Halloween

Halloween reminds me of prom because the WORST thing that can happen is someone else wearing your outfit... unless you plan it out (which is where the prom analogy stops). Sometimes Halloween is more fun when you dress the same as other people. Like in the picture above, my cute roommate Kendra and I were fairies with the exact same outfit, just different colors. And different wings. It was fun. Halloween is the only time of year (except for random costume parties) that you can dress however you want, and in whatever way you can. You can bust out of your shell, you can become someone else... even if it's just by being a fairy or the classic Morton Salt Girl (and before I changed into my MSG costume I saw someone else with one like it. But mine was better so I win!)

Other kinds of folklore besides costumes...

Smashing pumpkins (someone smashed ours right outside the door)

Late night scary movies (which I didn't participate in this year for the first time I can remember)

Dancing

One aspect of Halloween folklore I do NOT like is all of the Mormon girls who try to sluttify themselves, using costumes and Mean Girls quotes to back up their reasoning. Girls, please.

Class Sched.

I'm missing class today and did on Monday cause I do not feel good at ALL. So I'm making a doctors appointment and getting a blood test cause I have some insane problems with blood sugar. I just hope I don't have mono again because if I did, it would spring from a water fountain and no kind of lip action fun... and that is not a good story.

Witches

More on Halloween Traditions:

This past weekend I went to a witches party. I'd never heard of anything like it before, but pretty much 6 or 7 of us women dressed like witches had dinner, and then we went to a "Village" in between Salt Lake and Provo. And it was so fun. There were women dressed like witches everywhere, cackling, dancing, shopping. Most of the witches were dressed in black: one of my friends even painted her face green; but others were dressed as Glenda the Good Witch. And the witches were all ages from 2 to 92. It was funny. I'd never seen anything like it before. 

I know that since we're talking about food in class I should probably write about food. But fall is rich with culture (and I wrote about pumpkins in my last post). I've researched American witches on more than one occasion, particularly concerning the Salem Witch Trials. They are completely fascinating, but creepy. And though I LOVE Halloween and dressing up like a witch, I can't help but sometimes feel it's a little disrespectful to the women (and few men) who were killed because someone called them a witch. They were not witches. They were normal people who stumbled across accusations they could not overcome.

Nonetheless, the witch hunts in America don't even hold a candle to the witch hunts that happened in Europe. The number of women murdered on this count is completely atrocious, but it's very rarely talked about. But what's talked about even less is that Martin Luther instigated the Witch Hunts. And if he didn't downright start them, he made them explode. Witches in history have a horrible tale to tell, but no one ever thinks of them as real. But perhaps they were. Perhaps some of them really were witches. Did they deserve to die? Probably not. Witches are fascinating because they deal with something out of our reach. We cannot understand them from our day to day lives, and that is why they have such a center to modern day Halloween, fairy tales, and Disney movies.

And I'm sorry, but modern day witches are just creepy.

Pumpkins.

Halloween is around the corner.

And my FAVORITE tradition (besides costumes) is family carving time.

My mom and brother came in this weekend and it. was. rad.