Some Truth (Betwixt the Lies)
Many moons ago, in a Kingdom United, October's end was a seasonal occasion duly respected by the nature-loving folk who dwelled there. But all things change, sooner or later, and during a night of storms and knives a wicked hunger was born in the hearts of some men, which quickly spread.
The Kingdom's protectors were unwilling or unable to stop the capitalist greed that slowly consumed the once-good people.
In time, the cruel equation that ensures the rich get richer and the poor become poorer was added to a child's primary education.
Generations later, behind closed doors, handpicked scientists, doctors, and surgeons began working on a method to have it coded directly into the DNA of newborns. But it wasn't necessary, because the children copied what their parents did: as they grew, they looked around and deemed what they had to be of lesser economic value to what they felt their peers had, so they embraced the government approved ideology with great zeal, as if it were mandate.
It was in a climate such as that, on one fateful day in the late twentieth century, that the Lords of Retail got together and proclaimed, "The people don't have enough crap to buy - let's make Hallowe'en another Xmas!" And the people, in their apathy, agreed it was probably a good idea.
And so October's rituals changed again; few of the Kingdom's subjects remembered the role of All Hallows' Eve, and fewer still the meaning of Samhain. It was as if neither had ever existed. The ancient practices that came before even those were long gone, like smoke to the clouds.
The New World's model was adapted, because it was tried and tested. The transition was eased by making tinsel with colours changed from red and white to orange and black. Plastic lanterns and baubles followed, similarly styled. The retailers were overjoyed. The sound of clapping from their collective mitts was heard by mice, cats, and foxes, who knew to stay away.
Many farmers benefitted from the new order. Pumpkin growers especially, because people bought their goods with no intention of actually eating them. Turnip growers, however, wept.
Parents were happy because it meant their children didn't have to do anything creative, like make their own costumes. Why put any effort in when you can buy a limited number of designs off the shelf? The rumour that some were assembled in factories with child labour was quickly quashed. Sincerity didn't matter, anyhow. What mattered was that the Kingdom's kids learned nothing but how to coerce for gain and punish those who didn't give, more so the elderly and the infirm.
The days of glue and coloured paper on the dinner table were over, and because no one actually consumed meals together any more, the table was removed and the television room became the gathering spot of modern life. But even that was short-lived. The television was deemed too communal because it required families to be in the same room, so smart phones and tablets were given to children of all ages; each one went to his or her own room and no one had to look at anyone else for very long ever again. The illusion of perfect peace and perfect happiness was in place. A powerful glamour, in the archaic sense, fell over all mankind, not just city folk.
The signals to destruction were there, if one had only looked, but they were ultimately ignored.
In the diminishing forest, the spirit of the season laid its withering heart on a bed of moss, where it was warmed on only one side. As night fell, the woodland creatures gathered around it in a circle and in unison sang a lament that made the moon shiver and the stream slow its pace.
The veil between the worlds was at its weakest that night, so the animals called upon the dead to save them from the pursuits of the living. The response from the dead came as a whisper on the chill wind: the wheel turns forever, with or without witness. Time erodes accomplishment.
The animals thanked the dead in their own traditional way: with one voice they sang, 'sunshine and deep shadow, moonlight lost at sea; twilight leaves glisten, as stars shine down on thee'.
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