Lighten Up Halloween

I don't know about you, but I am not looking forward to the sculls and skeletons this Halloween. The world has enough death and fiendishness. In our neighborhood, it seems, others agree with me. Here are some happy Halloween vignettes from our neck of the woods.

Smiling scarecrows adorn the porch posts.

This jolly fellow dares you to frown.

 Thankfully, harvesting pumpkins beside a cemetery is as ghoulish as it gets.

Passersby who see our neighbor bringing his harvest from the field can't help but be charmed.

A bountiful harvest is worth celebrating.

This local stand invites party purchases.

Baskets and benches display fall gourds and pumpkins according to size and color. Mums make a lovely seasonal backdrop.

Bales of hay and shocks of corn provide dimension to this wagon display. Doesn't it make you want to take home some colorful autumn decor for your own front step?

Beyond our county and state, others seem to be joining us in minimizing the macabre. I was encouraged to read that this will be the last year for the House of Horrors in Hubertus, Wisconsin.

The diocese outside of Milwaukee is closing the $2 million-dollar annual fundraiser in part because the event became too violent. The decision was made when a video depicting killing, decapitation, and cannibalism was shown as a scare tactic. Maybe these fundraising parents could try what entrepreneurs here have found to be successful: hayrides, bonfires, and corn mazes.

Thankfully, different faith traditions sponsor fall festivals which are a welcome change from the dark-themed parties. For example, our Jewish neighbors just finished celebrating the seven day festival of Sukkot which commemorates their ancestors' forty-year sojourn in the desert. I applaud the secular Jewish congregation in Ann Arbor, Michigan that sponsored a community-wide harvest potluck celebrating food across cultures.

http://www.jewishculturalsociety.org

Catholic Christians, such as these in Seattle, Washington, celebrate All Saints Day by giving parties on Halloween featuring costumes of saints rather than ghouls.

Holy Rosary School in west Seattle, WA

Last year in Davis, California the Grace Valley Christian Center sponsored a Reformation Day costume parade. After all, it was October 31, 1517 that Luther's nailed his 95 Thesis to a church door in Wittenberg challenging his fellow priests to debate church tradition versus biblical doctrine.

http://davisenterprise.s3.amazonaws.com/

This year we need no more proof than nightly news to recognize that evil is real. Let's use Halloween as an opportunity to fight it, not join it.