After the harvest

As I rewatch and consider horror films apropos to this time of year, I have been considering how these films are linked to Halloween and what the conditions of the archetype of the holiday are that relate not only our sense of the macabre but also our strained relationship with death or dying as well as our thoughts towards our ancestors--specifically, why this time of year and this change of seasons has such a strong relationship to these ideas of mortality, fear, and things we cannot control.

My own impression of the archetype of the seasonal change (from a Northern Hemisphere standpoint, from late summer to fall to winter) is that it is, in part, a transition to less daylight and more dark night time.  There is legitimately less sunshine, not only in terms of the feeling of the weather but also due to the arc of the sun and its path that is lower in the sky.

Additionally, the days are shorter.  Despite modern attempts for us to extend our work periods with light, there is a pull for less activity in the winter, the hunkering-down and waiting out the winter.  Samhain, Halloween, and Day of the Dead are all at the beginning of the downhill race towards not leaving the shelter of a warm home until the snow melts and spring starts to warm the days.

How does this connect to the macabre and to fear?  In part, longer nights might be responsible for this.  There is also the connection that this time of year has to giving thanks and reflecting on our ancestors; though at times it is hard to determine what of this is cultural (i.e. the holiday of Thanksgiving) and what, truly, is an archetype of the history of humankind--the type of history that is engrained in our bones from the very dawn of being.

I think that I am creating more questions than answering anything in particular, so I'll try to state my case plainly:  this time of year is a confluence of the past and preparation; and that transition certainly creates an unsteady period of change.  The unsteadiness might create a sort of moving reality that opens itself up to questioning.  This moving reality is harder for us to control and harder even to understand, though we know what is about to happen; in the end, it is our own uneasiness that allows our imagination to create more ghosts than actually exist.

I have been interested in the ineffable feelings, ominousness, and reflection of the fall for quite some time.  Obviously, if you've read this far, I have few answers to offer; and here in lies part of my interest in this time of year.  Here is a great image of a gaelic carving, in some ways thought to ward off evil spirits.  This Samhain "jack-o-lantern" is carved out of a turnip.

Also, check out Studiobreak for my interview with its creator, Dave Linneweh, and Bill Conger, concerning Kubrik's The Shining and other horror films that might come up.  I imagine it will be posted sometime this week to correspond to Halloween.