Halloween

Recently it seems I can't turn on the television without finding programs on every channel about supernatural or paranormal activity, spirits, ghosts mediums, witches, wizards, etc. From the movie channels to the drama channels to the children's cartoon channels it seems that compared to a year ago or to a couple years ago these things have just exploded in popularity. I don't know if it's just right now because it is Halloween season and if for the last couple months there's been a push towards that, its possible. I know Christmas has been coming earlier and earlier every year so that recently it seems that it's almost a year-round event. And Halloween being the second biggest holiday in America, at least as far as money is concerned it is possible that the same thing is happening there, but I feel something deeper may potentially be the cause of what's going on here.

I think the basic idea of Halloween as revolving around communing with spirits, communing with the dead, our ancestors returning back for a visit, or whatever the oldest traditions are surrounding Halloween are basically dark and based on death and ghosts and spirits and things like that.

Christmas

On the other hand, the other major holiday, the one featuring the guy with a white beard, Christmas, being on the light side. This can all be perceived as a blossoming battle between dark and light or between good and evil. Christmas being God based with angels and elves and a time of going to church and very Christian based thinking. On TV the programming revolves around fantasy shows and dramas like the old classics "It's a Wonderful Life", "Miracle on 34th Street", "Christmas in Connecticut", "White Christmas", "Scrooged" etc. which are all rather lightening as opposed to the Halloween stuff which is rather darker, demonic, pagan, or just anti-Christian in many, many ways.

The Battle Between Halloween and Christmas

I see this as kind of a battle between the two, Christmas fighting Halloween for superiority. The Halloween proponents seem to have planned it really well, going back hundreds, if not thousands of years and starting with the children. The joy of dressing up for Halloween, going trick-or-treating, getting tons of candy, it puts in their little minds a sense of "Wow, Halloween is such a great thing!" In starting with the children, starting early on, they grow up with that idea it is a playful fun time full of costume parties and bobbing for apples while the spiritual side, the ghostly side, is hidden under that sense of fun and enjoyment.

Christmas on the other hand is the flipside of the coin also with children getting presents on Christmas Day and being indoctrinated into the idea that Christmas is a time for giving and caring and sharing and smiling and presents and Santa Claus. All good things. So both are built up from a very young age, they love Christmas and they love Halloween. A lot! So, later in life, perhaps they have to choose one, "well which do you like more Christmas or Halloween?" And it's like choosing a path, like the dark side or the light side.

This may all just be the result of an overactive imagination, but with all the talk of the Apocalypse, Armageddon or the End of Days and the approaching battle between good and evil, there may be more to it and it's just made me start to notice more things supporting either one side or the other now I'm actually looking for them.