The End of the Light Season

October is the quintessential month of fall, when the leaves turn and the air is cripser, where the colors of orange, red, brown and gold are everywhere and there is a little cold whisper from fall.

Pumpkins, caramel apples, confections of all colors, sizes and shapes, apple bobs, spooky decorations and all those warm brown sugar, vanilla and spice scents linger in the air.

This month represents the end of the light portion of the year and the beginning of its dark season when the days gradually become shorter, and the nights, and along with them darkness, longer and more lasting.

October is also Halloween season, one of the finest holiday inventions of the modern world if you ask me. A lot of it is rooted in folklore and tradition. and as is fitting for an evening intrinsically linked with mystery, the night itself has murky and mystic origins. It has roots in Celtic and Roman traditions, more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain whose original spelling was Samuin. Samuin was  the name of the festival historically kept by the Gaels and celts in the British Isles and the name itself is derived from Old Irish and means roughly “summer’s end”.  

I love learning about the history behind this pagan holiday, its origins and the myths and legends surrounding it. For instance: while pumpkins have become the symbol of Halloween, especially in the form of the jack’o lantern, originally turnips were used as lanterns to honor the souls held in purgatory instead of pumpkins.

Halloween itself is a great season: there are the Halloween parties, masquerades, haunted houses, trick or treating (yes i still think it is fun), watching horror movie marathons, spooky decos, lanterns and lights illuminating  up the darkness, imaginations coming alive – the mysterious, the obscure, the scary and frightening things all surface and we face our demons with humor. It is a moody season filled with mysteries and questions and one of the things that makes the end of summer bearable..

In honor of Halloween I have decided to watch a scary/horror movie every day for the month of October. Having the visualization of your imagination come alive on the screen is one of the best things about Halloween and probably one of the reasons Halloween has become such an integral part of pop culture. Or is it the other way around? Anyway, goodbye season of light, hello season of fright.

By the way, today’s movie is the 1982 classic “Creepshow“: a wonderfully typical Halloween movie containing all the elements we love about Halloween and Halloween flicks.