I met a man recently who was telling me that he was looking on the 1940 census and found out Bela Lugosi lived right around the corner from his present day church... I dared him to try and find out if the Hungarian was Catholic and if he might have gone to that church, which was in its humble mission church phase but is now a landmark. I thought it was a bit of a coincidence since I'd been looking for Bela Lugosi posters for this blog.
Walking my dog around the neighborhood, some of my neighbors have gone all out with decorations, because they expect trick-or-treaters, or because they are what I call Ghoul School, or because they work for the studios doing sets; one family has Halloween all year long with an evil looking cemetery out front which must save them having to water. One house in particular was really impressive. Out on their white wicker setae on the front porch are two loved up human-sized monsters, reminiscent of the couple, both with significant teeth. That one made me laugh.
But as I'm not at all into the violence and gore that has become part of the celebration that was rooted in spirituality and honoring the ancestors for so long, I refrain from entertainments that are not spiritual. The Celtic tradition of carving a turnip to hold a candle as symbolic of the soul - the flame of the spirit - in the body, moved to smiling carved pumpkins, and then to demonic ones. The church that's around the block from where Bela Lugosi once lived is having a special All Souls Day evening Mass, and I may just attend.
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