a malaysian abroad

Another World Blog Surf Day is here! The first was about life as an expat in general, and the second about food.  This time around it’s about holidays & celebrations: What is your favorite ~new~ holiday and how is it celebrated?

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When I first heard of Halloween being referred to as a holiday, I thought “That’s not right! Holidays are official days off, and you don’t get a day off for Halloween…”  Of course, that was back in the early 90s, I was still a teenager then, had been just slightly over a year in the US, and was still unused to having my mind expanded.

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Just like everything else here in the USA, Halloween is a ‘holy day’ that hasn’t escaped the crass commercialism that haunts the land.  I don’t remember when Halloween decorations started going up in stores this year, but I do remember thinking “It’s too early!!! Halloween is months away!”.

Halloween has its roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints.  On All Saint’s Eve, also known as All Hallow’s Eve, the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is very thin indeed; disguising yourself as a creature from the other side would help you not fall prey to harmful creatures that might have crossed over during this time.

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Since it occurs during the time of autumn harvest, Halloween shares with October (and November) icons such as pumpkins, corn and apples.

To many people, Halloween is just a day to play dress-up, where license is granted to be someone you’re not (or someone you long to be) if for just one night.

To most children, Halloween is a day for dressing up in order to get loads of candy.

To others, Halloween is the devil’s holiday, and they refuse to participate in any way except to hold prayer sessions.

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But what is Halloween to me?

A time when my fandom of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Nightmare Before Christmas becomes acceptable! 

Back when Nightmare was first released, I was a college student, went to see it with a bunch of friends, loved it so much that the next day I immediately hunted down its soundtrack, which I have listened to so often I’m lucky the CD isn’t worn out.  Oh, and I know all the words, too At one point while watching the DVD for the umpteenth time last year, Kosh turned off the captions to test me.  I passed, with flying colors, LoL!

Also back in my college days, I was taken, ludicrously drunk, to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show.  I was too drunk to make head or tail of the movie, but did like how people were yelling things at the characters onscreen.  A little later, I watched it again in another movie theatre, sober, with few other patrons and therefore no callouts.  It was… okay.  Yet somehow, it stuck with me, and much much later, when I was back in the USA with Kosh, I wanted to watch it again, got the DVD, armed myself with callout lines, and there was no going back.  I was h.o.o.k.e.d.  And last weekend, I finally saw the Rocky Horror Show, the live performance.  It was a totally different experience than the movies or DVD, but awesome just the same.

And before you ask, no, I didn’t dress up as anybody … not this time, anyway.  Just you wait, though.  I have a feeling one of these years I’ll actually balls up and go in a French maid’s attire, or perhaps in purple jammies and a Micky Mouse hat.  Don’t know what I’m talking about?  Go check out your local movie listings and do yourself a favour: get a ticket, and attend with a mind wide open.  It’s loads of fun!!

Okay, that’s enough chatter from me!  Please click on over to the next participant in today’s WBSD - Ivanhoe, who talks about a uniquely North American holiday.  Enjoy!

A big tip of the hat to WBSD’s Twitter reporter Karen of Empty Nest Expat. Karen is an American expat blogger last seen in Prague. The Wall Street Journal said, “Her blog makes a fun read for anyone looking for reassurance that change can be a wonderful thing — and also for anyone interested in visiting the Czech Republic.” Do check her out too!

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