Halloween

So, yesterday night was Halloween night. Over the last 10 years, out of sheer and thoughtless reproduction of countless Halloween representations we see on TV and Cinema, the tradition is becoming popular even here, despite the fact that it goes exactly opposite what has been our relations with the deceased ones for over two millenia.

In fact, Halloween postulates the return of the deaths for one night (and demons and ghouls with them) who have to be appeased (trick of treat) in order not to produce harm on the living ones, while here the tradition has always seen a "friendly" relation with the dead ones who you visited (and we still do, even if this tradition is getting, quite sadly, lost) and with whom you dined with (pouring milk or wine over the grave) and where the spirits of the deceased ones are seen as benign and protective beings since the romans' Lares and the christian idea of the deceased ones sort of intermediating in our favor with God... until the very italian tradition of the spirits of our loved ones coming to us in our dreams to give suggestions or, to the limit, the winning lotto's numbers.

Anyway, this post is not to raise a critic to this cultural contamination, even if it's uttermostly depressing to see masked kids going from floor to floor in large condos uttering the italian version of "trick or treat" (and obviously getting nothing due the fact anyone older than 15 doesn't actually prepare for Halloween's candies' requests). The point is that I like, or at least used to like, Halloween's parties.

Oh, I haven't done in a while, mind you. My last Halloween's mask, an azure magician tunic with silver stars and a 60 cms long pointy hat (which earned me the nickname of "maghetto" for a while) was burned, together with one of my favourite sweaters, in an incident during an Halloween party, two years ago. But anyway, Halloween's parties, a sort of dark (and lately, often sexy) anticipation of carnival, are cool. I should had gone out yesterday, but then tiredness, laziness and my friends' lack of interest kept me home and this friday and saturday I will not be here for the lat celebrations. Maybe there are late Halloween parties in Mainz? Somehow, I doubt it.