A Love Letter To Halloween
Happy Halloween, witches and ghouls! I love Halloween and instead of my usual artist struggles, here's a love letter to my favorite holiday.Playing Dress UpEver since I was little, this theater kid loved dressing up and Halloween was no exception. I've never gone for the sexy costume; I always go for scary, weird, or nostalgic. I've been Disney princesses, a wizard, a fortune teller, multiple witches and vampires, Barbara from Beetlejuice, a female version of Marty McFly, and a pink unicorn. I was a pirate one year and a corpse bride another. I love making my costumes from pieces I own or thrifting for them. I think I missed my cosplay calling....I should get on that.I love the creativity people put into their costume. Even as an adult, there is time and effort that goes into the process of deciding what to be. I am thrilled that the love of selecting a costume for Halloween still continues past childhood. It's a night where we are all imaginative kids again, trying to wow our friends with what we've come up with and be a dragon queen for a few hours. We get to play dress up! How can you not be into that?Thinning of the VeilMy witchy reason. I've always loved the lore and legends of All Hallows Eve. From Samhaim to Día de los Muertos, the stories and traditions of this holiday are my absolute favorite.The thinning of the veil has always fascinated me and my witchy heart. The dead being able to walk among the living. The ability to reach a soul that has departed. Our two worlds brushing fingertips. It is equally heartbreaking and joyful.The world always feels different to me on Halloween night. The air changes and shifts and surrounds me differently. It feel electric and alive. I always assume it is because of the thinning of the veil. The moment it drops and we can be among those lost for a few short hours, even if we don't believe. I thinkHalloween has such an ancient magic to it and that is what I am drawn to. Old magic is something that feels familiar to me, like I knew it once before long ago. I connect to it and believe fully in it. Halloween has always been special to me for that reason. I experience being an individual who can see when the veil narrows and that makes the night feel unique to me, special, magical.The HorrorI love scary movies. There is no need to really dive into why this would be a reason to love Halloween. I have always had a love affair with horror films ever since I was little. While I am part sparkly fairy princess, I am also a dark, strange final girl. Creepy and weird attracts me and I yearn for movies that make me sit on the couch with my hand over my mouth, trying not to breathe like Jack Torrence can hear me through the screen. This time of year makes it acceptable to watch them 24/7 and I dive right in. They are also my sick day movies a lot of the time which is less acceptable and more odd. Sometimes Scream is what I need when I'm ill in bed. I love being a little strange and unusual. We should all let our freak flags fly.And we can! Especially on Halloween.The FallI look forward to fall every year. As a kid, I loved it because I got to go back to school shopping and get back to seeing my friends every day and take new classes. I love the colors and the crisp air. The food and the fashion. Give me boots, scarves, leather jackets and cozy sweaters any day over tank tops and flip flops. The world is letting go and moving into its next phase and with it, I feel a release every year. My body relaxes and shifts with the season as it comes to a close to be born again after a long cold rest. Everything is on fire and then slowly fades like embers, ending with nights spent being grateful for a new year, time under blankets, and the crunch of fresh snow. I used to hate the winter but I have started to embrace it. It feels good to take that time and hibernate, recuperate. And that last hoorah of fall makes it even more of a celebration.AnniversaryI met my husband the week before Halloween ten years ago. We went to a Halloween party as a second date. He was an old man zombie and I was Fievel from An American Tale. He committed hard and I fell harder knowing he also loved this holiday. He accepted how into it I was and still does to this day. It's also his birthday month and when we got engaged. It is a month full of relationship milestones and it is even better to celebrate under the bright leaves and eating apple cider donuts. The fact it culminates in my favorite day of the year is something my 14 lovesick self would have never thought possible. It was simply meant to be.Happy Halloween from this little misfit weirdo who would decorate her house with skulls, pumpkins and ravens every day of the year if it her husband didn't draw the line somewhere.
