All Hollows Eve/Samhain/Day Of The Dead

Halloween is just not that same today as it was when I was a kid.
I remember Samhain being an event back in the 80's. Just about EVERY TV show had a Halloween episode, the channels showed Halloween specials and horror films all night, the local businesses would go all out with decorations and parties, there would be news coverage of local events and costumes, kids did not have to stop Trick-Or-Treating by 6PM and everything just seemed more.......cool.

Now there is a window of 3 hours to Trick-Or-Treat, TV doesn't show anything Halloween related anymore (I have 8 HBO's and 9 Starz and this year they did not show EVEN ONE horror film on All Hollows Eve this year), the stores don't even decorate today, people don't put any effort into the costumes compared to what we did back in the 80's etc...

It's just not the same. I blame it on the fact that society has really degraded to the point where it is honestly no longer safe to just let kids run free in a neighborhood. I mean in my small town of less then 10,000 we had at least 5 SERIOUS acts of violence last Samhain, and I can only imagine what a large city had for violence. The Day Of The Dead has just lost all the magic that it had back in the 1980's (my youth). It is still my favorite day of the year and the only "holiday" I really celebrate for myself (the rest are just crappy excuses why I don't get mail).

What I love the most about that day when the barrier between the worlds is at it's weakest is the smell. I know it sounds odd but that time of year (specifically the month of October) has a smell to it that is unique to that month. Without that unique aroma I doubt it would even feel like the New Years Eve (to the Celtic peoples that's what it was).

I can't explain it but there is just something about that Druid holiday that I can not let go of. I feel so...different during the month of October. No matter how much it is decried as being "satanic" or mass-merchandised to death, Halloween will always be the only REAL holiday to me. It has so many traditions and so much lore to it, so much more that Christmas. It may have lost some of it's luster but it still is the best holiday out there, and you can get Mail on Halloween too (lets see you get mail on X-mas or Thanksgiving).