How Donkeys and Elephants Destroyed Halloween (10/26/23)

Halloween can be broken into three categories: political, economic, and occult. As a festival of preserving life and fertility, it is odd that the political left embraces it with such dedication, despite their general disdain for life and families. It is likewise odd that the political right, under the same circumstances, denounces Halloween as evil. Thirdly, it is odd that both have their own reasons to censor the celebration; from religious offense to moral outrage and DEI. Economically speaking, the $12.2 billion estimated to be spent in 2023 on the holy day is up, even when factoring in inflation, from years previous, with a slight boost above pre-2020 levels. This could mean a lot of things, bur primarily that Halloween is the ultimate opportunity for people to hide from reality and pretend to be something or someone else. As for the occult, which encompasses various disciplines, Halloween is known in different forms from the Americas to Ireland, China, and Japan. Modern celebrations in America originated in Ireland, but we have made our own traditions out of this superstitious past. The fires of Samhain and Jack’s Lantern are identical in purpose to Christmas lights and yule logs, and even to ornaments called Witch Balls that deflect evil, darkness and cold. The idea of a trick or treat is a contractural agreement not unlike that of the naughty of nice list kept by the agreed upon Clause.