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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; Tom Purcell</title>
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		<title>Halloween Freedom &#8211; by Tom Purcell</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/tom-purcell/halloween-freedom-by-tom-purcell/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=halloween-freedom-by-tom-purcell</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/tom-purcell/halloween-freedom-by-tom-purcell/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:10:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tom Purcell]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=33174</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The trends are telling.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-33176" title="halloween" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/halloween.jpg" alt="halloween" width="450" height="306" /></p>
<p><span><span>Just ask Robert Thompson, a pop-culture expert and the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.</span></span></p>
<p>Here&#8217;s an interesting trend: Halloween has fast become the second-most-decorated holiday. Jack-o-lanterns and goblins and lighted trees are all over the place now.</p>
<p>Halloween spending has risen to nearly $5 billion annually &#8212; not bad for a non-gift-giving, non-government-sanctioned holiday.</p>
<p>And more adults than ever are dressing up.</p>
<p>&#8220;The post-World War II years were the golden age of Halloween for kids,&#8221; says Thompson, &#8220;a trend that continued into the 1980s. But in the last 20 years, Halloween has been reclaimed by adults.&#8221;</p>
<p>Which makes perfect sense. Through most of history, Halloween was for adults.</p>
<p>The origins of Halloween date back to pagan times. During harvest celebrations, the Celts dressed up in costumes to ward off ghosts and demons.</p>
<p>As Christianity spread, the Catholics introduced All Saints&#8217; Day (All Souls&#8217; Day). The holy evening before All Saints&#8217; Day &#8212; All Hallow&#8217;s Eve &#8212; embraced many of the Celtic traditions.</p>
<p>But I think there is another reason why more adults are embracing the Halloween spirit: It&#8217;s one of the last bastions of free expression in America.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the one day where almost anything goes,&#8221; says Thompson. &#8220;Adults can be a wise guy or do something outrageous they&#8217;d never do normally.&#8221;</p>
<p>Such as dress like a trollop. Seductive vampire, police officer and French maid costumes are among the most popular for women.</p>
<p>Thompson says adults generally pick costumes that mock or satirize the popular culture.</p>
<p>This year, according to the National Retail Foundation, Kate Gosselin wigs are a hot item and &#8220;balloon boy&#8221; costumes are sure to be a hit.</p>
<p>But politics are mostly out.</p>
<p>Few will dress as nurses this year due to fatigue over the health care debate.</p>
<p>Last year, many wore costumes that mocked John McCain and Sarah Palin, but many more &#8212; Thompson says this broke Halloween norms &#8212; wore costumes that reflected admiration for Barack Obama.</p>
<p>This year, Obama has become a mere immortal, as demonstrated by this hot-selling vampire mask: &#8220;Barackula&#8221; Obama.</p>
<p>In any event, as our culture loses its sense of humor &#8212; as people are ready to shout or sue at every slight &#8212; Halloween is growing in popularity because, for the most part, people can express themselves openly and honestly.</p>
<p>Sure, some groups find Halloween offensive. Some Christians refuse to celebrate it &#8212; they say it is a celebration of the dark side. And some witches and warlocks complain that it mocks their religion.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s true that more schools are banning Halloween celebrations &#8212; one school in Seattle did so, in part, because of its offensiveness to Wiccans. If schools have a party, they call it &#8220;Autumn Day&#8221; or &#8220;Harvest Day.&#8221; Costumes are forbidden.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s true that some costumes are considered taboo. The &#8220;illegal alien&#8221; costume &#8212; it comes with a space alien mask and orange jumpsuit &#8212; has caused a stir.</p>
<p>And you won&#8217;t see too many people dressing as hobos or beggars or Klansmen &#8212; that would be inconsiderate.</p>
<p>But Halloween is mostly wide open. It&#8217;s a widely celebrated secular holiday because it&#8217;s the only day of the year when people can freely do or say or be anything they want.</p>
<p>No wonder it&#8217;s growing in popularity among adults.</p>
<p>&#8220;In an era when getting drunk at the office Christmas party can lead to a harassment charge,&#8221; says Thompson, &#8220;Halloween remains the one day we can, for the most part, misbehave in peace.&#8221;</p>
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