On Halloween night, on my sad, sad way to Perkins library, I observed a few girls running around in their skimpy costumes and mused that I too had dressed up as those exact things- witch, devil, angel, cat- when I was a young child. The evolution of my childlike costumes, full of festivity and charm, to lingerie-like role-play-wear is disturbing in principle.
That being said, when I don’t focus on the comparison, I do tend to enjoy the intersection between sexiness and innocent fun that Halloween offers my age group.
Is celebrating Halloween in this manner an adult’s way of growing up while still being a kid at heart? Or is it a perversion of a child’s celebration that sends children the wrong message about what getting older really means?
Maturity inherently doesn’t mean wearing a red bra, shredded skirt and fishnets while calling myself a devil, but also doesn’t mean wearing the same red blanket and red face paint I wore as a child. Nor is it sitting in my room Halloween night in regular clothes, scoffing all merrymakers who pass my way as young and immature.
I should think that maturity in this circumstance is being able to look at a celebration without assigning it a fixed age-value, instead adapting it to fit your current stage of life while respecting everyone else’s right to do the same.
You do you with your goofy goblin mask and pillowcase filled with candy, and I’ll do me with my heeled boots and garters, getting me some pirate’s booty of my own behind closed doors ;)
Hope it was a good Halloween. Here’s to never being too young or too old to celebrate it-
Love, Lilith
Image Sources