Halloween is one of my favorite days of the year, and not just because it's the one day a year I don't have to wear my uniform to work. I enjoy it because it's fun to see the costumes kids show up at our house in. I also enjoy it because of all the great candy leftovers. But more importantly, I enjoy it because of what it means.
Legend has it that Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, as it was formerly known, is the night when the spirits walk the earth with all us living mortals. We can't see them, but if you believe in things like that the way I do, you know they're there.
Like many other people around the world, I recently went to see "Underworld" at the movie theatre. It was about a long-lasting war between vampires and werewolves, two types of creatures who, if they exist are among those that come out on Halloween. And these creatures can be the things fantasy is created on, like faeries, elves, magicians and dragons.
I didn't like the werewolves in that movie. They scared me too much. I don't really believe they exist in our world, but that didn't stop me from being a little freaked out that night after I watched the movie. Gremlins have the same effect on me to this day. But I do like to believe vampires exist...or rather co-exist with the rest of us...quite nicely in today's society. Now, whether this comes from reading too much Anne Rice, or from watching too many episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel", I don't know, but I do believe it.
Do I believe in faeries and eleves and other such mythical folk? No, not exactly, but that doesn't necessarily mean they don't or can't exist. I think the world J.R.R. Tolkien created, for instance, was a definate possibility, probably in the distant past. Do I believe in witches and wizards and magic? Sure. Sometimes things happen that can only be explained by magical forces. How are we to know that characters like the Halliwell sisters in "Charmed" don't exist in real life? Do I believe in ghosts? Yes. And not just because I've seen "The Others". Well, actually, I should clarify. I believe in spirits, not necessarily ghosts, since the term ghost kind of brings old "Scooby-Doo" cartoons to mind.
Halloween is a night when children dress up as ghosts, goblins, witches, elves, wizards, monsters and numerous other characters and go from house to house getting candy and chocolate. How that tradition started, I don't really know, but I seem to remember it having to do with wanting to either frighten the walking-dead away or else show them we're not afraid of them. Of course I could be way off base here, but it wouldn't be the first time.
Does the idea of Halloween have an impact on Fantasy? Probably not, but both are somewhat closely connected. It just depends on your idea of a fantasy being and whether or not a person could dress up as said being to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. I think in some cases, children are told or read stories of fantasy-esque people and creatures and tell their parents they want to dress up as that wizard or that elf or that vampire, for Halloween. In a sense, perhaps Fantasy has more of an impact on Halloween, instead of the other way around.