces, Hershy's kisses, and even - if lucky- those fancy Cadbury almond and milk chocolate bars.
In my day, it was mostly candy corn!
At the top, a crude rendition or approximation of my devil mask.
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