Today is the 31ST of October and this say is
known by many different names, Halloween, All Hallows Eve, Samhain among
several others. The Halloween festival is known for several things including trick
or treat, a tradition normally carried out by children and in some cases the
young at heart, lighting of bonfires,
playing of pranks, visiting of haunted houses, dressing up in all manner of costumes,
some of them rather bizarre, the hosting of Halloween theme parties and of
course the most famous of Halloween traditions,
the Jack-O-Lanterns carved out from hollow pumpkins.
The Origins of this festival
remains rather obscure, some say that it is an all Christian festival that is
celebrated the day before the traditional Catholic Festival known as all souls
day, November 1, others however reject this idea, pointing out its pagan
origin, such people decry all Halloween celebrations as being part of a satanic
culture, with the view that nobody who calls himself a Christian should take
part in Halloween. Regardless of your view on the matter, it is certainly not the
intention Jamaican Tory to express his own view on the matter one way or
another, as that is not the subject of the debate here.
I have my own reason for not taking any part in any such
Halloween celebrations, simply put it is totally nontraditional. Some of you might
be puzzled as to where I’m going with this, after all Halloween has been celebrated
for hundreds of years, how can it not be traditional?, Answer: It’s not Jamaican tradition to celebrate Halloween. How is this possible? Let me explain, Jamaica
was ruled by the British for 307 years, over that time period we inherited many
aspects of British life and culture and incorporated with our own local culture
which was also influenced by African, Amerindian and Asian aspects, one thing
the British did not bequeath to us however was the celebration of Halloween.
Sure we have our own myths, legends and horror stories (or as we like to call
them Duppy Stories) which included figures Annie Palmer, Rolling Calf, River Mumma and the like but none of them have never been associated
with Halloween in any shape or form, hence there is no historical or cultural justification
for the celebration of Halloween in Jamaica.
There has been somewhat of a cultural shift however where
for the last few years Halloween is now becoming more popular in Jamaica. As a
child growing up, the only time I was ever made aware of Halloween was through
the influence of television programmes (especially horror movies) which were
all imported from the United States, besides that there was no other mention of
Halloween and most certainly nothing that was ever connected to Jamaican
folklore. That however is changing as more and more people seem to be getting inot the Halloween spirit around this time of year, dressing up in Halloween costumes and going to
Halloween-themed parties on the weekend closest to October 31, If we’re not
careful we’ll soon see Jamaican children engaging in trick-or –treat to mimic
those children from other countries as often seen on television.
To be frank, I have nothing against those who wish to celebrate it, especially in countries where that is the norm after all they have a right to
participate in all aspects of their national cultural life and maintain the
traditions of their forefathers, however being a traditionalist I am wary of
the erosion of our own local culture to give rise to something that is foreign
and alien to us, tradition must be preserved and in the case of Jamaica, our
own customs does not include Halloween celebrations, it’s high time to stop
wanting to copy everything that foreigners (particularly Americans) like to do and stick to our way of doing
things. This is by no means meant to decry or announce American culture really after all other countries celebrate Halloween too and some might even ask so why pick on them?, the answer is quite simple, It's not a matter of picking on them per se but let's be honest here, while
other countries have Halloween as well, it is the imposition of American
culture through the mass media that has caused so many Jamaicans to become more
in tuned to Halloween, the mentality that causes so many to be brainwashed into
thinking that it’s better to follow fashion than stay original. The fact that
many Jamaicans now choose to celebrate Halloween is only a symptom of a bigger
problem: that of cultural erosion and the damaging effect that this new cultural shift is
having on our people.
In a way, I share your feelings, Jason. Hallowe'en has become a much bigger event in the UK too in the last decade. Supermarket sales of tacky paraphernalia have risen from £10m to £200m in that time! And yes, this is driven by Hollywood, the internet, merchandising. Americanisation. But Hallowe'en is an English word. Samhain is Celtic. The festival has been celebrated in Britain for thousands of years. I expect it was at least acknowledged in colonial Jamaica too. During my childhood local children went 'trick or treating' on All Hallows Eve. We told each other ghost stories around the fire (and at school and on television). Some even followed the original idea of the festival and revered the souls of the dead. There weren't many Jack-o-lanterns about (very few pumpkins, but traditionally they were carved out of turnips, and you saw a few of those). So yes, the commercialisation and with it you could say 'Americanisation' of the festival is sad. It never played a big part in English life (being more popular in the Celtic countries, the English traditionally celebrated the other big Celtic festival, Midsummer's Eve, more assiduously). But it's not a completely alien thing. I think it has its place.
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