Season of the Witch

August 26, 2014 — Halloween, holidays, spending

When September sends kids back to school everyone starts to prepare for winter holidays.  I was at the grocery store yesterday and saw the entire seasonal section ready for Halloween.  It is still August but the candy, the costumes, and all the yard decorations are on display to get us in the mood.  Americans spend about 7 billion dollars annually on Halloween, according to the National Retail Federation.  More money is spent on adult consumes than on children’s costumes.  The season that begins Nov 1 and runs through Dec 16, known as the holiday shopping season results in 52 billion dollars in spending.  You might say that the slow warm up in both celebration time and money spent on Halloween is a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the spending year.  People get very wound up with lists and crafts and party planners as New Years finally approaches.  The typical diet/fitness regime begins on January 1, along with new credit card redemption plans.  The remorse about over spending and over eating lasts about a month until Super Bowl time.

Fall is a natural time to store things and preserve them for winter.  Our ancestors endured heavy hardship if they did not prepare and store enough food for the winter months.  Harvest was a time of joy and celebration (perhaps not exactly like modern Day of the Dead) when neighbors came together and gave thanks for the crops they had grown.  They had to be mindful to keep enough and share enough to make it as community through the cold months.  Today we let the food banks worry about feeding society.  We follow an unnatural cycle of spending just when we should be doing some saving for future needs.  I suggest a few changes we can make to give the earth a better holiday season:

• Buy locally made and locally grown products
• Think twice before buying anything made out of plastic
• Find crafty DIY ways to decorate with up cycled or recycled items
• Teach your kids to give of themselves to those who need help
• Limit the junk food treats as a central holiday theme
• Don’t ask a single person if they’re ready for the holidays

pumpkin spice

glitter pumpkins