By mid-October, skulls are everywhere in America. They line the shelves of Wal-marts, they grin from doorstops and windows of classrooms, they hang from the ears of teachers and office workers, and they appear in the form of skull-shaped fun USB flash drives from FunUSB.com. It's enough to make one wonder: what's up with all the grinning boneheads? Is this some grim new death-worship cult sweeping across America? Is it a tribute to the bloody goddess Kali, who wears a necklace of skulls?
Not at all. The abundance of skulls in American households merely signals the coming of Halloween. Indeed, through clever marketing and desensitization, skulls have gone from the terrifying signifiers of mortality that they were to Hamlet to cute and-do I dare say- cuddly holiday symbols.
How did this begin? How did a skeleton, the emblem of what's left when all is said and done and the worms have had their way, become a funny thing to hang from a mailbox?
Who knows? Maybe it has something to do with the Mexican holiday, Da de los Muertes, a time when skeletons and skulls are painted, sculpted, and carried all over towns and villages. This holiday culminates in a visit to a local graveyard where people light candles to remember their ancestors. Clearly, the Mexican culture is not one to shy away from death. But, is this where Americans got the idea to decorate for Halloween with skulls and skeletons?
Unlike Da de los Muertes, America's jaunty celebration of the skull and its bony counterparts ends with no such clear-eyed look at death. Rather than the graveyard, American's look at death ends with the ring of a doorbell and a child demanding candy. It's almost as if Americans are following the advice of David Sedaris's brother "The Rooster." As Sedaris relates in his book Me Talk Pretty One Day, the Rooster has a big bucket that he keeps stuffed with candy. He calls this the "F*ck it Bucket." Why? To paraphrase: Whenever life throws bad things my way, I just say 'f*ck it' and eat some candy".
Is that what Americans are doing? Are they looking death in the eye and saying: "F*ck it, let's eat some candy?"
Maybe the Rooster is on to something. Maybe wisdom is to be found at the bottom of a bucket of candy. Maybe the best way to remind ourselves of our mortality is by wearing it, decorating with it, and saving our data on it in the form of fun USB flash drives. Heck, it sure beats spending all night in a graveyard!
Not at all. The abundance of skulls in American households merely signals the coming of Halloween. Indeed, through clever marketing and desensitization, skulls have gone from the terrifying signifiers of mortality that they were to Hamlet to cute and-do I dare say- cuddly holiday symbols.
How did this begin? How did a skeleton, the emblem of what's left when all is said and done and the worms have had their way, become a funny thing to hang from a mailbox?
Who knows? Maybe it has something to do with the Mexican holiday, Da de los Muertes, a time when skeletons and skulls are painted, sculpted, and carried all over towns and villages. This holiday culminates in a visit to a local graveyard where people light candles to remember their ancestors. Clearly, the Mexican culture is not one to shy away from death. But, is this where Americans got the idea to decorate for Halloween with skulls and skeletons?
Unlike Da de los Muertes, America's jaunty celebration of the skull and its bony counterparts ends with no such clear-eyed look at death. Rather than the graveyard, American's look at death ends with the ring of a doorbell and a child demanding candy. It's almost as if Americans are following the advice of David Sedaris's brother "The Rooster." As Sedaris relates in his book Me Talk Pretty One Day, the Rooster has a big bucket that he keeps stuffed with candy. He calls this the "F*ck it Bucket." Why? To paraphrase: Whenever life throws bad things my way, I just say 'f*ck it' and eat some candy".
Is that what Americans are doing? Are they looking death in the eye and saying: "F*ck it, let's eat some candy?"
Maybe the Rooster is on to something. Maybe wisdom is to be found at the bottom of a bucket of candy. Maybe the best way to remind ourselves of our mortality is by wearing it, decorating with it, and saving our data on it in the form of fun USB flash drives. Heck, it sure beats spending all night in a graveyard!
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