Holidays

When I was last at the Chiarscuro reading series I purchased a copy of Enter, Night by Michael Rowe, who, in his autographed dedication, wished that every day would be Halloween for me. I think that are many merits to this holiday that elevate beyond those of Christmas, another favourite holiday.

September is not a very pleasant month because autumn is coming but it has not yet arrived so summer lingers unpleasantly. The best Septembers are when the hot, sticky summer weather subsides quickly after Labour Day; the weather should be shirtsleeves and comfortable throughout the month but it is imperative that the heat departs immediately.
The leaves can start to change colour around Canadian Thanksgiving, a more agreeable time for autumn to come. The weather gets cooler (preferably not colder) and the days get shorter. Early evenings are not my favourite thing, though darker mornings are: once the clocks go back it becomes delicious to while away the hours in bed while in spring and summer I must leap out of bed and be active.

I love the macabre nature of Halloween. By the time Halloween comes around naked trees tear the sky like witches' fingers. I hate snow though Christmas is incomplete with out. Halloween's dominion is the unpleasant time after the last traces of summer have gone but before Christmas' comforting white blanket. Wet, dark and cold when you being to feel afraid of the world.
Christmas is a bloated holiday stretched artifically from the time Halloween ends to just a hair before the year ends. By then the weather gets worse: leafless, cold, occasionally snowy. Christmas magic is saccharine; Halloween magic is mischevious and malevolent. Christmas magic is innocent and naive; Halloween delves into the darker parts of the soul.

I think the Simpsons' Halloween specials are superior to their Christmas episodes.

During Christmas you are forced to endure crowds, congestion and opulent foods that weigh on your stomach. Halloween is a shorter holiday: the candy goes faster, the sugar rush ends quicker.

Halloween is the superior holiday though as a side order Christmas is a pretty good. But no more than that.