After all, the name, “Halloween,” is derived from All Hallows Eve, the evening before All Saints Day - a Christian holiday set aside in remembrance of the martyred faithful. Other Christians refer to it as “All Souls Day,” to honor those souls in purgatory – the halfway point between death and final judgment. But All Saints Day or All Souls Day – whatever you prefer – has always lacked a certain “sizzle” factor.
Associated Press
As Christianity spread throughout
They also believed that it was critical to give spirits “their due” – a farewell gift of food, drink, and other “treats” – to ensure the spirits passed over to the afterlife. And what if you failed to appease these ghastly ghosties? Well, you might just find yourself the subject of an unfortunate “trick.”
Say what you want about the druids, but they definitely had that “sizzle.” Ultimately, though, the power of the Christian marketing machine won out. Today, Samhain is known by its more popular Christian name of “Hallows-e’-en” or Halloween.
At the risk of irritating readers of the pagan persuasion, I’m not about to let those witchy wiccans with their skulls and skeletons have all the Halloween fun. I’m not going to apologize any longer for my participation in a highly commercialized mass pop culture celebration.
But now the real challenge is – what costume?
In this politically incorrect world, some costumes are inappropriate, in poor taste, or even dangerous. For example, a conservative could never be a warlock or a witch. As unfair as that is, Bill Maher would have a field day. Christine O’Donnell learned that lesson the hard way. Same with ex-cons, burglars, and mass murderers. For a political animal, vintage Freddy Krueger doesn’t really scream “law and order.”
One year I went as Stephen Colbert but no one really got that one.
However, part of the fun of Halloween is to try to imagine yourself completely opposite of what you are. Lately, that would be an Occupy Wall Street protester.
On the plus side, costuming itself would not be that difficult. A poncho, a drum, and a $6 Guy Fawkes mask from the film, “V for Vendetta.” Even if I couldn’t find the mask, I could get a t-shirt that says, “I’m the 99%” or, at least, “I’m very upset.” Either would work fine I’m sure.
Is it really me?
But the disguise is only one part of it. Getting into character is equally important and that’s where it gets tricky:
- I don’t protest all forms of capitalism while buying iPhones and Starbucks coffee.
- I don’t urinate in streets, defecate on doorsteps, or taunt residents going to work.
- I can't pull off saying "Eat the rich" or “peace out.”
- I take protest seriously: no salmon cakes with dill sauce or games on my Droid please.
- I don’t threaten my fellow protesters with knives, break into buildings or steal.
- I get a stiff neck from air mattresses.
- I'm not really into violence or scapegoating police officers.
- I think socialism is a dead philosophy. (Dead in the respect that it doesn't work, not in the Left’s cheerleading of it.)
-I believe #hashtags are overused.
Can I overcome these challenges? I'm not sure.
In the beginning, a segment of #occupywallstreet was legitmate; people were angry about the collusion between Wall Street and government and rightly so. Like the Tea Party, they were outraged about the bailouts of Wall Street titans and DC titans like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. However, #occupywallstreet has become simple Democrat opportunism. It is the same crowd of violent anarchists, G-8 groupies, and socialist has-beens determined to spread the wealth – by force if necessary.
On second thought, my #occupywallstreet costume doesn’t seem like such a wonderful idea after all. Maybe I'll go as Thomas Paine instead.
That's one costume that never goes out of style.
Commentator William J. Kelly is also a contributor to Breitbart.com and edits the Tea Party Reports for the
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