RENEWAL
I am disconcerted that for two weeks already those ragged floppy strawpeople have begun appearing in peoples' yards. The more amusing wear Old Yankee T-shirts and caps. The cutsy ones with pink cheeks and dressed in bright calico were no doubt bought at Michael's. As were the resin skulls, skeletons, grave markers, ghouls and ghosts, skeletons and leering pumpkin heads. We're not talking about the historic catharsis that is All Souls/All Saints. No history is meant here. It is just what people do in October in the burbs.
There is a history of course. The history is old, really old, and is pretty much a worldwide phenom. Read about it in Sir James George Frazer's book, The Golden Bough - A Study in Magic and Religion- especially Chapter lxii The Hallowe'en Fires. An effigy was made as a man of straw or corn husks, or a live pig, horse, goat, or some other animal was sacrificed as the scapegoat upon whose head was heaped the sins and ill fortune of all. Sometimes even a live human being. This person was sometimes placed in a structure constructed of woven straw and burned along with the structure. Legend holds that the human scapegoat was very much honored by being chosen. Of course he was no longer around to say otherwise. It has a long history, this harvest Halloween, thing: the Hebrews, India, Rome, Europe, Pawnee Nation. The sin offering was mentioned in Leviticus 16:9 and the word scapegoat made it to the English language in 1530- so notes Merriam Webster's. The munchkins begging candy at my door know none of this. Probably a good thing. Nice someone thought up Thanksgiving to put an end to the Halloween nonsense that goes on.
I prefer to think of Samhain and this time of Fall as a celebration of the New Year. Samhain as a festival which marked the New Year. A time for harvest, gatherings, celebration of renewal. A Celtic Rosh Hashanah.
Anyway, renewal. A New Year celebration. That's what I'm talking about today. The weather is finally crisp, sunny. The sky is Walt Whitman blue. Leaves gently drifting down with hardly a breeze. We feel energized after a most unpleasant August. We went to the Benjamin Moore paint store today.
Now that is good for the soul. Literally thousands of colors to choose, each with a catchy name: Elemental, Bonne Nuit, Angelica, Sanctuary, Anjou Pear, Deep in Thought, Aplomb. Picture a team sitting around a table coming up with these names! Must be a fun job.
Anyway the great room will disrobe from the Navaho White it has worn for years to Constellation pale blue and a Slate accent wall. Carpets will be replaced with hardwood floors, furniture will be rearranged, the 1907 quilt taken down and the button collection hung on a louvered door in the corner. Paintings and needle art which have been lounging around the house on floors, propped up in chairs and stacked in drawers, will be artfully arranged and hung on the accent wall. These pieces will finally have a decent home.
I'll forego the goblin and pumpkin thing outside. I'm having yellow and gold mums planted instead. Halloween will drag on, yards will continue to fill with the macabre, kids will arrive at the door begging. We'll make it to the door if we can whilst celebrating our new year painting. Out with the old; in with the new. Happy New Year, friends!
