It's finally getting chilly here. There's a definite snap in the air, quite a relief from the soaring temperatures of an unusual "Indian Summer" that we have around here. I wonder if someone will take exception to that term. People are so sensitive these days, as if everything is offensive. I am waiting for the people who will post about "Black Friday" being an insult to Black people. I have already seen one moronic post about not shopping until after January 1. Hello??? doesn't that impact ALL businesses? It won't be "Sticking it to the Man" if you don't patronize any business during the Holiday season. Sheesh. Last year I saw someone post that "Black Friday" was the day the slave-owners sold off their slaves because the harvest was over and they didn't need them so the DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING was a sale day and we need to protest Black Friday. Ok.. Historically speaking, Thanksgiving was put into effect by ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Remember him? So, since this was during the Civil War, I don't think there was a huge sale going on. Black Friday is the date that Businesses are "in the Black" which means that they have TURNED A PROFIT, but people are so quick to take offense about everything, they forget to focus on what is truly offensive, making their protests weaker by the sheer number of rants.
My office had a Halloween Party, well lunch really. A lot of us dressed up and I heard one of my co-workers say to another "oh , you're a witch? You're too nice to be a witch" HUH? It made me think of the lines from the Wizard of Oz "Witches are old and ugly! Only bad witches are ugly" I have a number of friends who identify as witches and they are not evil. It got me to wondering about how our collective idea about witches and witchcraft got to be how it is. Sad to say, I blame Christianity. In the early days, either you converted or were killed. People who practiced Wicca, or a form of Paganism, were whispered about, how they were in league with Satan and needed to be exterminated because they were plotting to take over and they were the reason the crops or livestock were dying off ( blah blah blah) Pagans don't even believe in the devil, those are Satanists and a different group altogether . Those among us who are sensitive to the earth and who understand the original magic that the world possessed were and are feared by those who do not understand them. I thought about Samhain, but did not celebrate in anyway this year. I barely did Halloween which is really a children's holiday anyway.
I am glad for the chill in the air, a chance to toss another blanket on the bed. I sleep better when I am warm and snuggled down in the blankets. I love Summer, but not the unrelenting heat. I love the clean crisp air of Autumn, which as an adult has become my favorite season. I can cook and bake and not have the kitchen be a sweatbox! I am looking forward to Thanksgiving!
And when did Halloween stop being a children's holiday (the whole idea of trick-or-treating isn't all that old - see being a children's librarian, I did learn something! It only started in a small part of Brooklyn (!) around the mid 1930's) It has certainly taken over and some people BRAG that they celebrate it in a bigger way than Christmas. For me, alas, it has devolved into an evening where I am stuck at home passing out candy to kids who are too old, too threatening, and who certainly don't live around here - this year I literally saw dozens of trucks blocking my street disgorging hundreds of kids. And for what? A 2 cent piece of sugar crap. When did this take over?
ReplyDeleteAutumn, yes, I am ready for it! I wore a sweater last evening, and some of us had the bad taste to complain about how cold we were! But I sure agree with you, Robyn, the last two evenings at bedtime, it was fun to get cozy with an extra blanket at the foot of the bed (for the cat) and sleep soundly.
Monday evening was interesting. First evening driving home in the dark (with the attendant panic and hysteria on the roads) and then rain to compound the horror, the horror. Not much rain, true, but enough that the radio kept reporting new accidents.
Tom