Halloween The Macabre And Occult

by WriterArtist

Halloween has a macabre, otherworldly, mysterious and occult side. The festival is all about horror, scare and fun.

World is eagerly waiting for the all important ‘All Hallows Eve’. It will again spin a web of delight, scare, fun and excitement for family, friends and kids. People across all ages especially kids find this funky fun filled festival exhilarating, eerie and engaging.

For that reason, Halloween is called festival of the dead with spectacular interesting celebrations and customs. It is the day of the dead, harvest festival, time for fun & frolic, magic & merriment and New Year’s Day all rolled into one.

© copyright WriterArtist 2022, All rights reserved
Image Courtesy Pixabay, Author Geraldine Dukes

Symbols of Halloween

The Macabre and Occult Side

The quintessential symbols of Halloween fall into three major categories –

  • Symbols of death include graveyards,
  • Ghosts, ghouls, skeletons and
  • Haunted house

Symbols of evil and misfortune are witches, goblins and black cats. Symbols of harvest are pumpkins – Jack O lanterns, scarecrows, com shocks and candy corn.

Macabre and occult side of the Halloween makes witch a popular motif in costumes and decorations during the festival.

Macabre & Occult Tarot

Occult Tarot
Rockpool Publishing
$20.65  $14.98
The Macabre Tarot: 78 card deck and 1...
Rockpool Publishing
$27.83  $22.54

Halloween Witch

Why witch?

 

It is widely believed that on the eve of Halloween, spirits travel back to earth as they went away to heaven afterlife. Scary costumes modeled on spirits, ghosts and witches are symbolical to stave off the evil spirits when they travel to earth. It is a kind of romancing with the spirits. This is reflected in the custom Trick-or-treat during Halloween.

Children dressed up in costumes depicting witches, ghosts, devils and monsters go door to door in the neighborhood asking for treat. Treats are usually money and candies. Spirits of the dead return to the earth on 1st November.  Some of these spirits are supposed to be mischievous and evil and can bring harm upon those who don’t treat them.

Occult Decor for Halloween

Popularity with Witch’s Costumes

Since the spirits are coming back to earth, people wear masks to protect themselves. People change clothes to that of the opposite gender so that the spirits are led to believe they are their own kind and they would not take them to their otherworld with them at the end of the night. This is how the custom of wearing masks and costumes during Halloween originated.

Skulls are also part of the Halloween witch costumes; it reminds the human race that we have limited time to live on this earth. The image of skull brings to light the aspect of death all of us have to eventually meet.

Witches in Haunted House

Witches find a place in a haunted house along with trolls, goblins and ghouls. Popular as flying in the moonlit sky, they haunt the graveyards too. Walkthroughs in spooky Haunted house, Halloween maze with witches, ghosts, witch cackles, doll rooms, clowns, jungles, hanging skeletons, vines, wolf howls, pirates, fire spewing dragons , crawling spiders, wolf howls and even aliens are also part of Halloween. It is a rage in many communities and a huge attraction. It really brings the community together. McKamey Manor is by far the scariest "haunted house" there is. It started in San Diego and now also in Alabama and Tennessee. Nobody has made it through without asking for it to be over.

The above gives reasonable background on why customs and motifs based on witch, devils, and monsters rule the roost as central theme during the Halloween.

Occult from YouTube

Updated: 10/04/2022, WriterArtist
 
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How do you find the dark side of Halloween?

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WriterArtist on 10/04/2022

DerdriuMarriner - It is correct that there are 4 witches in Oz, one in each cardinal. Two are good and remaining two of them are wicked. If I am right, Disney showcases 3 witches Glinda, Evanora and Theodora; hence the witch home decor show 3 witches instead of 4. The product most likely is following the Disney movie.

WriterArtist on 10/04/2022

Frankbeswick - Agree to your point. The ancient Christians celebrated 'All Saints' that initiated the season of 'Allhallowtide', and lasted three days concluding with All Souls' Day. The modern day celebrations are influenced both by Christian and Pagan beliefs. Somehow, the celebrations are squeezed into one day in today's context. All over the world, whether you celebrate the departed souls or 'spirits and saints', the festival falls on the same day as Halloween.

frankbeswick on 09/01/2022

The folk belief was that spirits from heaven did not return at Hallloween, but that the evil or unclean spirits were at large on that evening. Halloween means saints' eve, so the day after it was All Hallows [All Saints] which was celebrated to honour the righteous dead. We got the unrighteous spirits out of the way before we celebrated the unrighteous ones.

DerdriuMarriner on 08/31/2022

WriterArtist, Thank you for practical information, pretty pictures and product lines.

In particular, I appreciate the Gothic candles and the Tarot book, cards and throws. The party foam board, paper plates and pedestal board are fetchingly non-scary. Also, I like the witch-hat lights.

There were two good and two wicked witches in the Oz series invented by author L. Frank Baum. Would the three witches as yard decoration be based upon a miscount of those wicked witches as three instead of two?

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