Halloween is usually a time when I do a lot of blogging, because the spookiness of the season somehow inspires me. (If you want to explore this, just click the “Halloween” tag.) But I haven’t blogged this year, because, well . . . 2020.
For Halloween in 2017, 2018, and 2019 I wrote a series of posts critiquing the osteology of decorative plastic Halloween skeletons, My general sense is that, at this point, I’ve run out of types of skeletons to critique. But then, I haven’t really looked this year, because 1) I sensed that my readership had lost interest in the series by last year, and 2) well . . . 2020.
But then, are we even having Halloween this year? I’m unclear here. With respect to the child-oriented elements of the holiday, most specifically trick-or-treating, stores have aisles filled with Halloween candy just as always, but CDC guidelines seem to be ruling that trick-or-treating should be heavily restricted, if not considered outright unacceptable.
And what about the grown-up part of Halloween, which involves wearing costumes while partying? I saw on the television news that the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington will not be welcoming its usual adult Halloween crowd this year. Earlier in the year I had expected that the pandemic would be pretty much over by now, and people would be using Halloween as the perfect occasion to cut loose with a massive party. And Halloween is on a Saturday, which is the perfect day, because there’s no work or school, and no work or school the next day. And there’s even a full moon on Halloween this year, which (I guess?) is the most appropriate phase for the occasion. The only real problem, were we not in the midst of disease, would be that Halloween would be overshadowed by the rancor of the presidential election.
I addressed the question of delaying Halloween on the blog many years ago.
Maybe we can have two Halloweens next year.
And so, ultimately, well . . . 2020 . . .
